tropical storm allison flooded houston - i'm looking to purchase a home that was flooded, and immediately remediated.  should i be worried?  maybe i shouldjust look for another house?
123305
If you are handy with a hammer and you can buy it dirt cheap, why not? You will have to replace a lot of stuff like sheetrock but you can come out pretty good if the price is right and you have the time.\n\nIf it has already been done, then I would really scrutinize the repairs. And still want it cheap-----just in case!
320054
Everybody looks.\nFind a distressed property that can be fixed up.\nLook for a location that will improve in the future. Something inside a city that cannot expand outward. I just tripled my money in 5 years. Florida is hot now.
343794
I have been through a Tornado. We moved down into the basement. Do they have anything underground in your building? Storage or parking? I would go down as low and you can in the building and stay in a doorway.\n\nIt has been several hours since you posted, I am wondering if everything is ok now.
159885
We bought a foreclosed home last year.  We found it listed in the MLS, right along with all of the other houses in the neighborhood.  Our Realtor showed it to us.  We made an offer and had an answer the same day.  It took six weeks to get a closing on a cash deal.  There was some extra paperwork, mostly releasing the bank from any liability for things not working.\n\nThe house had been vacant for 2 years, and had not been well maintained prior to that.  Once we had the power turned on we found that the furnace, fridge, and hot water heater did not work.  We fixed the hot water heater for $20 in parts and the furnace for an $85 service call.  We did have to buy a new fridge.  We have replaced all of the floor coverings, some drywall, gutted the kitchen & bathroom, made some repairs to the roof.  We are still messing with the plumbing.  We are very close to being done with the renovations (finally), and it is starting to feel like home.\n\nOn the up side of all of this, we got our house for less than half of its market value.  By doing the work ourselves we saved a ton of $$$ on the rehab.  I would go this route again.\n\nMy advice to you would be to locate a Realtor in your area.  There are some that specialize in this type of listing.
330062
From my experience, absolutely from a home owner. My husband and I just bought our first house this week from an individual.  We had several bad experiences with our realtor. Just alot of underhanded bidding within his real estate firm.  Plus, they take that 7% commission rate.  So, when the real estate co prices houses, they usually up the price to account for this. \nIf I had it to do all over again, I would not get a realtor to help in my search.  Look in your local newspaper, homes for sale books, search the web. It took us almost two years to find a house, just keep looking. I would explore both options though. Just do the looking yourself and save yourself some hassle.
394645
Pools can be shaky ground.  If your home inspector said it was ok, then I'd call him.  The problem with home inspections is that they aren't required by law and they aren't bonded and insured.  So really all they do is just look it over and give you an opinion.  As far as any liability they have, I don't know of any.  Bet a second opinion from a pool professional and make them explain what they find.  As far as I'm aware there is no organization that oversees home inspectors or guarantees thier performance.  $1000 to repair a pool leak suggest a minor problem if any.  If there is in fact a problem, it's probably yours to deal with.  Again pools are a shaky area in home purchasing, and are generally regarded as "buy at your own risk."  As far as the old owners are concerned, you'd have to prove they had knowlege of problem, and that could be impossible.  Unless more major problems are encountered, I wouldn't involve an attorney.
504610
You are in idiot.  You are acting like you have a solid asset for sale.  I would rather buy an apartment building that was built on quick sand, and built on a fault line and built in a hurricane zone.  To me that seems like a more solid asset.\n\nGood luck.
128946
I have been through Lafeyett,La. Not much their. La. Got hit so hard by Katrina Hurricane, they all have not recovered yet, I would wait another 1-2 before moving their.
193144
I'm a FEMA employee(responding to this question on behalf of my daughter), and I see situations like this all the time: it does appear that New Orleans residents are receiving more help/support than other Katrina survivors; however, I would simply encourage you to contact FEMA, by phone, and request a FEMA trailer -- if you haven't already -- ask for rental assitance -- if you're not already getting it (starting the process is a relatively simple process, and ideally, you can have a check, averaging $2,358, for your first 3 rental months, within 14 days (this can possibly continue for 18 months of rent coverage). Also, if you had personal property losses (the contents of your home -- renter or owner), you can/should be compensated by FEMA for it. If for some reason you received nothing, appeal FEMA's decision for another chance to be awarded something. Writing a brief appeal letter and asking for a reconsideration is your most effective tool to address any decision FEMA makes that you are not pleased with.  Also, there are other programs -- such as HUD's "Disaster Voucher Program" -- that can assist you in achieving your goal of getting back to MS, re-gaining employment, and getting back on your feet.  More than anything, know this, despite what you've heard, FEMA really does try to help and really can help! When you call us up and get a phone representative who is insensitive to your struggle, unwilling to spend the necessary time on helping you get the help you need, rude or rushed -- simply shorten the call with that person and call back until you get someone who really wants to help you! We have many resource phone numbers that can help -- other than FEMA -- ask for them when you call us -- make us give them to you.  Please know that we can help, and some of us, many of us take our work/mission at FEMA very seriously, and we won't rest until we know that we have truly done our best, and all that we can do, to assist families like yours get re-established! I trust, hope and pray that you and yours will find yourselves in the place you want to be real soon!
