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msc.fema.gov/nfhl It’s pretty trivial to find if a property is in a floodplain. A mortgage is such a significant financial burden that I would hope most people

by sk2020 6y ago

msc.fema.gov/nfhl It’s pretty trivial to find if a property is in a floodplain. A mortgage is such a significant financial burden that I would hope most people would thoroughly research a property before signing a contract. However, many people can’t be bothered to care until their mortgage underwriter forces them to buy insurance. Most of those assume everyone just gets bailed out whenever their house at the bottom of a valley floods. I was a FPA for 2 years for a mid-sized city.

wrs 6y ago
When I lived in Palo Alto 25 years ago, and one of California’s periodic droughts ended, a lot of recent arrivals were VERY surprised to discover than a lot of Palo Alto is a flood plain area. When they moved in, it hardly ever rained, much less flooded. (Also, I suspect they may not have bought earthquake insurance.)
- lozaning 6y ago
  I rented a room in a house in San Jose through the absolute garbage company that was HubHaus. The person who owned the home and rented it to hub haus had bought the home like 4 years before I moved in and had a bunch of work done by shady contractors without a permit. Well in 2019 Cali finally got out of its drought and the deck that sloped into the house connected to my room had water pool on it and then leak into the house. Landlord claimed it had never happened before and so clearly it was my fault. Hub Haus being the spineless crooks they are sided with the landlord despite clear evidence of code violations and lack of permits.
  - sk2020 6y ago
    I’d say that’s poor workmanship rather than flooding as defined by NFIP. Sloping an addition away from a structure is pretty basic. The contractor might be bonded, but you don’t own the property, so I wouldn’t say there’s much recourse for you, unfortunately. Generally speaking, residential construction is very high risk for meager returns. Market incentives just don’t align with spending an additional 2-3X on labor to use expert craftsman.

by sk2020 6y ago

wrs 6y ago

When I lived in Palo Alto 25 years ago, and one of California’s periodic droughts ended, a lot of recent arrivals were VERY surprised to discover than a lot of Palo Alto is a flood plain area. When they moved in, it hardly ever rained, much less flooded. (Also, I suspect they may not have bought earthquake insurance.)

lozaning 6y ago
I rented a room in a house in San Jose through the absolute garbage company that was HubHaus. The person who owned the home and rented it to hub haus had bought the home like 4 years before I moved in and had a bunch of work done by shady contractors without a permit. Well in 2019 Cali finally got out of its drought and the deck that sloped into the house connected to my room had water pool on it and then leak into the house. Landlord claimed it had never happened before and so clearly it was my fault. Hub Haus being the spineless crooks they are sided with the landlord despite clear evidence of code violations and lack of permits.
- sk2020 6y ago
  I’d say that’s poor workmanship rather than flooding as defined by NFIP. Sloping an addition away from a structure is pretty basic. The contractor might be bonded, but you don’t own the property, so I wouldn’t say there’s much recourse for you, unfortunately. Generally speaking, residential construction is very high risk for meager returns. Market incentives just don’t align with spending an additional 2-3X on labor to use expert craftsman.