oops sorry, this should be in conversations

Congratulations!!!!

The market here is very different than it was 2-3years ago, too. Next door neighbor's house sold in two days!

Congratulations. Hope the inspection goes as you think it will.

Yes, friends of mine bought a house recently and there were 8 offers (NYC burbs). They got it, then lost it to a higher bidder, then got it by bidding about 15% over list.

Great news! The market is out of control here with bidding wars, multiple offers, etc. There is low inventory and a huge demand. I think that is true in the case of both primary homes in desirable areas and choice locals for second homes. Location, location, location! Old adage but so true. Congrats!

mtnrdredux can I ask if your house was in a flood zone and if it was affected by the increase in premiums that went into effect on the 1st of October due to FEMA no longer subsidizing rates?

We're putting our FL home on the market (want to buy a new one w/ acreage) and we've been told the market is being decimated for second homes on water b/c of the premium increase.

Beagles,

We are not in a flood zone. Our house is on a mountaintop lake, and the house sits on a gentle rise up from the lake. Luckily, the beachhouse is not in a flood zone either.

But I know exactly what you are talking about. My BIL has a house on the water in St Petersburg and he was telling me all about it. He said it was already impacting values. We also have neighbors who just bought in Boca, and were totally surprised by this!

OTOH, I would think values are definitely up since you bought --- what was it, a year ago? I know you did renovations, but even with this I bet you are ahead. At least I hope so!

PS, Just curious, when people talk about their local housing markets, which markets are they in?

mtnrdredux you are lucky you're not in a flood zone for either house!

Pinellas County (including St. Pete & Clearwater where our house is) has more homes than any other area in the country affected, unfortunately.

I'm not sure what this will mean for our house- we're listing it in December when the bathroom remodel is supposed to be finished. The last market report before this flood ins. issue had comps in the neighborhood priced about $100K above where we bought the house in Nov 2011 but our flood insurance may go from around $2K/yr to over $9K w/ this rate increase (waiting to hear from the agent) and I cannot imagine that is not going to bring the value way down.

This post was edited by beaglesdoitbetter on Thu, Oct 3, 13 at 1:14

Beagles,

My BIL, in St Pete Beach, said his insurance went up 15k/yr. My neighbors in Boca said theirs went up 10k...

I'd look at it this way. An extra 10k a year is like 833/month. At today's mortgage rates, the payments on $165,000 worth of mortgage debt is about $833 month. So for every 10k increase in h/o insurance you could argue a 165k drop in values?

Of course h/o premiums arent' tax deductible like mrtg interest, and they go up with inflation.

But I am probably the only geek who looks at it that way.

The flood insurance thing is worrying me too. Our house is elevated above the current flood elevation so we pay the bare minimum flood insurance. If our elevations change we may go from a few hundred per year to a few thousand.

We did dodge a few bullets as we considered purchasing a few non raised older homes in velocity zones, which are the much closer to the ocean and the highest level of insurance. Those types of houses are supposed to be hardest hit by the new rates.

In our area, the whole process seems pretty arbitrary. If we have a hurricane during high tide the whole island is in big trouble. It won't matter if your house is 2 feet above sea level or 15 feet above sea level.

Sorry for the thread drift! Congratulations on selling your home.

Nope, you're not the only geek here!

Congrat on the house sale! I'm glad to hear things are looking up in the housing market as it will help drive the economy forward.

LOL, hi Annie, fellow geekstress! Thanks.

Dee, no worries, hijack away! I find it interesting that they withdrew the subsidy so clumsily, ie in one fell swoop. You would think they'd at least phase it out over time.

LOL, hi Annie, fellow geekstress! Thanks.

Dee, no worries, hijack away! I find it interesting that they withdrew the subsidy so clumsily, ie in one fell swoop. You would think they'd at least phase it out over time.

I think I'm in the same housing market as bonnieann (northeastern suburbs of Boston). She's right - it's ridiculous right now. I have several friends who are trying to get into the town I live in and the only way to get a decent house is to have the inside scoop on something, or be willing to pay tens of thousands over asking.

My husband flips houses. Our last house was only on the market for four hours. Literally had an accepted offer in four hours. The property before that never made it onto the market, as a buyer approached us before we were finished renovating.

As much as this type of market helps our business, it worries me that there could be another bubble looming.

Is the flood insurance going up for all housing on or near water? How near the water do you have to be to be affected? Gosh, we are looking into FL for retirement within the next 2 years but there is no way I want to pay $10-15K for insurance. My brother was saying a woman he knows just got her bill and now her insurance is more than her mortgage payment! Geesh!

Dee do you know what type of flood zone are you currently in? This year was the first time we ever were required to purchase flood insurance. We are identified as a Special Flood Hazard Area by FEMA and are in an AE zone, which is considered a 100 year flood zone. It wasn't required for us to have flood insurance until this year and we've been here 17 years. Our house is one lot back from the water and I think we had our 100 year flood ten years ago when TS Isabel struck us (we live along the Chesapeake Bay). I think if our house were ever going to flood, it would have flooded in that storm which caused major damage to multiple houses in my neighborhood. Fortunately for us, our house sits on slight incline so the water came through my neighbor's first floor (an unfinished full story space with garage on one side) all the way through our backyard and stopped at the base of the incline. We only had maybe 5" of water in the yard. It would have needed to be at least 2' higher to even make it to our house, which is like our neighbor's with the garage underneath.

Joanie, I can't answer your questions specifically except to say that as I noted above, until this year, we were never required to have flood insurance and this year FEMA mandated we provide proof of coverage. Our home is about 200 feet from the water and though elevated, we are in a 100 yr flood plane. I'm sure individual agencies have their own pricing and it will also be based on the worth of the home and goods. I know our neighbors were all complaining that their rates all went up but I don't know how much. We pay less than $500 and are insured through USAA. But we live in the mid-Atlantic and I'm sure they looked at their claims for this area before determining our risk whereas in coastal FL I'm sure the risk is even greater.

It has to do with elevations I guess. We are zone AE, our neighbors have lived in the neighborhood for like 40+ years and said it has never flooded. No matter, the premiums are based on elevations and the redrawn flood maps. If you are a certain level below base elevation, then the rates go up.

fourkids4us do you have an elevation certificate? Were you subsidized through FEMA before for your flood insurance? The rate increases are only up for those who had subsidized insurance before. If the house is your primary home and you've owned it for a long time, they are also only increasing the premiums by I think 25 percent per year until the premiums reach the real risk level.

I think the whole thing is stupid. There are a LOT of people who aren't going to be able to afford this and who are going to end up underwater on their houses and/or forced to leave homes they've lived in for decades. They need to find a better way to fix this that doesn't destroy the housing market in affected states.

We have FEMA and flood overlays on our county GIS maps which is how I found out our zone.

I'm an AE12 which I believe means that any property under 12 feet above sea level has to purchase flood insurance.

Our garage under our house plus our base elevation is over 12. I'm not even sure we need to buy flood for mortgage purposes but the rate is only $350 per year so we would be foolish to refuse. About 300 yards down our street we have a velocity zone which means that anyone under 14 or 15 feet will pay 20 or 30k premiums.

The new law will be a great boon for surveyors as people will need to get elevation certificates to find out their exact base elevation.

I don't think the intent of the law is stupid but execution is certainly misguided. I don't think the government should be in the business of underwriting risk for expensive vacation homes. But to increase rates so abruptly is a mistake. There should be grandfathering for older properties, gradual increases in premiums and perhaps income or property value exceptions.