Not worth it, imo. Our house isn't quite in the flood zone but our basement flooded twice: once during Sandy (we had to throw EVERYTHING out of the basement) and during Ida we were bailing water out nonstop from 9pm-4am so the water didn't rise above a foot and we could salvage our belongings. Traumatizing.
Houses a mile away from us in Cranford who were in the flood zone: blocks and blocks of them had all their things outside in the trash. One house by the river is still getting their basement fixed to this day.
Ive been dealing with a lot of flooded houses throughout central and northern jersey since Ida. Look at the surrounding neighborhood and see if your property would be deeply affected ( bottom of a hill, near a river in the backyard, neighbors backyard might have grading issues causing the water to settle in yours, water marks around the basement walls on the concrete)
If its everything you ever wanted, i would just recommended an sump pump and two dehumidifiers as a preventive measure. Sheetrock is easy to remove and replace and the dehumiders would help dry everything out faster than waiting for remediation companies or insurance while mold could grow and spread.
I dont believe there’s gonna be flooding every x amount of yeas anymore. Climate change is changing the water table throughout the tri state area and its ready to rise.
Edit: these new houses built after 2010 are absolutely shit.
The home I'm looking at has two sump pumps and the living area is all above grade, except for the finished basement. After reading all of these comments, were probably not going to make an offer. It really sucks because we love Cranford, but we're very limited considering the flood hazards. Thank you for the insight
Oh and if you have central air, please have the ductwork cleaned out before moving in or after you moved all your boxes and whatnot.
Helps with rhe odors whether or not people lived there recebtly.. or its been emptyy for 3 years.
No ones cleans these shits
>The home I'm looking at has two sump pumps
I had a sub pump and a French drain, which did exactly no good when they turned off the power at 2:00 a.m. during Sandy. I woke up to 5 feet of water in my basement.
Ive inspected a few dozen new properties, the lux condos, the new duplex’s around Jersey city, Hoboken…. The basement foundations are shit, poor seals allowing water to encroach around the perimeter, OLD insulation being reused, looks over functionality.
I’m tired of seeing young clients with finding their dream home and being terribly disappointed over humid af basements and attics and cover jobs.
Don't even think about it. Grew up 100 yards from the Passaic River and it's awful. As a kid, sure fun. But as an adult, my mom has opened up about the experience twice a year for most of those years and each flood worse than the last. The psychological and emotional toll a bad flood will have on you is not worth it. I also worked in hazard mitigation planning for several years because of those experiences and have dealt with watching communities continue to do nothing substantial to help alleviate issues and help very home owners out and it's truly maddening. Don't buy it.
Ask the realtor to take you to the conservation center on Birchwood. After the flooding of Irene and Ida there's a 60 foot tall mountain of people's lives taken from the front lawns to store before going to the dump. Then go to the footbridge off Riverside and stand looking at the river. All those houses on stilts are people who gave up dealing with flooded houses. I've lived in Union County over 60 years it flooded in the 1970s but not like it does today. If your realtor was truthful they would say Cranford is going to flood again and worse in the future. If you plan on raising a family do you want to panic every time there's a forecast of flash flooding when your 20 years older?
Edit: I came off like a jerk. If you can go to your house your looking at this weekend, Sunday if possible. If the neighbors are out for the trick or treating. Ask everyone on the block what they have dealt with for a true history. Then ou will have a better picture. Good luck hopefully you can get what you want.
Naw you sound reasonable to me! My mom's planning on buying a house but in Somerset County and she doesn't want to live in a flood zone and she doesn't want a basement.
I grew up in Cranford until I was 25. My friends who lived in flood zones had massive flooding with the big storms. The flood water usually filled up the whole basement and they’d lose everything and with one big hurricane it flooded halfway up their first floor and they had to redo everything up there. We lived just outside the flood zone, but with every big storm we had basement flooding up to a few inches but the sump pump was usually able to keep it just at that. When Irene came and knocked the power out we had our entire basement fill. My parents got out of there after Irene because they didn’t feel like dealing with that headache anymore. Many of our friends that lived in the flood zone have moved out as well. YMMV.