228768
There is no assurance that New Orleans will be hit by another hurricane, just as there is no assurance they won't be.  While I'm not a psychic, from previous years and studies of hurricanes, it's very unlikely that another hurricane will hit them this year and even more unlikely that a large hurricane will hit.\n\nMany younger adults, mostly people in their twenties, are taking advantage of the large amount of homes available for sale.  While the homes need much repair, a recent college graduate who was looking at a small house in another large city can afford to buy a big house in New Orleans and then renovate it for the same price.  While home insurance is expensive in the city, the price of the home, repair, and insurance still doesn't meet what you'd pay somewhere like California.\n\nThere's also the fact that many people don't have a choice to live somewhere else.  While many people have moved out of the city, most of the people that were displaced by the storm are extremely poor.  They didn't own their homes, many didn't have insurance, and Fema has drastically cut the amount of aid they are giving to people.  However, many of the cities they have been living with are also cutting off aid and so they are forced to return to their broken homes, the only thing they own, and attempt to rebuild (they certainly can't sell their homes in the state in which they are in). \n\nFinally, New Orleans is still a major shipping and oil port and people are needed to work the jobs to get things on and off ships.  My mother's oil company has actually offered large amounts of money and incentives to get people from her KY office to move down there and work.  Hope this helps explain things.
435620
Hmm...\nThis is not a question. Please review the Community Guidelines to prevent further Y! Answers disasters.
673553
pick up a homes magazine, there should be forclosed homes in there. U can always go to palm harbor homes and find a mobile home, or search online for forclosed homes in ur area. My 1st house was forclosed and we bought it for almost $40,000 less than appraisal value. Good luck!
97008
For about 3 months, I put into storage all of my furniture, washer, dryer, computer, TV included and everything was fine. I stored them in a unit that was metal with a concrete floor. However, about 6 months after I removed everything, the units flooded due to a rare storm we had so make sure there are no creeks or streams too close. And I had renters insurance from my insurance company just in case. it was like $10 a month, if that. hope this helps!
106932
Make all needed repairs unless you want the house to be regarded as a fixer-upper. I'm not referring to cosmetic updates--just items in need of repair. Anything that's obviously broken gives potential buyers a reason to offer you a lower price, especially if it's one of several repair hot spots that worry buyers the most. Like the roof, mold and mildew, electrical system pipes and drainage.
40138
It is mandatory that you have homeowners insurance in New Orleans and flood insurance in a flood zone, which many areas that weren't considered flood zones and had never flooded before had 8ft. of water.  Fema is thouroghly investigating each and every situation and requiring all kinds of proof of insurance from home owners to determine if they need further assistance after contacting insurance agencies, they are not just handing out checks!\nThe people that didn't have insurance were RENTERS, not just poor black people.  Fema is giving them money for personal property inside there home that was lost.  Wouldn't you want the government to help you get a new start in life after you just lost everything you owned and now left in a unfamiliar place?  I mean what were the people paying taxes for if when they have a major (devastation leaving them jobless) interruption in their lives they can't get some help!\nThere have been so many negative things said about the people from New Orleans, but how can anyone who has not gone through what they have gone through say what they should or should not be doing, how they should or should not feel. If you didn't have to go through it, you will never be able to understand how it fells to be in a city that is entirely covered by water (except the french quaters), with no lights, food, and water in extremely hot weather, sitting on a roof top or a bridge with your small children or sick elderly parents, watching dead people float by you, and there aren't enough boats and rescue workers so they have to take one or two of you to safety (the superdome?) hoping they will remember to go back and get the others before they die. Some people couldn't even make it to their attic in time and were found floating on a mattres with only a few inches between them and the ceiling(close your eyes and imagine that you were laying there hoping and praying that by the grace of God somebody finds YOU, when thousands of people were in the same or similar situation). \nMANDATORY EVACUATION WASN'T ISSUED IN THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS UNTIL SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2005. SOME HOURS BEFORE LANDFALL NOT SEVERAL DAYS.
382086
FEMA NEVER requires flood insurance - it offers it.  The BANK is requiring flood insurance, in order for you to borrow the money. \n\n\nEvery few years, the National Flood Insurance Plan "re-maps" areas.  Your area might not have been in a 100 year flood plain for the first mortgage, but a re-mapping could mean it supposedly is now.  You can always contest it, by providing an "elevation certificate" which you need to get from a surveyor.\n\nFlood plain areas change, due to construction, erosion, and water movement patterns.  \n\nAdditionally, it might not be in one, but the person reading the flood map might have made an error with the reading. \n\nThe short of it is - this isn't FEMA, this is the bank.   Flood plains change.  And people make mistakes.
52398
You have the question I have been looking for, the perfect question right up my ally.  \nI do reserve studies and budgeting for condo/ HOA’s for part of my job.  As the last poster mentioned, check your CC&R’s for any thing you can find.  Second, get your hands on a copy of the most recent reserve study or budget.  This document will usually have a line item for deck repair or replacement.  If it doesn’t you may not be out of luck just yet.  Argue that most association include this type of repairs w/ those of the association because water damage or penetration in a failing deck could result in damage to other units (under you) or to the structure itself (their responsibility).  The only place I’ve seen an association flat out refuse to pay for fixing/repairing a deck is when the damage to the deck has been caused by the actions of the homeowner.\n\nConsider this; if a deck fails and someone falls though it, landing on the association’s common area and it’s the sudden stop on their ground that injures them, who’s paying for it?