Right now, Congress is again debating whether to re-authorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), that expires on September 30th, 2011.
If it is not renewed, the real estate markets in many some areas could to a complete halt, unless this program gets re-authorized.
In a three year period, the NFIP has been set to expire time and time again. It’s time we stop the temporary fixes and give it a long-term extension, and I say for no less than 10 years.
We have all watched the photos of flood victims on television and real about it in the newspapers. American homeowners need the fallback Government Flood programs to obtain flood insurance when it is not available from the private insurance sector.
Do you know what happens every time the NFIP deadline draws near? Mortgage lenders stall closings to see what happens. Buyers run around begging insurance companies to write them a flood policy, and usually it's very expensive. Could you imagine how expensive it could get, if insurance companies knew the buyer had nowhere to go. Not having the government flood program will add even more uncertainty to our already lack luster real estate marketplace.
Maintaining available and affordable flood insurance for all Americans is vital to keeping the real estate market running smoothly in these circumstances.
Think flood insurance is just for homes located at waters edge? The truth is, that many of flood damaged homes that are covered by the by the NFIP program are not near the seashore at all, but located all around the country.
The NFIP programspends no taxpayer dollars, and recieves money from the payments it charges. It's not a freebee! No it's a safeguard.
Congress needs to set in place a long term program, and not keep playing with it on the short term. It's not like the weather is going to wait!
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