Is Flood Insurance Required?
Flood insurance isn’t required country-wide. There are parts of the country in which mandated flood insurance wouldn’t be useful to the average property owner.
Depending on where your property is, though, you might actually be required to purchase flood insurance.
Because of the National Flood Insurance Program, property owners and renters in certain flood-prone parts of the country are required to have some kind of flood insurance. This is to help protect public and private property and prevent socio-economic problems that can stem from heavy and destructive flooding.
If the home is mortgaged in one of the high-risk flood areas, the owner needs to pay flood insurance to protect the property of the lender. Check out a flood map to see where your property lands.
If you do require flood insurance based on your location, there are plenty of providers and ways to find the one for you. Check out betterflood.com to get a quote!
What About When It’s Not Required?
When you aren’t living in a flood zone, you aren’t legally required to get flood insurance. Does this mean that you shouldn’t?
Well, let’s talk about it. Homeowners insurance doesn’t cover the cost of floods, meaning that if a flood were to happen, it would be paid out of pocket.
But that’s not a big deal if you live in a medium or low-risk zone, right?
Well, maybe.
Over 20% of floods happen in low or medium risk flood zones. The average flood claim is $30,000, meaning that if you’re in one of those zones and you’ve elected to not get insured, you can be out a lot of money.
The cost of flood insurance varies by state, but it tends to average out around $850 per year with some reaching over $1,000 and some in the $500 zone. Even if you have to pay closer to $1,000 per year, it’s a tiny number in comparison to the cost of an uninsured flood.
Is flood insurance expensive? A little bit, but not when you put it up against the tens of thousands of dollars you could spend on the damage.
Is the Cost of Flood Insurance Worth it?
The cost of flood insurance might make you want to avoid getting it, but it’s totally worth it if you’re at all at risk of flooding in your property. Even the smallest amount of water can cause thousands of dollars in damage.
If you can protect yourself against that, it’s worth it.
For more posts like this on making the best decisions for your properties, check out the rest of our site.
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