cant you get a FEMA loan ?
The house was our primary residence up until 2014, when we were transferred to CA. When it flooded, we had it rented out, so FEMA, and my bank, both classified it as "Not Primary Residence". FEMA did come out for the inspection, and to classify the damage as related to the declared disaster, but they held firm on their decision.
I batched my leave into numerous trips and gutted/rebuilt the house myself. Thankfully I have a few family members in the area that were not affected, and my Dad is retired; having their help made it all possible, as I was not about to pay the 91k estimate. Not to mention, it is still almost impossible to find a contractor that will actually work on your house. There are too many projects, and they spend more time, lining up jobs and taking deposits than actually doing the work. I have friends that have had contractors just quit, because a better project came open. NOTE: Not all of the contractors out there are bad. There are a lot of GREAT people doing great/honest work; there is just so much out there that it is hard to find.
After we were done with the rebuild, I appealed the FEMA decision, and won, however, the loan comes with more stipulations that you can shake a stick at. The biggest being that they LIEN everything you own, and the liens are not percentage based. So, if I took the loan from FEMA, I would not be able to sell the house that I have on the market in Mobile, AL, stationed there from 1999-2003, because I have the FEMA loan lien. In order to sell the house in Mobile, or anything else we own, I would have to repay the entire loan first. The crappy part is the flooded house HAD 120k in equity before the flood.
Anyway, the rebuild is done, and I am now working to get things back on track. The most valuable thing I own is the Bronco. I need to keep loans off of the houses so that I can work to sell them easier.
