Flood insurance?

[OakLeaf]

We have flood insurance, but have never made a claim. We're not required to carry it, but being two or three feet above the flood plain in coastal Florida, there's no way we were going to decide against it. The bonus is that because we're not in the flood plain, it's cheap.

Honestly, from what I know about it, most of the problems stem from it being a program that has to coordinate with private homeowner's insurance with each of them only being liable some of the time. It's like when you have trouble with your phone, and the company that owns the infrastructure says it's the service provider's issue, and the service provider says it's a problem with the wires. The claims issues have little or nothing to do with it being a federal program - look at Medicare, for comparison.

(And plenty of private mortgage lenders *do* require flood insurance when you're in the flood plain - just as they require termite certification - I'm as surprised as you are, that yours didn't.)

[indysteel]

We have flood insurance, but have never made a claim. We're not required to carry it, but being two or three feet above the flood plain in coastal Florida, there's no way we were going to decide against it. The bonus is that because we're not in the flood plain, it's cheap.

Honestly, from what I know about it, most of the problems stem from it being a program that has to coordinate with private homeowner's insurance with each of them only being liable some of the time. It's like when you have trouble with your phone, and the company that owns the infrastructure says it's the service provider's issue, and the service provider says it's a problem with the wires. The claims issues have little or nothing to do with it being a federal program - look at Medicare, for comparison.

(And plenty of private mortgage lenders *do* require flood insurance when you're in the flood plain - just as they require termite certification - I'm as surprised as you are, that yours didn't.)

Thanks for chiming in. I'm extremely surprised our lender didn't require it, especially with what happened in 2008 being so fresh in everyone's minds (our original and refi lenders are local banks). Granted, our original lender is a division of a bank that was later taken over by federal regulators, too, so hmmmm.

Since we live in a "high risk" area, we aren't entitled to a "preferred" rate, as it appears you are. I tend to think that we'll likely get it because it just seems like the best thing to do. Obviously, there's risk either way, but the downside of not having it could be huge. In looking for pictures of what our neighborhood looked like in 2008, I was reminded how bad the flood was and how immediate its ruination. Lots of families had to move out immeditely and never got to return. The house just three doors down from ours is no longer there. The town is still in the process of tearing down the abandoned homes. Only a few were salvaged to the point of being habitable.

[jessmarimba]

I don't have it and I've never lived somewhere that did.

But for future reference, anyone who wants to check their property can look here - just enter your address and zoom in on the map.

The problems I remember from Katrina flood insurance issues were that FEMA was claiming the water damage wasn't from flooding but from the wind, etc. I would say if you aren't in danger of hurricanes, filing a claim should be fairly straightforward.