Sell a Hurricane or Storm-Damaged House in Florida

Report the damage to your insurer promptly. Under section 627.70132 of the Florida Statutes, notice of a new or reopened property-insurance claim must generally be given within one year after the date of loss, and a supplemental claim within 18 months. Flood damage is usually covered only by a separate flood policy, such as one through the National Flood Insurance Program, not by a standard homeowners policy. Your mortgage company is normally named on claim checks, which affects how repair money is released.

If the house is in a FEMA special flood hazard area, local floodplain rules apply the “substantial damage” standard: when the cost to repair reaches 50 percent or more of the structure’s market value, the building generally has to be brought up to current floodplain requirements, which can mean elevating it. That determination is made by the local building or floodplain official, and it is one of the main reasons some owners decide to sell rather than rebuild.

Selling with an open claim is possible, but who keeps the claim proceeds must be written into the contract, and the mortgage lender must be paid off at closing. Florida sellers must also disclose known material defects, so share what happened and any reports or estimates you have. We price the home with the damage, close through a title company, and take over the repairs and permitting after closing. Our case study of a storm-damaged home near McGregor in Fort Myers shows how one of these sales went.

There is no single right order. It depends on how far along the claim is, whether the mortgage company is holding the money, and whether you want to manage repairs at all. These are the three usual points at which owners sell, and what each one means.