With a tropical storm hitting the city and a “busy” hurricane season upon us, severe flooding is a real threat. But for would-be homeowners in flood-prone areas, the potential for damage can be effectively invisible.
That’s because in New York a flood risk report required by state law upon a sale can be waived — with a $500 credit to the new owner.
“For $500 bucks, the seller can say, ‘I’m giving you $500 and I’m not filling this out.’ And 99% of people do that,” said Joseph Tirone, a longtime Staten Island real estate agent.
Tirone became aware of the law’s loophole after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 as he and his neighbors muddled through the recovery process, waging a battle to get the state to buy out their homes on the South Shore.
“When I held the community meetings, time and time again, (local residents) said that they had no idea that they were in a flood zone,” he said. “And when they found that out, they found out at the closing,” when flood insurance was tacked on to their monthly costs.
That bothered him so much that, in 2018, he created his own disclosure form as a template that could be used by sellers and shared it with local officials and real estate leaders. But nothing came of it.
The lack of transparency around flood risk is not unique to New York. But the state has been called out for weak rules around flood risk disclosure.
An ‘F’ for NYS
According to a 2018 nationwide review of such laws, the National Resources Defense Council gave New York an F grade for its rules around flood disclosure, while Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma all got an A.
“When a person purchases a home, they deserve to know what they’re buying,” Rob Moore, senior policy analyst at the NRDC, told THE CITY. “You can’t expect people to make good decisions if state laws are read to deny people access to information that should be readily available.”
The group is pushing for legislation nationally that would create a “Carfax for houses,” Moore said, where the Federal Emergency Management Agency would report all flood damage to a central, publicly available database.
Locally, advocates are pushing for New York to change its own laws.
The Waterfront Alliance is getting behind a State Senate bill introduced in June by Sen. Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) that would strengthen flood risk disclosure requirements.
Kate Boicourt, the Alliance’s director of resilience, said homeowners and renters should have “a right to know,” especially when flood risk comes with hidden costs, most notably for insurance.
“You might think that you’re getting a cheaper home in Canarsie, but the reality is you might have to pay an increasing policy year over year,” she said.
The group is pushing for a slate of policies to strengthen the New York region’s ability to cope with the effects of climate change, including more resources for people who already live in flood zones but may not have the means to retrofit or leave.
‘Need to Understand the Risk’
Retiree Pamela Pettyjohn found herself in that category after Sandy.
The Coney Island resident bought her current home in 1999, just seven years after a major nor’easter caused such bad flooding that parents formed a bucket brigade at her daughter’s school so the kids could leave the building.
When she closed on her Mermaid Avenue home, she was told she needed flood insurance, “but no one ever said that it was a real risk,” said Pettyjohn, who is president of the Coney Island Beautification Project.
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“When somebody tells you, ‘Oh, this is something that happens once in 100 years,’ you figure, ‘Well, how long am I going to be in the house?’” she said of the 1992 storm. “You don’t look at this to be a reoccurring situation.”
Twenty years later, Sandy wrecked Pettyjohn’s home. Even with the house built 10 feet off the ground, four and a half feet of water filled her living room.
Although insurance covered some of the repairs, putting the house together again wiped out Pettyjohn’s savings. Now on a fixed income, she can’t afford to raise her home or move away.
“People need to understand the risk. They need to understand that they may be bankrupt, no matter how comfortable they are,” Pettyjohn said. “If the house is devastated, it could take everything that they have.”
‘You Gotta Be Careful’
Tirone said that, without strict disclosure laws, New Yorkers are left to fend for themselves. For those trying to protect themselves, he suggested comparing property to available flood maps. A good place to start is FloodHelpNY, a state-funded project by the nonprofit Center for New York City Neighborhoods.
Even more basic than that, he said, is a tongue-in-cheek rule of thumb he learned after Sandy: “If the street is named after water, you gotta be careful.”
His own flooded property on Fox Beach Avenue followed the rule, as did others on the island: Canal Street, Bay Street, Beach Street.
In Staten Island and southern Brooklyn where Tirone works, high flood insurance premiums have stopped some buyers from purchasing new homes in previously flooded areas. But many haven’t been dissuaded.
He recently did his own informal survey of listings in the area of houses he knew had been gut-renovated after Sandy — to see if any mentioned flooding. Out of about 100 posts, he found fewer than 10 that mentioned anything about a flood.
“It’s really buyer beware,” he said.
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Will Your New House Flood? In New York, the Answer Is Easily Hidden - THE CITY
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