As you may know from my posting here my wife and I are looking into buying an investment / vacation property in FL in the next year or so but I just came across this bit of news and wanted some input from someone who lives there now and what you know about it. If this is the way it is going to be this will change our plans for inter-coastal living in Florida lol.
If you don't know about it maybe it will be an eye opener for you to share with others in your area.

http://sayanythingbl...das-new-normal/

Thanks in advance


I sent this message to all the Florida residents I know of in FL and the bottom response is from Johnfak just so everyone knows what is going on, I decided to make it a public topic so everyone knows about it..



Hey Bill
Got this invite for personal conversation with Tracy. Wasn't clear if you were after something from me

A lot of stuff is changing with regard to FLOOD .... and its hard to say exactly but looks like it will be backed by free market for around $4000 per year to insure up to $250k of building. Thats the basics but becomes more complex with other stuff like flood history and flood zone maps. Condos are different as well. You will request a flood insurance quote from the underwriting companies at time of offer for example ..

Anyway - my wife is an agent in St Pete beach. If you want I can pass you her details - regardless of if St Pete is a potential target location - shed be glad to help a fellow MM1973 fellow.



Thanks John this is the exact info I was looking for!
 

Hey gang ........ I'll have my wife post in here sometime today hopefully. She's much more up to speed with the flood stuff being a realtor down here but the net effect of it is it loks like whilst flood insurance will go up ...... it will be much more in line with what you'd expect to pay ......  reworded ....."affordable". Still not cheap and each scenario is a little different I think based on flood elevations and flood damage history on a property ......

 

So a lot of people that were getting quotes of $10k-$50k per year are now being covered for closer to the $4k I mentioned above ..... I'll let her do the remainder of updating soon  

I have been in contact with your wife and have already learned a few things.

So spoke with Glenna (wife) and she said to pass on this link which she sent to Bill which gives everyone a good understanding of where things are at in Florida right now - http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/08/3859626/legislation-is-fast-tracked-to.html.  

 

She is a realtor in the St Pete/Redington Beach area of Florida and in summary there are still a lot of balls in the air - but generally speaking the private sector is coming to the plate and providing policies for a lot of the homes at affordable rates. It still depends on each property and its flood zone and its flood history if the property can be insured in private market or not or has to go under FEMA and actuary rates.

 

Anyway - long story short - if you want help in getting info or getting hooked up with either a good realtor or insurance agent in the southwest region of florida- PM me and I will pass on her details.

 

thx

 

John

So I think you told me .... but when you visting here next ?? Going to swing by ?

Won't be until later this year and all depends on the sale of the twin home in Bismarck my sister and I inherited from our mother whom we lost last February . Once and if it sells then we will be on the hunt for another rental / vacation property.

We have some work to do on the property before putting it on the market by late spring hopefully plus we need to work around the current renters too, don't want to put them out on short notice either, will see what happens come spring.

But as I wrote your wife via e-mail we want to check out the gulf areas north of Tampa, your wife told me about a few areas / towns that might fit the bill for what we are looking for similar to the Ft Meyers / Naples areas, inter-coastal with gulf access via canal or river front properties.

Edited January 20, 201411 yr by Wild and Free

Mike "needs' to take out "GLACIER  INSURANCE"!!

Mike "needs' to take out "GLACIER  INSURANCE"!!

 

You might want to look into some log insurance. I would hate to loose that one.

He is just trying to hold down the single most important piece of furniture in the house!

He is just trying to hold down the single most important piece of furniture in the house!

 

 

Happiness is that first cup of coffee in the morning followed by the morning constitution!!!

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/banking/us-senate-expected-to-vote-today-to-delay-flood-insurance-rate-hikes/2163389

Won't be until later this year and all depends on the sale of the twin home in Bismarck my sister and I inherited from our mother whom we lost last February . Once and if it sells then we will be on the hunt for another rental / vacation property.

We have some work to do on the property before putting it on the market by late spring hopefully plus we need to work around the current renters too, don't want to put them out on short notice either, will see what happens come spring.

But as I wrote your wife via e-mail we want to check out the gulf areas north of Tampa, your wife told me about a few areas / towns that might fit the bill for what we are looking for similar to the Ft Meyers / Naples areas, inter-coastal with gulf access via canal or river front properties.

I missed part of this sorry ...

 

I really like the homosassa/wiki area about 1 hour north of st pete/tampa. Lots of kayaking/open water and quite quiet ....... semi rural ......

Can be a little hit and miss on the quality of neighbours in parts ....... and its low lying so flood would be a deal unless you payed cash and didnt insure .....(lots of people do) ...... or bought a house built up ........

I have been looking at property north of Tampa and I have seen several of the elevated home built on stilts, we saw this was really common for homes along the beaches of Kauai Hawaii when we went there several years ago.  From looking and researching we are thinking a Condo would fit our needs best for now as a rental / vacation property until we actually decided to move down there if that ever happens. With a condo the insurance and exterior maintenance is covered with the monthly fees. We are thinking a 2nd floor of higher location would be best to lessen out potential for ground flooding.