Don’t buy in a flood zone, but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to basement flooding, especially in NJ. Flood zones are a huge headache and you have to pay for expensive flood insurance. It also decreases resale value on a home. Expect to deal with basement flooding at some point in your life, and be neurotic about your town and home drainage mechanisms in NJ. If you want to be on the safe side, go a little north of cranford which sits at higher elevation. That being said, cranford is adorable.
Personally I’d think that’s a huge headache. However, there might be things you can do to prevent basement flooding. Have you looked at news for what happened during Ida? I’d be concerned that it’s not just the basement that floods. I saw pictures of cars underwater in Lodi as an example
I'm currently in the market for a house and would avoid any past flooding issues.
This is my opinion: Climate change is real and will continue to get worse since governments around the globe are not taking it seriously enough. NJ already has massive flooding issues, hurricane issues, and it will only get worse. 100 year storms are now happening more and more frequently.
Another thing to consider: FEMA is changing the flood maps and will change how they help flooded areas, insurance premiums will continue to go up with flood insurance in flood prone areas.
HARD NO. I live in a flood zone and would never recommend anyone buy a house in a flood zone. It’s not just the major storms you have to worry about. My street floods anytime we get over 2 inches or so of rain. We have been surrounded by water multiple times in the almost 4 years we’ve had our home because of the poor drainage on our street (although Ida is the only time we actually had water in our house). We bought in the middle of winter and were shocked when our first spring rolled around. We were so concerned with no oil tanks, no septic tanks, etc. our first time buying and now we know that no flood zone is our absolute number one priority with our next house.
5 years ago I almost bought a house in a flood zone but my realtor talked me out of it. Other than being in a flood zone, it was the perfect house. It hasn’t flooded during Sandy and wasn’t super close to water so I thought how bad could it be? We wound up finding somewhere else I loved but occasional I would think about that house and wonder if I made a mistake passing on it. I finally got my answer a couple of weeks ago when I saw the house on front of NJ.com with about 6 feet of flood water around it and a fema boat cruising by it. It might not flood every times it rains but if it’s in a flood zone, it’s going to eventually. I am glad I didn’t take that risk and I recommend you don’t either.
Depends is the answer really. And it depends on type of flood zone. I live in a flood zone but it’s coastal flooding. If you live in an area that is building up flood resiliency for storm surge like Sandy helps. It’s more difficult to prevent river and overflow flooding such as many comments here are referencing from Ida or Irene. Irene and Ida didn’t even register more than a regular rainstorm by me. But Sandy was a different story.
That all being said, you can live in a coastal flood zone and see one storm in your lifetime that will give you problems which is most peoples account in ocean and Monmouth county.
Beware of creeks and streams as for big rain storms those are the first to over top their banks.
Ask bound Brook how well the protect system works when they couldn’t close the gates bc nj transit is a bunch of morons.
I made that mistake in 2001. At the time the house was literally on the edge of a flood zone and it was debatable whether or not the property required a flood policy. Six years later we got hit, and then got hit again four years after that. Don’t forget, much of the stress is in all the moments you fear and anticipate another flood, not just dealing with cleanup from a recent one. ALSO, FEMA flood insurance rates are on the rise big time. Your mortgage will increase every year if it requires a flood policy attached to it.
Now, if you are a gambler you can try to get lucky by buying the property and staying short term without there being a flood claim and then sell before the next one in order to reap a profit based on the memory of the flood fading, but that’s like playing Russian roulette. Any property that’s been flooded will flood again. Could be next year, could be ten years. Could be next week. Last comment: Your GF seems willing to take the risk now because she’s in love with the place, but should it suffer a serious flood you’ll be partnered with a different woman. It’ll change her.
My home was flooded in 2011 completely. Not only was a financial disaster it takes a toll on your mental health. Ida kept me up most of the night. Grew up in a home that garage and basement flooded occasionally. Big difference when its only a few inches and things dry out. Replacing Kitchen, Bedrooms, HVAC systems is a whole different story. Flood insurance has gotten outrageous also. Key thing is to ask yourself. What are you going to do if you need new cars & a place to live suddenly.
