Property flood history soon to be required for NC sellers

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – The NC Real Estate Commission is now requiring sellers to be more upfront with their property’s history.

NC Real Estate Commission recently voted to require flooding history to be included in a property’s disclosure requirements.

Currently, property sellers only have to disclose whether they’re in a flood plain or flood zone and if they have flood insurance.

Cape Fear Realtors President Elect Amanda Parmer says the new rule will require sellers to disclose if the property has ever had any flood damage, if there’s every been a flood claim, what their elevation is and what their annual flood insurance premium is.

“I think it’s incredibly helpful. People don’t know, what they don’t know when they’re moving to the area, and the FEMA maps aren’t always up to date. So, even if you’re looking at a FEMA map, you still might be in a flood zone and the map’s not reflective of it. So, I think having these disclosures up front for any buyers moving into the area is only going to help the industry as a whole,” said

Parmer shared what drove the change.

“For a while now, environmental groups and a few other advocacy groups, has been pushing for the legislation to change to make this disclosure more readily available, –and finally, the Real Estate Commission voted unanimously about it,” said Parmer.

Lynn Stewart said her home in Burgaw flooded when Hurricane Florence hit the Cape Fear in 2018. The storm was classified as a “1,000-year flood event,” given its. 1% probability in any given year.

“Never in a million years, would we have thought that our house would have flooded,” said Lynn Stewart, homeowner.

Stewart says her home was 3 feet off the ground, and had three feet of water inside after the storm. She supports notifying potential buyers of a home’s flood history.

“My house wasn’t in a flood zone, and we didn’t have insurance. So, we weren’t prepared for it to flood, and I would hate to know someone who’s not, –doesn’t have knowledge of the area would come in and buy a house, without having that knowledge,” Stewart said. “I would never want that to happen with our house, or anybody’s house.”

The change in requirements will show on the property disclosure forms in July.