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The world is full of stupid people
The thread below on FEMA and flood insurance reminded me of different, but geographically close, cases of foolishness.
In one case, I get a call this week asking if I do elevation certificates. When I respond positively, the guy explains that he is wanting to pass my contact info on to another guy. The fellow who called explained that the other guy is suddenly in a flood zone where one has never existed before and where it has never flooded. Oh, by the way, he and his father built the house 30 years ago and sold it not too long ago. I’m betting the current owner is trying to blame them, as the builders and sellers, for getting him into a high dollar situation today, when he needs to mortgage the house. The foolish part is this guy trying to convince me that the house has never been in a flood zone before. First, when the maps were updated a couple of years ago all they really did was change the numbers to match the modern datum (roughly a half foot). They didn’t change the zone boundaries. Second, you can toss a rock out of the bedroom window and hit the sizeable creek that is going to flood the house. Third, the house is in the floodway, not merely somewhere within Zone AE. Why try to BS me? Foolishness!
In the other case, less than one mile away, we did an elevation certificate recently on an existing house that falls into the top 10 percent of high-priced houses in the community. Maybe the top 5 percent. The buyer is paying top dollar AND getting to pay flood insurance for a situation where the flood elevation is eight feet higher than the basement floor and three feet higher than lowest adjacent grade. Personally, I wouldn’t bother moving in. Again, the main channel is a stone’s throw from the house.
I believe that silly people can squander their money any way they want to UNLESS THEY WANT ME TO PAY TO BAIL THEM OUT.
The Biggert Waters thing is a completely different situation. That I will not address as I can’t do so without getting into that forbidden topic called politics.
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2 Replies
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Easily Correctable
Along the Delaware River there are now a good number of jacked up homes. Going straight up and meeting the requirements on what is in the flood zone is no big deal. I guess in the area of 5 times 1 years higher insurance premium.
Paul in PA
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Easily Correctable
Incredibly, I worked with one fellow I know who decided to elevate his house and fill in the basement that had always been beneath it. His main floor is now something like eight feet above ground level. He built the steps out of wooden pallets stacked up to different heights. That’s a lot of pallets and not as stable as one might think. The thing is that the house probably wouldn’t have sold for more than $10,000 before the big flood. I don’t think he could get that out of it now he if absolutely had to sell it. Meanwhile, he spent a fortune elevating it.
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