re: Before you start gutting your house please read!

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The government gave us a $150,000 grant and I pay $168/mo for 30 years on the rest. IDK, lived in FEMA camper in my front yard for 8 months. That's all I remember.

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Sounds like a way fricking easier way to get ahead in life than doing all this working and buying insurance and investments shite I've been doing. Where do I sign up?

It was fricking awesome, let me tell you.

Let's get this straight, they bailed out Countrywide...and all of the mortgage holders with the Katrina deal. I'd have been happy to bulldoze the fricker and build what I could afford. The collateral on my loan was/is shite and the banks stepped into my contract freely and willingly. They got bailed out and I had to fix a complete POS with only some fricking carnies to help.

Basically the fema inspections work like this. If your whole house is destroyed they take the sf of the whole house and that's about it. There is a checkbox or something that says completely destroyed. At that point you would get paid for all necessaties at whatever rate they have set for each little thing based on the size of your house. I think after Katrina each house was authorized 1 tv valued at $150 or something like that. Insurance companies arena whole different animal though.

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Sounds like a way fricking easier way to get ahead in life than doing all this working and buying insurance and investments shite I've been doing. Where do I sign up?

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Hyperbole much?

Average annual premium for a $250,000 house and $100,000 of contents coverage in a preferred zone like X is $474/year. FEMA maximum grant is roughly $32,000. You're more than welcome to stop paying flood insurance, but I doubt you really will.

Photograph everything you throw away. Insurance ages items if you can't prove the age. I had a lot if clothes they were saying where 5 &8 years old so they didn't have to pay full value. Insurance looks to depreciate everything.
Make a list of all your possessions, you will need that come insurance claim time. Every shirt, tie, pair of shoes, listed.

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KG6

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Probably the best explanation in this whole thread. FEMA = basic essentials not much else, flood insurance = somewhat close to before.

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Most people are just annoying

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Adding, when we flooded in New Orleans in the 80's, we left everything as is, except for the carpeting, until the agent came out to asses needs. If a house was flooded to the max, you can't live there anyway, so why rush to gut it?

Talk to the time and date stamp more on pictures. I took a bunch of pictures and but time and date isn't posted in the photo but the info has a timestamp.

From someone whose home was flooded a little over a year ago in Alabama thru our flood of the century, still have bad memories.
What I would do as some have stated, take multiple pictures of the same thing if needed. Log everything that was covered in water regardless if you can use it or not, take pictures. Take pictures of where the water mark was and when taking carpet, drywall etc, put everything in separate piles. Depending on how high water got in cut your drywall 4 ft and remove drywall and any insulation ASAP. The insurance or Fema will tell you that you get 4 Ft unless it went higher than 4 ft. They key now is to get your how dry, quickly. Get fans blowing and a dehumidifier. Sometimes your AC will still work even after the flood, turn it on as it acts as a dehumidifier as well. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and they have an outdoor bleach, once you get all of your drywall, carpet, flooring, insulation etc and your fans going spray the bleach to kill any mold that will come with this. Don't let contractors come in and they will and get you to sign anything, my neighbors got taken for $25K. If you can do some of the work yourself then do it. I know that there are tons of other information that I am forgetting. My prayers are with you guys as I have been following this closely. You will get thru this even though it is hard but you will get thru it, Thanks be to God. If I can help in any other information PM me or ask the question and I will tell you what I went thru and how I handled it.