Flood Insurance in The Villages?
 

I will be in September a new Citizen of The Villages. My question is, how important is it to have flood insurance incorporated into a new policy? THANKS

There are several posts about this here on TOTV so just search to get all the opinions. But the high level is, the Villages has one of the best water management systems in the country so unless you live near a body of water, or you are in a flood zone, you probably don't need flood insurance here in the Villages. We did a survey recently to see how many homeowners used flood and or sink hole insurance here in the Villages and no one responded. It's entirely up to your tolerance for risk and the risk here is very low.

Sinkhole insurance - yes
Flood insurance - no

Some new areas are still mapping as 100 year flood zone. Your mortgage company may require you to buy flood insurance until the mapping is revised.

Our property was never listed in flood zone map, however 4 months ago, a company was behind our house surveying the property to change to flood zone.
Guys very polite, explained why they were there. Couldn’t tell us who ordered the report.
All three agreed after the survey, it would need to be biblical rainfall to rise 11.7’ above 20+ acres of dry prairie floor. Plus the 2 foot rise of our property.

You are not likely to experience what most people think of as a flood. The Villages does a great job at stormwater management to keep houses safe.

However, what I think of as a flood and what an insurance company considers to be flood damage could be two separate things. Talk with your agent about what is excluded and determine whether you need a separate flood policy to cover those hazards.

Also, if you have a mortgage then the bank might have an opinion on this.

I have neither a mortgage nor a flood policy.

Most of the so called sinkholes I've seen here are storm water pipe failures which sinkhole insurance does not cover.

Flood insurance is managed by the Federal Government, FEMA. Here is the website for infomation about flood insurance:

https://www.nfipdirect.fema.gov/login

In my experience, asking an insurance agent about any insurance coverage is likely to get you incorrect information. And, they will never put anything about coverage in writing. Insurance "agents" do not legally represent the company or, in this case, the Government. They are basically salespeople who work for a commission.

Don't have flood insurance. Been here four years. We had 8 inches of rain overnight last year with Milton. There are several ponds in my neighborhood. The water level in all of them increased but not one of them flooded over the banks. I think we could have easily had another six inches of rain without any flooding of houses.

I'm certainly in the minority here, but I have Flood Insurance through a private company, not FEMA. For the few hundred dollars it costs, with coverage for the full value of the house and contents (not the FEMA maximum), it's worth peace of mind.

Back in 2016 during hurricane Irma we had 18 inches of rain in 24 hours and no homes were flooded. Just some of the golf courses were out of comission for about a month. We have no storm surge here so we just need to be concerned with the storm water management which is one of the best in the country here in the Villages. We are living in one of the safest places in the country here in the Villages. Yes we can get small tornados but we are not in a valley, or have any rivers or creeks to overflow and we are too far away from the shore for storm surge. When we have hurricanes, when they hit land there is no energy to keep them going so by the time they get here they are usually no stronger than Cat1. Infact, I think it was 2016 where a Cat1 hurricane came over the Villages. All that said, if you want to get all that insurance, go for it but there is a high probablility that you will never use it.

It's fine that you want flood insurance for peace of mind but since the coverage is so cheap, the insurance company feels its a very low possibility that you will be using it. For the folks in Tampa or near the sure, flood insurance is in the thousands of dollars.

Look and see what flood zone your new home will be in. I suspect it will not be in one that is likely to flood.

We moved into our new Villages home last year in September and where lucky enough to have back to back hurricane's. These homes are built to take the tropical winds the center of the state will receive, flooding is a non event.

So unless your on a retention pond, or lake, I would not think it is necessary.

Flooding
 

YOU ARE MISTAKEN. There was extensive flooding on the north side of TV. The golf cart bridge was flooded along with several homes from Irma. Also, there was flooding in some neighborhoods in the south end of TV from Milton.

Depends on where in TV. The new Eastport area is pretty much all “flood plain”, flat.
Go north of Brownwood, much of TV is at least a little hilly, would be really tough to flood area.
Sink holes, it could happen, but unlikely.
Flood insurance thru FEMA or a no name company. I picked FEMA, $1,400 a year. The no name could ‘run out of funds’ in a heart beat.
My neighbor used Lloyds for a much better rate, which I will call next renewal. As it will take a while for our Eastport area to be reevaluated to hopefully be taken off as a flood zone.
Sink hole catastrophic coverage was included in our USAA policy. Meaning the house went down. What was not covered was a partial collapse, house can be rebuilt. That coverage was about $240 a year.
Of course rebuildable sink hole coverage has a big deductible, about $40k.

If wind damage causes a house to be damaged and water gets into the house, flood insurance will not cover it. Flood insurance will only cover damage caused by rising water. Rising water can be caused by excessive rainfall or a stormwater drain backup.

Note that, you can buy a rider to your homeowner's policy to cover damage from a sanitary sewer backup, which is not covered by flood insurance. The rider is usually a good idea.