Two years ago, I lost my house to a flood.
I had flood insurance. Unfortunately, the damages far exceeded the insurance proceeds. Both because the maximum flood insurance coverage on a residential structure is $250,000 and because flood insurance doesn't cover damages caused by the movement or loss of earth (which is what caused my house to move off its foundation and ultimately collapse).
Flood insurance also does not cover alternate living arrangements. So I have spent the last two years paying my mortgage and property taxes as well as paying rent for a place to live.
With the house destroyed, I was seriously underwater on my mortgage. If I sold my land, I would have had to bring hundreds of thousands of dollars to the closing to pay off the mortgage. My options were basically foreclosure or building a new house on the property.
So while paying my mortgage, property taxes, and rent, I have also been paying to building a house these past two years. The flood insurance proceeds are held by the mortgage company, and are released to me at various stages of completion. Every penny spent on remediation and construction has been paid out of pocket, with reimbursement coming months later. Once I had enough of the house built that I had equity again, I was able to take out a loan to finish construction. I had to dip into my savings to build to the point where I had sufficient equity.
The house will be done soon. I have an anemic savings account and a second mortgage. But damn it, I AM GOING HOME!
Submitted April 27, 2017 at 11:29PM by Grumpymommy http://ift.tt/2oREfDR