I will know more in a few weeks when I talk to our tax advisor to get more details of the potential sale of my moms home and what we need to do as far as reinvesting ect. to keep cleptocrats off our back.

 

My wife and I would sell out everything here in ND and move down there in an instant if not for my wife being so close with her mother who is still alive and well at 80 years old and still living on the farm by herself. As long as she is there on the farm my wife will not leave home. That at this point is the only thing on the planet holding us here for now.

 

My wife being a massage therapist can work anywhere and with my life's experience could find work doing a lot of different things, I would like to get a law enforcement degree and some more biology classes and try to become a Game warden or a career along those lines which I think would be a blast down there. I have been looking into taking more college courses to do this. We are essentially debt free " an awesome feeling at almost 43 and having been lucky enough to have a good job with endless OT to work I stuck everything I could for the last 10 years into paying off and fixing up our home and paying down our other bills" so we can live quite comfortably on salaries smaller than we currently have. If we moved down there we would look to buy a small hobby farm 5-10 acres all depending on the price and location for my wife's horse and possibly a few head of cattle and other self sustaining animals for food and profit.

We loved the area around La Belle about 30 miles east of Ft Myers as well and being a farming community looked quite inviting as well and it is still along the Caloosahachee river and away from major flood risks like being close by the coast.

 

My wife and I both have seen and been involved in both sad and tragic life experiences at a lot younger age than most should or a lot never will "We hope" and have made the best of things and worked through them and we both want a more relaxing life from here on out as we have seen how short life can be and want to live in an area we can be out in nature "Enjoyably" more than a few months a year to take in life's finer and simpler things.

 

Phew!!! That was a load off my mind and typing, hope I didn't bore anyone from getting to personal there.  

We'd enjoy having you guys in the area ....

Then I can come bug you for tips on my truck ha .....I'll have to check out la belle sometime.

You fish ? We do a bit if that here in kayaks mainly ....

I have been looking at property north of Tampa and I have seen several of the elevated home built on stilts, we saw this was really common for homes along the beaches of Kauai Hawaii when we went there several years ago.  From looking and researching we are thinking a Condo would fit our needs best for now as a rental / vacation property until we actually decided to move down there if that ever happens. With a condo the insurance and exterior maintenance is covered with the monthly fees. We are thinking a 2nd floor of higher location would be best to lessen out potential for ground flooding.

I will know more in a few weeks when I talk to our tax advisor to get more details of the potential sale of my moms home and what we need to do as far as reinvesting ect. to keep cleptocrats off our back.

 

My wife and I would sell out everything here in ND and move down there in an instant if not for my wife being so close with her mother who is still alive and well at 80 years old and still living on the farm by herself. As long as she is there on the farm my wife will not leave home. That at this point is the only thing on the planet holding us here for now.

 

My wife being a massage therapist can work anywhere and with my life's experience could find work doing a lot of different things, I would like to get a law enforcement degree and some more biology classes and try to become a Game warden or a career along those lines which I think would be a blast down there. I have been looking into taking more college courses to do this. We are essentially debt free " an awesome feeling at almost 43 and having been lucky enough to have a good job with endless OT to work I stuck everything I could for the last 10 years into paying off and fixing up our home and paying down our other bills" so we can live quite comfortably on salaries smaller than we currently have. If we moved down there we would look to buy a small hobby farm 5-10 acres all depending on the price and location for my wife's horse and possibly a few head of cattle and other self sustaining animals for food and profit.

We loved the area around La Belle about 30 miles east of Ft Myers as well and being a farming community looked quite inviting as well and it is still along the Caloosahachee river and away from major flood risks like being close by the coast.

 

My wife and I both have seen and been involved in both sad and tragic life experiences at a lot younger age than most should or a lot never will "We hope" and have made the best of things and worked through them and we both want a more relaxing life from here on out as we have seen how short life can be and want to live in an area we can be out in nature "Enjoyably" more than a few months a year to take in life's finer and simpler things.

 

Phew!!! That was a load off my mind and typing, hope I didn't bore anyone from getting to personal there.  

 

 

You're killing me here………………….I wanna move "up" there!!!

lol..... well nothing is set in concrete yet. In reality it would probably be a few years before we leave Good ol ND.

You're killing me here………………….I wanna move "up" there!!!

I'll sell you my place!

I'll sell you my place!

 

 

Tempting,  but you're in Minnesota.  I'd loose all my contacts in NoDak if'n I started driving up with Minnesota plates!!

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/boehner-sounds-hopeful-about-passing-flood-insurance-bill/2167659

http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/3370?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22HR+3370%22%5D%7D

 

Bill was passed by senate.

Means rates will increase, but much more in line with a sustainable rate based on coverage. Other options coming to forefront to with private market. Im not a realtor/insurance person  but my own take on this (as I'm looking to invest in FL have sold our MO property) is that this will have an uptrend in sales and prices purely as it puts a bit of a known reference to insurance costs.

There will be a few months sorting it out I am sure.

 

Good news.

http://proview.tampabayrealtor.com/2014/03/14/flood-bill-passes-house-and-senate/

 

Obama signed.