All Forum Posts by: Lindsay Brake

@Travis Buchanan Welcome. Similar story here and also a new member! We flooded in Harvey (Beaumont Area) and had some extra cash to buy another house as well. Our priorities changed and I have been ravenously consuming FIRE media for the past year. We hope to rent our first property in the next month. 

@Eli Frederick There are a lot of win-win deals in disaster areas so I hope it works out! My primary residence neighborhood was 100% destroyed (FEMA designation). I'm about halfway done writing a post about my experience. A little over a year later and my ARV is $35 over what I paid 5 years ago. Half the neighborhood is in trailers and RVs in the driveway still, but the finished houses are selling because we are still a desirable place to live. My flood zone didn't get redone and my flood insurance is still $450.

@David S. I agree with this timeline in Harvey as well. The deals are there in the beginning for displaced, panicked and uninsured people FSBO because they have no emergency fund to pay for rent and a mortgage. Then when FEMA starts to come through and the neighbors start communicating they all list their houses with one realtor for the whole neighborhood at a set price/sqft.

My primary residence is rural and most of the local races are uncontested. I invest in a nearby metropolitan area. It could be more valuable to me to be able to vote for city council etc where I invest. Does anyone know the legality and ethics of registering at a rental address?

Thanks for clarifying this. I was confused because I had not heard of a FEMA contractor. My house flooded in Harvey and we did all non-electrical work ourselves and treated as a live-in flip. 

Originally posted by @Ryan Blake:

@Jennifer Jackson There is no such thing as FEMA approved contractors. FEMA does not back or guarantee any work done by any contractors. There is a government list (which is what I am thinking your mother-in-law used) called the SAM System for Award Management that holds a list specific to disaster relief. According to the FAQ about this list (located here) any company can register to be a part of this list for free and with no check other than filling out the form and waiting 2-3 days. It just puts you on a list saying you are a company willing to work in disaster areas. Nothing more. It didn't mention any backing/guarantee, insurance requirements, or even background checks.

You would need to go after the contractor and hope that he was sloppy in his entity creation or that the "other side of his business" still has assets and was part of the same entity.

You also may be able to go back to the insurance company to see if they will help with the filing of the suit. It will all depend on how helpful her insurance company really is.

Good luck. Sorry y'all are going through this.

Can you update how this is working for you?  My neighborhood was 100% affected but we were able to refinance a couple months ago after a full remodel. The comp situation is a bit complicated because most homes on the market are gutted. 

We were able to get a conventional mortgage for a single family home with less than 1 year of work experience right out of grad school. Underwriting was kind of a pain but they looked at our bank account, credit history and pay stubs and were able to get it done. The big lenders like Quicken wouldn't talk to us but we used a local broker recommended by our realtor, and they flipped it to Chase almost immediately. 

You can also include house hacking in your childcare strategy if you work outside the home. I grew up in a town with a university and several families I grew up with had students live with them and also provide after-school care. We plan to do this as well when our children are school age.