Flood Insurance

[tjwarzel]

We will be closing on our home at the end of January. We are trying to deceide whether to purchase flood insurance. We would appreciate anyones thoughts about purchasing such insurance. Any thoughts positive or negative would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[graciegirl]

Don't take what I say for Gospel but I think I remember hearing that central Florida has a series of lakes and flood plains so that there is rarely flooding in our area.

Someone like Il2rdhd or Village07 who are always accurately informed will jump in and tell us.

We didn't buy flood insurance or title insurance. (We bought a new home) We did buy insurance for the golf cart.

[l2ridehd]

Most homes in TV are in the 500 year flood plain which means the odds of a flood are once every 500 years. Unless you're in a really low area and I really can't think of any in TV to suggest what I mean, I would say no.

[logdog]

Don't take what I say for Gospel but I think I remember hearing that central Florida has a series of lakes and flood plains so that there is rarely flooding in our area.

Someone like Il2rdhd or Village07 who are always accurately informed will jump in and tell us.

We didn't buy flood insurance or title insurance. (We bought a new home) We did buy insurance for the golf cart.

I'm with Gracie. In addition, make sure you have hurricane and sink hole coverage on your home policy.

[Pturner]

We did buy flood insurance. Someone told us that if there were a hurricane, the insurance company would claim you damage was from flooding, not from the hurricane and would refuse to pay.

It wasn't our insurance agent who told us this. Of course, it might have been hog"wash".

[Pturner]

Most homes in TV are in the 500 year flood plain which means the odds of a flood are once every 500 years. Unless you're in a really low area and I really can't think of any in TV to suggest what I mean, I would say no.

Did you check to make sure that the last flood wasn't 499 years ago. :jester:

[damily]

we dont have flood insurance. A flood is defined as a natural body of water overflowing - like the ocean. Flooding is NOT from hurricanes. Hurricane damage is from hurricanes. We dont have to worry about ocean flooding here! Hurricane damage is covered without having flood insurance.

[skyguy79]

Most homes in TV are in the 500 year flood plain which means the odds of a flood are once every 500 years. Unless you're in a really low area and I really can't think of any in TV to suggest what I mean, I would say no.We were told the same thing by our insurance person and that flood insurance was not necessary because of it. Besides, why would an insurance company not want to make $$$ on selling of additional coverage?

Also, I don't buy the notion that insurance companies would classify damage from hurricane downpours as floods since the primary definition of flood is "a rising and overflowing of a body of water especially onto normally dry land; also : a condition of overflowing <rivers in flood>" I would buy that an unscrupulous insurance co. might try to get away with making up such reason for denial in the first part of the definition. Even the second part of the definition could be a stretch, but in either case I would be surprised if the insurance co. would fight it if being sued, and even if they do fight it, :boxing2: I doubt that it could be upheld in a court of law if the primary cause of the damage is the hurricane! But these are just my opinions. What do I know?

[StarbuckSammy]

Check with your insurance agent and ask the following question: If there is a rain downpour and the storm sewers back up and the water from the rain/storm sewers enter your house does your homeowners policy cover the damage...and if so how much?
It is my understanding that your Homeowners would not cover this type of damage. I therefore carry flood insurance in The Villages. In PA my homeowners does cover this type of situation and I do not carry a flood policy.
The cost of the policy for $200,000 building and $80,000 contents is about $300.00 annual.
Hope this helps.

[hunt9791]

Flood insurance is very inexpensive. Believe our policy is for 50K cost is about $120 a year. If we get a 10 inch rain in 8hrs. You will wish you bought it!

[Ohiogirl]

Check with your insurance agent and ask the following question: If there is a rain downpour and the storm sewers back up and the water from the rain/storm sewers enter your house does your homeowners policy cover the damage...and if so how much?
It is my understanding that your Homeowners would not cover this type of damage. I therefore carry flood insurance in The Villages. In PA my homeowners does cover this type of situation and I do not carry a flood policy.
The cost of the policy for $200,000 building and $80,000 contents is about $300.00 annual.
Hope this helps.

Sewer backup is (I am pretty sure) an optional rider on your homeowner's policy. Not that expensive. My advice would be to have sewer backup, hurricane insurance and sinkhole coverage. That's all included on our policy with ASI, although I think they are all optional, additional riders or coverages. Premium for our 3 BR CYV is about $700/yr, think we have $500 deductible on both regular and hurricane coverage. Premium would be less with higher deductibles. When we stopped renting it out we changed policy types (to a replacement cost policy - couldn't get that while renting it out) and cost went up a little bit.

I don't think flood insurance would cover sewer backup, but am not sure.

