Barry,

I did have flood insurance. The standard issue FEMA underwritten policy.

But if it's not a primary residence, the game changes. First as we discussed earlier, no contents coverage, no coverage for exterior damage - my deck / dock / floater etc.

Second because it's not a primary residence, they pay a depreciated value for all damage. They only pay replacement cost if it is a primary residence. FEMA adjuster - some import from Alabama, ended up writing my estimate at 71k. He also did some dumb stuff - like expecting me to re use the porcelain sinks / toilets in the bathrooms (because they are impervious to water), the interior door handles etc..... So then since my house was built in 1992, they proceeded to depreciate the amount by 45% and I ended up with a FEMA ins check for 46,100. My homeowners ins paid for the roof - after an argument - at first they wanted to pay only for the repair of the missing tiles. That was $4200 minus my $500 deductable. = 3700. So I ended up with basically 50k.

I am also not eligible for any of the emergency FEMA aid, because it wasn't a primary residence. Basically anyone who had a shore house as a second residence, fema basically said "sucks to be you".

This was to redo the entire first floor, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, living room, dining room etc. New sheet rock, new electric, new everything basically. I did save the top 1/2 of some of the sheet rock, but I cut out all the insulation. I still remember the disgusting feeling of pulling out my pocket knife and just slicing through the soaked sheetrock, and having water pour out as I pulled out the soaked insulation. The house nees New HVAC, new Appliances, etc. Plus the deck, dock, floater etc were all my problem. As was the lost bbq grill, 3 of 4 patio chairs - that are probably on the bottom of the canal, heat lamps, the list of things that were lost or destroyed goes on and on and on. They also pulled a lot of stupid crap, like the bottom kitchen cabinets were destroyed ok we'll replace them, but the tops weren't so they aren't covered...

I too wanted the house to dry completely before I attempted any repairs.
So far I've had the roof redone - $5100 with a 30 year timberline shingle. I did all the electric myself - About $2300 in romex and outlets, switches etc. Then I put all new insulation and I hung all the drywall myself, but I had a company come in and tape / mud / sand it - $3500 total.

The paver deck, including a walkway from front to back, new dock and floater were $8900. Total spent so far, $19,800.

So I have $30k left to replace all floors, interior doors, two bathrooms, a brand new kitchen including appliances, paint, two exterior doors (which are kinda ok) New HVAC - gas heat and electric central air, washer / dryer.. etc.

Oh and furnish the house, tv's etc.

So yeah. I'm good but not that good. My plan for the spring / summer is to maybe get it finished to the point where it's theoretically habitable.

We'll talk boats when I'm in a more jovial mood, but I have 65 ft of canal frontage, with a 25 foot floater. I can easily tie a 42' cabin cruiser. (Which I will own someday... LOL). Our canals lead out to the bay, basically directly across from AC. You can see the casinos on a clear day.

Any of this sound familiar?

Take care,

George

 

George,
My neighbor had flood insurance and this is he's summer home, he got all his damage covered under his flood policy. I have found a lot comes down to the adjuster and how much the home owner is willing to fight. The thing is though since it is not your primary residents you don't qualify for any of the grants and other special programs being offered to people that the damaged house was their primary residents.

Originally my flood policy only paid about 60% of my damage amount. The insurance company sent two ya-who adjusters from Texas that were more concerned about getting their cowboy boots muddy then my damage. After fighting with the company for 3 and a half months and getting nowhere I sat down for 3 days and did a 15 page excel sheet. I detailed item for item with my actual cost and what they paid and backed it up with estimates or actual invoices. When finished I sent it off to the company and 3 weeks later I received a call saying they reviewed my figures and agree with them. In another 3 weeks I received another check for the full amount I asked for.

The down side, you are so right they do not cover anything outside the house primary residents or not. I lost a hot tub, a good 50K in tools, 5K in navigational charts I kept in a cabinet in the garage which I used to make some of my living.

In the end I got all most the entire house sheet rocked, totally rewired, all the floors including sub flooring replaced, all windows and exterior doors, all interior doors, woodwork, entire HVAC system and relocated to the attic, lower kitchen cabinets, entire bathroom, interior completely painted, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, water heater. The exterior roof and siding damage was covered under the Home Owners Policy because that was caused by the wind.

I did come out of pocket about 12K to pay for the upper kitchen cabinets, granite counter tops, cloths washer and dryer and other furnishings. Fema did give us another $5500 as a furnishing allowance even though we didn't have contents on the flood policy but you know how far $5500 goes.

I will end this saga on this thread, Jaguars are more fun to talk about. Any questions PM me.