The Anna Maria Island Sun Newspaper

Vol. 14 No. 22 - March 26, 2014

REAL ESTATE

A sigh of relief

 

For over a year, everyone who owns coastal property or riverfront property in the country has been holding his/her breath. Well now they can exhale. In fact I think I actually might have heard a collective sigh on March 13 when the U.S Senate passed a bill that reverses the major provisions of the 2012 Biggert-Watters Flood Insurance Reform Act. The bill previously passed the House on March 4 and was signed into law by the president on March 21.

Some of the components of the bill are: eliminating a provision of the law that said government subsidized rates disappear when a person sells a primary home; providing a refund for those who purchased after the changes were enacted in July 2012 and were already hit under that provision; and maintaining protections due to sunset for grandfathered properties built to code after a community adopted its first flood insurance rate map.

The new legislation, when finally enacted, will still allow FEMA to impose premium increases on homes built before those maps but the increases will range between 5 and 15 percent on average with a cap of 18 percent per year until reaching actuarial risk.

Second homes that are grandfathered and commercial properties also are getting good news, but older homes built before the flood insurance rate maps were developed are not covered and could face increases which could lead to another outcry. In addition, second homes which have flooded repeatedly would continue to see premiums go up by 25 percent a year until reaching a level consistent with their real risk of flooding. Also, FEMA must strive to keep flood insurance policies under 1 percent of a property’s total coverage and report when it is unable to do so.

The most important benefit of this bill is that it reverses the biggest problem created by Biggert-Waters, which removed premium subsidies when a primary residence is sold. Some new buyers were shocked to discover they owed thousands more in flood insurance premiums than they expected, causing upset in the real estate market and resulting in many failed transactions.

Reversing the Biggert-Waters bill still leaves FEMA with billions of dollars in debt, and one of the provisions of the bill does allow an annual surcharge of $25 for primary residences and $250 for secondary residences and businesses as one step toward reducing the debt. As expected, many representatives were not happy with the fix to the 2012 law since it does very little to actually change FEMA’s on-going exposure, pointing out that 70 percent of homeowners who will benefit from changes to the original legislation were in the top 20 percent of income.

Florida has more subsidized flood insurance policies than anywhere else in the country, not to mention all of the second homes in the state. Naturally we have a huge interest in what happens with the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) going forward. For the moment, even though most of us will be paying higher premiums, they will at least be more manageable and allow for properties to be sold with somewhat more confidence.

There will undoubtedly be further changes to the NFIP but at least everyone seems to recognize that it can’t all be undone as drastically as originally thought.

As Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. said, “Something is terribly wrong when families are more concerned about raging flood insurance premiums than raging floods.”

I think that says it all.

Real Estate Transactions
Real estate transfers as of October 1-31, 2013
Sponsored by Alan Galletto Island Real Estate

Sold Date | List Price | Sold Price | Address | Provision | Property Style

Anna Maria

01/03/2014 1,400,000 1,400,000 107 Beach Ave. 2789 150x100 4 Br/3 Ba SFR
01/06/2014 895,000 800,000 806 Gladiolus St. 2250 69x100 3 Br/3 Ba SFR
01/06/2014 317,000 470,549 205 Elm Ave. 1203 52x110 2 Br/2 Ba SFR Reo
01/06/2014 749,000 683,000 517 Magnolia Ave. 2219 75x115 4 Br/2.5 Ba SFR
01/10/2014 989,000 910,000 213 Spruce Ave. 937 105x100 2 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/22/2014 1,495,000 1,450,000 203 Spruce Ave. 696 2 Br/1 Ba SFR
01/24/2014 850,000 849,900 113 Gull Dr. 2447 91x100 3 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/29/2014 522,000 465,000 8806 Gulf Dr. 936 50x100 2 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/30/2014 510,000 502,000 524 Blue Heron Dr. 1653 3 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/30/2014 1,345,000 1,325,000 214 Spring Ave. 3189 52x145 6 Br/5.5 Ba SFR

Bradenton Beach

01/31/2014 425,000 385,000 252 17th St # 252 1268 2 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/02/2014 289,000 282,000 1801 Gulf Dr N # 238 1080 2 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/31/2014 635,000 617,500 2300 Avenue B 2832 50x100 4 Br/4 Ba SFR
01/16/2014 259,900 259,900 2515 Avenue C # A 1584 50x100 Inc.
01/31/2014 635,000 617,500 2300 Avenue B 2832 50x100 Inc.
01/10/2014 297,777 290,000 200 22nd St . 50x100 Vac.

Cortez

01/13/2014 439,000 400,000 4207 126th St. W. 3412 100x100 4 Br/3 Ba SFR

Holmes Beach

01/02/2014 330,000 315,000 5808 Gulf Dr. # 206 912 2 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/08/2014 375,000 330,000 6250 Holmes Blvd. # 65 1206 3 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/14/2014 392,900 366,250 6400 Flotilla Dr. # 96 985 2 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/16/2014 359,900 347,000 600 Manatee Ave. # 136 1179 2 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/23/2014 318,000 283,000 201 35th St .# 5 630 1 Br/1 Ba Condo
01/27/2014 279,000 265,000 3801 E Bay Dr. # 108 1121 2 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/27/2014 379,000 370,000 6200 Flotilla Dr. # 262 1266 2 Br/2 Ba Condo
01/29/2014 219,900 208,000 3000 Gulf Dr. # 6 756 1 Br/1 Ba Condo
01/03/2014 689,000 671,750 117 51st St. 1536 3 Br/2.5 Ba SFR
01/09/2014 565,000 535,000 502 83rd St. 1728 3 Br/3 Ba SFR
01/10/2014 1,049,000 950,000 509 68th St. 2546 80x102 3 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/10/2014 896,000 725,000 313 61st St. 2374 4 Br/3.5 Ba SFR
01/10/2014 799,000 772,000 213 65th St. 2184 3 Br/2.5 Ba SFR
01/23/2014 399,000 390,000 2819 Avenue B 2332 3 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/24/2014 450,000 450,000 113 31st St. 1682 50x105 3 Br/2 Ba SFR, Reo
01/24/2014 350,000 325,000 502 Bayview Dr. 1214 75x120 3 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/29/2014 598,000 565,000 5606 Holmes Blvd. 1040 3 Br/2 Ba SFR
01/29/2014 775,000 775,000 4118 5th Ave. 2786 6 Br/3.5 Ba SFR
01/31/2014 974,900 907,930 637 Key Royale Dr. 2422 100x151 4 Br/3 Ba SFR
01/13/2014 339,900 275,000 4501 Gulf Dr. # A 1325 1554x800 Inc.
01/21/2014 500,000 450,000 212 Haverkos Ct. 108x110 Vac.

Source: Manatee County Property Appraiser’s Office


AMISUN ~ The Island's Award-Winning Newspaper