Finish Floor Elevation

Keep in mind that you are not building that home just for yourself. When you are gone, you want that house to have value for your decendants if/when they sell.

Just because the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) is 10 feet now, it probably will be higher twenty years from now.

I live in the Ohio River Valley where you can have a $600 a month mortgage payment, that comes with a $600 a month flood insurance payment. That is hard to stomach, so some dwellings are becoming blighted and unsaleable as a result.

The delay passed to postpone the Biggert Waters Act is just a delay. Flood insurance premiums will go up.

Those that plan now for increases in the BFE and flood insurance premiums will serve themselves well.