What would be better?

[Kevin Kong]

Thanks for everyone who took the time to read this dumb post of mine.  I was wondering some stuff for rehabbing to refinance and BRRRR my way into early retirement.  I found this house on the MLS that's in a 6/10 flood zone.  There was a recent flood in the area that rose about 17-24 inches.  The house I saw had water marks about that high.  The house is a ranch on a concrete slab.  Since I dont want to buy a house that could essentially destroy all my stuff I was pondering ideas that may help.  First thing I came up with is put the house on stilts.  The house is roughly 2800sqft so that would be too expensive.  I was also thinking of adding cement to raise the floor around 24inches or more.  I know if I did that I would have to raise the roof as well and move everything up 24inches.  I know this seems like a lot of work and money but the house is listed at 299k.  The surrounding houses are at over 550k for the same sqft.  The house actually sold in 2018 for 625k.  Also would raising the house save me on my insurance?  I was also thinking of making creative trenches so the water fills up before it reaches the house.   Or should i just completely forget about this house and move on?  Thanks for any and all the help!

[Evan Polaski]

@Kevin Kong, I would also be concerned about the insurance for this house.  If you haven't gotten a bid on that yet, I would.  

From there, I agree with Jim.  Not only does this sound like a massive under taking, but I would be curious what the cost is.  Stilts, pumping 24 inches of concrete under a house to raise it up.  That all sounds like a 6 figure endeavor.  

And along with Jim's comment: I toured the Farnsworth House many years ago.  When it was built in 1951, the stilts placed above the 100 yr flood plain.  It flooded in 1954, 1996, 1997, and 2008.  So the 100 yr flood plain was breached 4 times in 70 years, including 3 yrs after completion.  And there have been many other times that waters got very close to the finished areas.

The little info I have on this property, I would steer clear, personally.