The local press is just now starting to report on Biggert Waters Flood and the impact that it will have on communities like Pinellas County.
But the press has not yet fully grasped the full significance of the catastrophe that has destroyed property value and will trigger new foreclosures!
Flood insurance premiums have increased to grossly unsustainable levels.
Many families simply will not be able to pay flood insurance premiums and stay in their homes.
The nascent real estate recovery is not just OVER….It is completely OBLITERATED!
The way this works is, if you had a home that was “worth” $400,000 before Biggert Waters, that home is now worth nothing. Or at least it’s only worth the value of the land upon which it sits. This is the case because if that $400,000 home gets hit with a $20,000 insurance premium, no one will pay anything at all for that home. And it’s very much a question whether current residents should continue paying mortgages on homes when they get their new statements demanding dramatically higher insurance premium payments.
For many people…who’s homes are now very much under water, they should make a decision to stop paying their mortgage, cut the losses, and take their chances fighting foreclosure. Whether a family decides to continue making a mortgage payment, with added insurance costs for a few years before they decide they’re under water and should just walk away, or whether they decide to bite the bullet and walk away right away is largely a personal decision, but the conversation and the discussion should be had sooner rather than later.
Should I stop paying my mortgage now or wait until I realize it’s worth nothing because of rising flood insurance?
That really is the question that people need to be asking now. There are tens of thousands of homes in St. Petersburg and frankly in all of Florida that have been devastated by this Congressional legislation. All families will eventually wake up to the disaster, the only question is how families will deal with it.
There are in fact several legal strategies that my office is on the forefront of developing right now including whether it is even contractually permissible to try and collect these premiums. You’ll want to join our mailing list and stay tuned for updates.
One Nugget That Should Infuriate: Insurance Agents get a 30% Commission…EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
And explain to me how premiums can vary so wildly, from $4,500 to $45,000 and the payout is still only $250,000?
Just wait until the banks wake up and start sending out the new monthly payment statements and payments on modest homes increase by hundreds or thousands of dollars each month. That’s the time when people start to say,
I’m just not going to pay my mortgage anymore…come foreclose!
In the meantime, leave your email address to join our Biggert Waters Flood Update and click on the link below for the booklet:
What this means is that all the NEW YAWKHAAS who paid cash and get fat union pensions will remain in their homes while People that made a living in low wage Florida will be kicked to the curb again.
That’s just like my Aunts area ,, they moved into a real house in Brooklyn with a detached garage in 1973 and just paying the property taxes now is double her yearly SS payout.. Just old people who can’t afford food without renting out a bedroom or basement and Arabs and drug dealers in her neighborhood waiting for them to die or move.
No, the vast majority of New Yorkers bought condos, since they are typically second homes or retirement homes, which are MUCH less affected by Biggert-Waters because while near the water are high up.
It is pretty hard to flood on the 10th floor of a condo building, and thus the flood risk is MUCH lower despite being near the water (or right on it). Flood insurance is based on risk.
It is a lot more complex than that (grandfathering of flood rates etc) but that is a big factor- simply less risk in a 8 inch thick concrete building with hurricane windows that the single family home from 1950.
The “poor Floridians” bought single family homes which are prone to flooding and thus carry these higher premiums.
It has nothing to do with union pensions or anything like that.