Want to Avoid Flood Issues? 4 Tips on Finding the Right Home to Buy

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Becoming a homeowner is something you may look forward to doing. However, you may feel slightly worried about potential problems like flooding. Buying in a region prone to flooding makes it important to consider features and qualities that can help you avoid flood issues. A smart move is to follow a few house-hunting tips to buy a place with minimal flood risk.

Flood Risk

An excellent place to start is with the flood risk and flood zones. Ideally, you want to prioritize neighborhoods and areas away from the highest flood risks. Coastal areas and places next to large bodies of water often come with the greatest risk. So, even when looking at inland properties away from the coastlines, you want to pay close attention to nearby water bodies.

A major benefit of avoiding these flood zones and high-risk areas is that you do not have to purchase flood insurance. This insurance is often separate from homeowners insurance.

Landscape

A property's landscape can have a huge impact on flooding. For instance, a place with flood-tolerant native plants will handle flood conditions and help to reduce water buildup. Dry creek beds and retaining walls are also useful features to have on your property's landscape. A well-built creek bed will hold a ton of water after rainfall and direct it away from your home.

Retaining walls are worth having on your landscape because they prevent erosion and protect your plant life.

Gutter System

A complete gutter system is worth prioritizing while you shop for a home. This feature reduces how much water builds up around your property, which protects the foundation. A full system ensures that all the water that hits the roof goes through gutters and downspouts. Downspouts are essential to this system because they direct rainwater away from your home.

Hill House

Along with looking for features that will help with flood protection, you can also demand natural qualities. An excellent example is buying a hill house in which its elevation level compared to the street prevents street flooding from reaching your home. The home's slope will also naturally direct water away from the house, protecting the foundation from damage.

An easy way to find these homes is by looking for driveways and front yards with an incline. This means that the house is at a higher elevation than the street and sidewalk.

Use these tips and advice from a real estate agent to buy a home and avoid flood issues as a homeowner.


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