Flood zones and borrowing money

[Joshua Hunsicker]

I bought my first property about a year ago. I bought the property with seller financing and made the mistake of assuming flood zones were big red flags that pop up on every purchase. She listed "unknown" on the disclosure in regards to flood zones and "no" in regards to previous flooding/drainage issues. She lived next door to the property (her house is connected) for 20+ years so I assumed all was well. The creek overflowed behind the house 3 times last year (we had a lot of rain in PA) and the basement flooded pretty bad. The property is in fact, in a flood zone. The good news is that based on surrounding elevations, I should never see water on the 1st floor.

My plan was to fix the downstairs, get it appraised and an equity line to finish fixing it, then refi out. The equity line and refi are out of the picture due to the insurance costs required. 

Are there any other ways of financing this remodel other than personal lines of credit? Has anyone been successful getting a secured loan on lot value when the property has a dwelling? What else is out there for me?

[David Sisson]

I'm surprised this didn't come up during closing. If you are actually in a flood zone, you'd require flood insurance and possibly a flood certificate. 

As a PSA to others, it's super simple to check if you are in a flood zone, 

https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search