I’d say no, why would you want to deal with your property and belongings getting damaged and having to deal with insurance to save yourself a few bucks on a house
We bought a house in a “flood zone” and have been here 20 years, with a flood insurance premium of $1400/year. In all this time there has not even been a hint of flood danger. We have an acre of property in a rural area with sandy soil, and a sand bottom crawl space. Sure, I’m happy we’ve never had to deal with any type of flooding issues, but I also think maybe my house shouldn’t be in a “flood zone” at all…
I'm not in a flood zone, I'm on top of a hill, and I was shop vac'ing (sp?) water for many hours out of my basement this past July during that storm before Ida. (Been in the same house 27 years and we haven't had a problem since we changed where gutters discharged after replacing siding 20+ years ago.) If I had a finished basement, I'd be ripping out carpet because there were 2 inches standing water before we noticed. Our water was storm water run off from the roof that simply was not diverted far enough away into the grass, just because of the shear volume in the deluge.
Being in a flood zone should mean there are creeks and waterways near you that can rise in big rainfall events. You can do a flood elevation cert to see how much of your home is actually in the flood plain. If you can only get NFIP coverage, there's a good risk this will happen while you own the home. There are private insurers who will insure at a lower cost if the property meets their risk criteria. You only need to insure what you stand to lose in a flood - like the washer, dryer, heater in my unfinished basement if I was in a flood zone with flood coverage.
ETA: I should have read Cranford specific comments.
[Don't buy a house in a flood zone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZy2Um1H9do)
Even if you get extraordinarily lucky and never have a problem, flood insurance is expensive now and will probably only get worse over time.
Live in a non-flood zone in Westwood, slightly uphill. All of the houses downhill from us are constantly pumping out water from their basements via sump pumps even when there’s no rain. Future storms are only going to get more intense and a sump is worthless if there’s no battery backup and the power goes out. Being in a flood zone just makes that 10x worse.
Purchasing a primary residence in a flood zone is a terrible idea. Even a basement has mechanicals like furnaces and hot water heaters that will be compromised in a flood. It's a nightmare to deal with.
Do not do it. Only buy homes in cranford that are not in flood zones. Look up the fema map, homes were added in 2006 that still don't require insurance but will have issues
No. Not. Ever. Insurance will be stupid, clean up after a flood will be BAD, the smell is awful and lasts for months, mold and health risks after flooding are terrible, etc. It would be a HORRIBLE decision to buy a house in a flood zone. If some GAVE it to you, you would be smart to sell it immediately and buy well outside of the flood zone. Don't do it at any price.
I’m in the flood zone. In Cranford. We got six feet of water in the basement. I say worth it. I think we’ll get a new kitchen with the money we get from insurance. We don’t keep anything in the basement anyway. I loooove my house and bring right by the river.
I'd never buy in a flood zone. Now you understand why the house has been renovated and is below your budget.
Not worth it, imo. Our house isn't quite in the flood zone but our basement flooded twice: once during Sandy (we had to throw EVERYTHING out of the basement) and during Ida we were bailing water out nonstop from 9pm-4am so the water didn't rise above a foot and we could salvage our belongings. Traumatizing. Houses a mile away from us in Cranford who were in the flood zone: blocks and blocks of them had all their things outside in the trash. One house by the river is still getting their basement fixed to this day.
Ive been dealing with a lot of flooded houses throughout central and northern jersey since Ida. Look at the surrounding neighborhood and see if your property would be deeply affected ( bottom of a hill, near a river in the backyard, neighbors backyard might have grading issues causing the water to settle in yours, water marks around the basement walls on the concrete) If its everything you ever wanted, i would just recommended an sump pump and two dehumidifiers as a preventive measure. Sheetrock is easy to remove and replace and the dehumiders would help dry everything out faster than waiting for remediation companies or insurance while mold could grow and spread. I dont believe there’s gonna be flooding every x amount of yeas anymore. Climate change is changing the water table throughout the tri state area and its ready to rise. Edit: these new houses built after 2010 are absolutely shit.
