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I live in Michigan. My wife's mom recently passed and my wife and her brother inherited the family home - which sits in a flood zone. The house actually sits on the bank of a creek, which about every 10 years becomes a river and twice in the past 30 years has led to water in their walkout basement, the worst case around 20 years ago was perhaps a foot or 14" of water.
This house will be for sale soon and I'm wondering what steps (if any) we should take to prepare for the sale. There is no question that the basement could flood again someday, and I wouldn't want to mislead a potential buyer, but among other things we have raised to furnace and water heater in the basement to a level that has never seen water and there may be other things we could do to help mitigate the problem - and hopefully help sell the house. Are there various stages of flood assessment? Having some water in the basement while certainly inconvenient doesn't compare to main floor living space flooding. Would having the property re-surveyed be of benefit? Michigan requires flood insurance for homes in flood zones, but I'm not well versed enough to know if the premiums are in a sliding scale related to potential damage. Thank you in advance for advice.
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05-11-2018, 12:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-11-2018, 01:00 PM by CLETUS.)
Put the house up for sale... The concerns you listed are actually the buyers concerns. There will be a search done to see if it's in a flood zone. If so, the buyers will be required to obtain flood insurance. Other than the cost of insurance decreasing the value of the home, it's really not your concern. In fact, since you didn't live in the home, there is nothing for you to disclose to a buyer about water in the basement. "Legally"
Here are a couple links for you... If you want to read up...
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/cis_o...4998_7.pdf
This one has a link to contact your DEQ floodplain engineer...
"For site specific questions, the Water Resources Division will provide an estimated 100-year flood elevation. To make such an estimate, the District floodplain engineer will need a map (preferably with a property description) showing the location of the property, an estimate as to how high the property is above the water level of the river, lake or stream, and how far the building site is away from the water. There is no charge for this service, however, depending on workload, the determination may take 4 to 8 weeks. "
https://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,4561,7-13...--,00.html
Better link on how they determine risk
https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/w...9916_7.pdf
Link to search for the address
https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search
Mark
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New York has a full disclosure law. You have to disclose things like flooding.
If it were me, I would hire a house inspector and have a full inspection report made up with instructions that prior to any sale the buyer should read and familiarize themselves with the contents of the report.
In that way they cannot, at the closing, claim that they need a discount for flood damage if it was itemized in the inspection report.
An inspection report cost me $300.00 some 20 years ago. I guess it is $500.00 or more now. But it can easily save far more than that, and they will have their own inspection so all will be discovered anyway.
There are arguments against this tactic, but I still think it makes a lot of sense.
Additionally, you might want to address some of the issues prior to the sale to improve the sale-ability of the property.
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Its a house next to a creek. Its a given that its in a flood plain... But like said put it up for sale and let the system start working.
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If you can't raise the house or lower the creek, don't worry about it. The fact that it floods will be known during the sale.
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Thanks guys -and Cletus for the helpful links. I've always been a 'forewarned is forearmed' kinda guy, so even though I understand what will be will be, I'd like to know about the process before we put the house on the market. To be clear, we have no intention of misleading a would-be buyer, but if there steps to take to improve marketability and profit, well, that just seems the smart thing to do
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(05-12-2018, 10:55 AM)ed kerns Wrote: Thanks guys -and Cletus for the helpful links. I've always been a 'forewarned is forearmed' kinda guy, so even though I understand what will be will be, I'd like to know about the process before we put the house on the market. To be clear, we have no intention of misleading a would-be buyer, but if there steps to take to improve marketability and profit, well, that just seems the smart thing to do
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Generally Realtors really don't want much information from the seller. They act like a lawyer and want no more info than they ask for and do not want any communication between the buyer and seller at all. Besides if there is something the state requires the Realtor will ask you for that info as that's their job and what you are hiring them for and paying a hefty fee for.
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Around here you would have to disclose the prior flooding unless something has been done to prevent the problem.
I got water in my old house - it would come up the sewer. I installed a check valve - it eliminated the problem. I did not have to disclose any previous issues.
An inspector will probably spot water damage unless you painted everything. It's hard to hide everything with flooding. Raising the furnace is a good indication there were issues.
Since it's on a creek - I would say the owner is going to ask. Just do not lie.
John
Always use the right tool for the job.
We need to clean house.
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I would probably express my concerns to my RE attorney, and let him/her tell you if anything has to be done. Since he/she works for you, that's as far as it should go, unless some disclosure has to be made.
Tom
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(05-15-2018, 08:59 AM)TDKPE Wrote: I would probably express my concerns to my RE attorney, and let him/her tell you if anything has to be done. Since he/she works for you, that's as far as it should go, unless some disclosure has to be made.
+1
We can all give advise - but since it's free you get what you pay for. The attorney is the right person to ask.
John
Always use the right tool for the job.
We need to clean house.
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