In today's video, we'll talk about one of the most helpful flood tips that helped a lot of people on their journey in buying a new property or say getting themselves a new house.
Now, I've shared that I'm looking for a new house to buy recently and this has been taking some time to do so. You might wonder "why not just buy the one you like?", well, that's a complicated process because what I'd like to do when buying a house is to really check it for possible risks when it comes to damages.
Water Damage
Let's say, you're looking at a house and you followed our first flood tip to have it go through home inspection first. The inspector told you that the property had has some water damage or maybe mold damage. Does this mean that the property has been flooded?
Not necessarily.
You see, there's a huge difference between water damage and flood damage. Water damage is covered by homeowners policies because usually, this is because the water started in the property only. It could be pipe bursts due to a poorly maintained water heater, broken pipes causing water leaks creating excess water on the floor, or even electrical equipment causing these damages.
It's important to note that flood damage is only covered when it comes to a flood. Flooding is only considered if there at least two parcels affected by flood water mostly due to natural disasters. So depending on the type of damage you might find, there's most likely a dedicated type of insurance for that. Home insurance covers water damage and even mold issues, but not flood damage.
Checking Flood Data
So, how do you check for the history of the flood damage or water intrusion in a property? We also do this at Flood Insurance Guru, but you want to go online and look for an insurance company that can give you the history of flood data for that property. Now, this is offered by most flood insurance companies, but to make sure that you also have another way to check for the history, you want to talk with the property owner.
This other option is a pretty common thing that property owners can do which is to go to FEMA and collect the flood data and history of flood loss for their property. This way, you can get a general idea if your homeowners policy will need additional damage coverages. The same goes when it comes to flood insurance policy, you might want to look into getting that extra coverage such as replacement cost coverage for personal items in your house, additional living expenses, and loss of use.
Generally, the best option is to avoid buying a property in high-risk flood zones, but even low-risk flood zones, as we've mentioned in the previous episode, can get flash floods. It's best to know whether or not it's damage from leaky pipes or leaky flood sites.
So, if you have questions on flood insurance, checking the flood history, other flood tips, and how to protect yourself from properties like this, make sure to reach out to us. Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation and we want to help you protect the value of your property long term. Click the links below to know more and get started.
