Flood Insurance: What Your Clients Should Know

With the looming hurricanes ahead of us, we’ve been thinking a lot about flood insurance – how well are we communicating this with our clients?

Some clients don’t even think about this until it’s too late. It is up to the real estate professionals to make sure they have all the information they need before making the decision to buy a home.

1. Learn the history of the property.

Is the home built at the bottom of a hill? Has the basement been prone to flooding in the past? Is the home located in a known flood zone? – This is all information that you should figure out before showing a home. It is something that clients need to know about, whether it will deter their decision to purchase that home or not. The history of the home plays a large role in the type of flood insurance a buyer may need.

2. Make sure insurance prices are disclosed.

This is something that you and the buyer should talk about before they decide to close on the home. It is crucial for them to know how much extra money they will have to invest in their home before they buy it – and flood insurance is a big part of that. Make sure your clients are aware of all of the numbers before going through with the buying transaction.

3. Renting has its risks!

If your client is purchasing a home that they are planning to rent out, or one that will have long-term vacancies, the flood insurance could possibly be much more expensive. If the land itself is vacant, flood insurance isn’t necessary, but any home that your client won’t have full-time residency of can cost them greatly when it comes to flood insurance – so much so that they may want to rethink their decision if the property is in a high-risk flood zone.