Buying in a flood plain

[Benjamin Sanders]

Hi all,

My wife and I made a last-minute offer on a rental property in New Albany that is in a flood plain. We have until noon tomorrow to get a quote on flood insurance and withdraw our offer if we wish. Even if the rental has a decent cash flow with additional flood insurance, we're still not sure we want to take on that risk as we are out-of-state investors (planning to move back to KY in the future, but not now) and we don't like that it will potentially bring down the perceived value when we try to sell it in the future.

The seller has never lived there and has not provided any information on if it has flooded before or not. 

Does anyone have any experience with buying and selling in a flood plain? How much cash flow makes it worth it, in your opinion?

Thanks in advance for any advice!