[StarbuckSammy]

Interesting discussion and interesting views.
I hope one of our forum membesr is an insurane agent and can perhaps help us with the orginal question regarding flood insurance. My point regarding the coverage in the event of sewer backup is that 1) if the storm sewer across the street fills up and water comes into your house, you would be covered by Flood insurance and not your FL Homeowners policy and 2) if for whatever reason your inside sewer backsup in your house as a result of "flood", your Flood insurance will pay but Homeowners will not.
FEMA defines flood..."flood is “A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property) from:
●
Overflow of inland or tidal waters;
●
Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source;"

As I indicated before, my PA policy has limited coverage for this type of event, but the FL policy does not...hence the need for a flood policy in FL, in my opinion.

Hopefully someone with expert knowledge will weigh in and enlighten us.

[graciegirl]

Sink hole .....need to check if we are covered on that one.

Not worried about flood or back up from drain...we are kinda on a hill.

Interested to hear what the experts say.

[golf2140]

Flood insurance is very inexpensive. Believe our policy is for 50K cost is about $120 a year. If we get a 10 inch rain in 8hrs. You will wish you bought it!

We have had over 10 inches of rain in 24 hours, no problem. :boom:

[skyguy79]

Interesting discussion and interesting views.
I hope one of our forum membesr is an insurane agent and can perhaps help us with the orginal question regarding flood insurance. My point regarding the coverage in the event of sewer backup is that 1) if the storm sewer across the street fills up and water comes into your house, you would be covered by Flood insurance and not your FL Homeowners policy and 2) if for whatever reason your inside sewer backsup in your house as a result of "flood", your Flood insurance will pay but Homeowners will not.
FEMA defines flood..."flood is “A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property) from:
●
Overflow of inland or tidal waters;
●
Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source;"

As I indicated before, my PA policy has limited coverage for this type of event, but the FL policy does not...hence the need for a flood policy in FL, in my opinion.

Hopefully someone with expert knowledge will weigh in and enlighten us.I thought I'd reinforce what was said here by sharing what I was told by our insurance agent:
"All of Florida is a Flood Zone, we are sitting on a sand bar and all our houses are built on slabs--I tell people if the drainage on your lot is good during heavy rain storms, you might be OK. However, the definition of Flood is< rising waters from the outside seeping in... it has nothing to do with wind driven rain, as in hurricanes. You have hurricane coverage, that is any damage done, other than Flood, due to a hurricane (named storm). If a storm drain is stopped up due to debris and the water backs up to your home and it RISES AND STARTS TO SEEP INTO YOUR HOME, THAT IS FLOOD. Without Flood coverage you are not covered for this."

[StarbuckSammy]

Great response....

[mulligan]

storm drain and sewer are two separate issues. Has anyone sorted this out??

[skyguy79]

storm drain and sewer are two separate issues. Has anyone sorted this out??Good question! I checked with my agent and was told that there is this type of coverage under ""Water Backup/Sump overflow" in my ASI policy, and that would cover sewerage backups such as via toilet. If you don't see that verbage in your policy, contact your agent and check with them and see if you're covered for such crappy situations. :a20:

[natickdan]

I received a flood insurance quote for $313, but we have opted not to purchase it. Our AIIC insurance agent told me yesterday that she doesn't recommend Flood Insurance because of how the land in/around TV is rated.

[skyguy79]

I received a flood insurance quote for $313, but we have opted not to purchase it. Our AIIC insurance agent told me yesterday that she doesn't recommend Flood Insurance because of how the land in/around TV is rated.No need for flood insurance is most likely true, but there is no such thing as 0% probability and it's for each of us to decide if it's worth getting. Personally we are going to wait until we are physically at the home we're purchasing and make a topigraphical judgement as to the elevation of the home on the site as well as look at other factors before deciding on if we'll obtain the FI and just how much. We were quoted the following costs of coverage available:

Building / contents
$20,000/ $8,000 = $129.00
30,000/ 12,000 = $160.00
50,000/20,000 = $211.00
75,000/30,000 = $247.00
100,000/40,000 = $274.00
125,000/50,000= $294.00
150,000/60,000 = $313.00
200,000/80,000 = $343.00
250,000/100,000 = $365.00

[mcnabb24]

We are in the process of closing on a preowned home in Village de la vista north (Sumter county). Because we will be taking out a mortgage, due to a recent FEMA survey (2008), the bank is requiring us to buy flood insurance. It has been determined that it is a special flood area.

[Dynasty]

How much coverage should one buy? Is it based on the price of your dwelling such as with homeowners insurance? Or is it based on the amount of the loss you may think you will have? If it is based on the cost of my house I think the $125,000 (125/50 $294 premium) should cover me (house minus lot). If it is based on the loss I would think replacing all floor coverings, contents, and drywall 12 inches up and molding the 30/12 for $164 should do it.