No that is the issue, it is NOT public record. FEMA rules prevent
disclosure of previous claims and payouts. Some of the houses in her
neighborhood have been flipped several times, every 2-3 years after a
flood and repair, to the next sucker who has no clue. Unless a buyer
goes around and does a lot of research (I know, caveat emptor...) to
find out what the story is, there is no way to know. And the realtors
strongly discourage anything like that and in her case, blatantly lied
about it (as is one who is trying to sell neighboring properties). Her
neighbor, a young couple with one small child and another on the way buy
this nice newly-restored house, then bang a year later it floods and
they lose a huge amount of money...
Ana's house was actually the first house to be done for this TV show
Flip This House, which was started by some guys in Charleston. They
bought the flood house, fixed it up, sold it to Ana and her husband,
then it flooded 2 more times. She got really pissed off and started
digging into the history of the house and the neighborhood. It was not
easy as little was direct public record, and nothing disclosed on
previous sales. The City actively resisted FOIA requests and will no
longer even respond to her. Realtors are not required to disclose, if
they even know, previous flooding history. Turns out this neighborhood
had fraudulent base flood elevation certificates going back to when it
was built in the 80s, apparently signed off by the building inspector
(who is now dead) despite clear evidence that the homes were built in a
flood zone, and old low area that had been drained by a ditch that backs
up in hurricanes and large storm events (you can actually see this on
aerial imagery). There is some evidence that collusion between this
guy, the mayor, and the developer allowed this to happen.
She became obsessed by this (and still is to the point of near insanity,
seriously) and did a huge amount of investigation on it. She received a
lot of old records and such from sympathetic people, stuff that was
pretty much abandoned by the City over the decades, that show a lot of
fraud against FEMA, etc. She and 2 other friends wrote a 20-page letter
to FEMA 3 years ago detailing all this, there is a 3-part fraud
investigation now active against the City, which could result in the
whole area being dropped from FEMA flood insurance coverage (this would
be A Really Bad Thing).
Anyway, the whole thing is a sh*tshow that would make a fascinating
book. Bottom line is that FEMA is not your friend and your local
jurisdictions are generally not your friends either. In Ana's case, the
court has been very supportive of her in her foreclosure case, turns out
the judge had almost the exact some problems and had no idea how to deal
with it until she came along.
Anyway, that is the short story, the whole thing is almost unbelievable.
--FT
On 4/19/21 9:44 AM, Dan Penoff via Mercedes wrote:
I’m trying to understand how one would be on the hook from a liability
standpoint if they sold? That’s like saying if you don’t disclose a property is
in a flood zone you’re liable. It’s public record and an underwriter or lender
is going to look for this as a part of the underwriting process.
So what if she did sell and disclose? If it was me I would be dumping it in a
heartbeat to the best bidder with an attestation that they agreed I told them
it had been flooded.
I don’t have a lot of sympathy for people who live in flood zones. It’s a
calculated risk, and if you lose, you lose. As FEMA’s new insurance
requirements start to go into effect next year you’re going to see a lot of
properties come on to the market, I’m betting. It’s already a big deal around
here, as even with the hot property market people are very conscious of how
much flood insurance is going to add to their cost of ownership.
-D
On Apr 19, 2021, at 9:25 AM, Buggered Benzmail via Mercedes
<mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote:
Ever how national Time is these days
https://time.com/5953380/climate-housing-crisis
This is a growing expensive issue around these parts
--FT
Sent from iPhone
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--FT
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