Step Forward in Stalling Flood Insurance Rate Hikes

Thursday the US Senate passed a measure that would stall rate hikes on flood insurance issued by the National Flood Insurance Program.

Many Florida homeowners were seeing their flood insurance rates spike ten fold over the past year, while others were being told they now had to purchase flood insurance because of a redrawing of FEMA flood zone maps.

The rate increases have added a new fear for Florida homebuyers.  In a market that is just starting to recover,  uncertainty on flood insurance premiums have seized some small markets in the area and caused flood zoned homes to sit unsold.

The bill, which now moves to the House for approval, would stall rate hikes for 4 years so that FEMA can conduct an affordability survey to better asses how and when to raise rates to cover the $27 billion in debt that has accumulated since the program's induction in 1968.

USDA Extends 100% financing for parts of New Tampa and Wesley Chapel

Many people don't know that the USDA offers a loan program for home buyers.  My conversations with clients usually go a little something like this:

"If you're looking for a lower down payment option, the USDA offers 100% financing in certain areas of town"
"The USDA?  Aren't they the beef people?"

The USDA offers these loans based on the applicant's income relative to the area's average and if the home being purchased is in a Rural Area, as defined by the department's interpretation of census data.  The great news for a lot of Tampa home buyers is that a lot of New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and Land O Lakes is considered Rural, based on census data completed in the year 2000.

The new census data from 2010 and redrawn Rural designation maps were scheduled to take effect in Oct of 2013.  This was pushed back to January 15th 2014, and with the passing of the Omnibus Spending Bill by the US government, this was further extended to September 30th, 2014.

Interested in learning more about the qualifications?  You can visit the following links below for more info:

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/FL%20GRH.pdf - Florida Income requirements by area.

http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do?pageAction=sfhprop&NavKey=propproperty@11 - Map of approved Rural Areas

http://eligibility.sc.egov.usda.gov/eligibility/welcomeAction.do - Catch all site for eligibility requirements and additional information.