I am new here. I bought my first primary residence in the summer of 2020 in Orlando, FL. It's a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom single family house which I had been renting out the extra rooms until Hurricane Ian flooded my neighborhood (flood zone) last month. The water reached a height of about 3-4 feet inside the house. I lost pretty much everything and had to move back in with my parents but fortunately, I have flood insurance but only covers the structure. Since then, I've had the dry walls removed and left heaters/dehumidifiers running around the clock absorbing every bit of moisture. We also treated the house for mold. The house is salvageable and I am just waiting for my flood insurance to provide a $20k advance to begin restoration. So far, so good.

Let's say I'm able to restore the house back to good condition. I don't want to go through this again. I've been told to just sell the house after restoring it. I'm trying to decide if it's the right time to sell and make my next investment but I'm hesitant because of the increase in interest rates and real estate prices if I were to buy again. Another concern of mine is if I don't sell now, then I may not be able to sell at all due to the slowdown/potential crash in the housing market.

My house Zestimate was $284k (I know it's not accurate). I bought the house at around $211k and the balance on my mortgage is currently $197k @ 3% interest.

Does it seem reasonable to sell and use the profits to put into a down payment for either a 5 bedroom or a multifamily property so I can rent out rooms or units and househack? I'm not worried about finding tenants. I'm more worried about being way over my head and putting myself in a situation where I lose the wonderful 3% interest rate on my current mortgage and struggle with a much higher one at a higher price.

Should I just keep the current house and deal with the risk of future flooding until prices come down before thinking about buying a new place? Or should I make a move as soon as possible while I still can and wait to refinance in the future?

I will be talking to my RE agent but I just wanted to see if anyone on here is or has been through a similar situation and could provide insights. I don't feel safe in my own home anymore. I don't even feel motivated to decorate nor install new furniture if another flood is going to ruin everything again.

Edit: I apologize if I posted this in the wrong category but I am very much trying to use this opportunity to officially start my real estate journey and take it serious rather than let what happen to me put me down. I had been renting out rooms previously but I want to take it one step further and grow.

Orlando, Florida

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