Houston Investors...Did you/do you now have flood insurance?

[Emily Powell]

Houston investors... 

I currently own 4 SFRs in the Houston area.  I was very lucky and walked away with minimal damage following Harvey.  But I'm wondering whether this should be a wake-up call to get flood insurance on my properties going forward. They are all in Flood Zone X, but as we know, many houses in low risk areas did in fact flood.  

Just looking to get input from other Houston investors as to whether or not you have flood insurance and/or whether you may have acquired it following the recent devastation in the city.

For those that do have it, did it cover your damage?   

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

-Emily

[Brian Foster]

I had to google flood zone x. 

We use this tool

http://www.harriscountyfemt.org/

If the property is not in a 100yr or 500yr  flood zone we don't recommend flood ins and I've never bought it for my properties that were not in 100yr or 500yr flood zones.

I use the sleep test. If owning a home without flood insurance keeps you from sleeping soundly at night, then you need to spend the $400-$600 a year that flood ins costs so you can sleep at night.

We had 15 out of 750 properties we manage with flood damage (2%). Another large PM company here in Houston had 3% of  properties under management with flood damage. Rehab costs range from $3,000 to close to $30,000. 

If these numbers cause you to lose sleep over your investment, you are probably an excellent candidate for flood insurance IMHO.