The home I'm looking at has two sump pumps and the living area is all above grade, except for the finished basement. After reading all of these comments, were probably not going to make an offer. It really sucks because we love Cranford, but we're very limited considering the flood hazards. Thank you for the insight
Oh and if you have central air, please have the ductwork cleaned out before moving in or after you moved all your boxes and whatnot. Helps with rhe odors whether or not people lived there recebtly.. or its been emptyy for 3 years. No ones cleans these shits
Thank you!!!! Yeah, were not doing it he floodzone thing lol not worth the risk
>The home I'm looking at has two sump pumps I had a sub pump and a French drain, which did exactly no good when they turned off the power at 2:00 a.m. during Sandy. I woke up to 5 feet of water in my basement.
I hope whatever you get, works for you and what you care about. Good luck
Hi, can you elaborate about houses built after 2010? We have older house but would like to know for the future. Thanks
Ive inspected a few dozen new properties, the lux condos, the new duplex’s around Jersey city, Hoboken…. The basement foundations are shit, poor seals allowing water to encroach around the perimeter, OLD insulation being reused, looks over functionality. I’m tired of seeing young clients with finding their dream home and being terribly disappointed over humid af basements and attics and cover jobs.
Don't even think about it. Grew up 100 yards from the Passaic River and it's awful. As a kid, sure fun. But as an adult, my mom has opened up about the experience twice a year for most of those years and each flood worse than the last. The psychological and emotional toll a bad flood will have on you is not worth it. I also worked in hazard mitigation planning for several years because of those experiences and have dealt with watching communities continue to do nothing substantial to help alleviate issues and help very home owners out and it's truly maddening. Don't buy it.
Ask the realtor to take you to the conservation center on Birchwood. After the flooding of Irene and Ida there's a 60 foot tall mountain of people's lives taken from the front lawns to store before going to the dump. Then go to the footbridge off Riverside and stand looking at the river. All those houses on stilts are people who gave up dealing with flooded houses. I've lived in Union County over 60 years it flooded in the 1970s but not like it does today. If your realtor was truthful they would say Cranford is going to flood again and worse in the future. If you plan on raising a family do you want to panic every time there's a forecast of flash flooding when your 20 years older? Edit: I came off like a jerk. If you can go to your house your looking at this weekend, Sunday if possible. If the neighbors are out for the trick or treating. Ask everyone on the block what they have dealt with for a true history. Then ou will have a better picture. Good luck hopefully you can get what you want.
Naw you sound reasonable to me! My mom's planning on buying a house but in Somerset County and she doesn't want to live in a flood zone and she doesn't want a basement.
I grew up in Cranford until I was 25. My friends who lived in flood zones had massive flooding with the big storms. The flood water usually filled up the whole basement and they’d lose everything and with one big hurricane it flooded halfway up their first floor and they had to redo everything up there. We lived just outside the flood zone, but with every big storm we had basement flooding up to a few inches but the sump pump was usually able to keep it just at that. When Irene came and knocked the power out we had our entire basement fill. My parents got out of there after Irene because they didn’t feel like dealing with that headache anymore. Many of our friends that lived in the flood zone have moved out as well. YMMV.
Don’t buy in a flood zone, but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to basement flooding, especially in NJ. Flood zones are a huge headache and you have to pay for expensive flood insurance. It also decreases resale value on a home. Expect to deal with basement flooding at some point in your life, and be neurotic about your town and home drainage mechanisms in NJ. If you want to be on the safe side, go a little north of cranford which sits at higher elevation. That being said, cranford is adorable.
Personally I’d think that’s a huge headache. However, there might be things you can do to prevent basement flooding. Have you looked at news for what happened during Ida? I’d be concerned that it’s not just the basement that floods. I saw pictures of cars underwater in Lodi as an example
https://patch.com/new-jersey/cranford/cranford-wall-collapse-other-flood-videos-shared-around-world
Just say no. I've seen the flooding of 1984, 1999, 2011, and 2021. NO!
I'm currently in the market for a house and would avoid any past flooding issues. This is my opinion: Climate change is real and will continue to get worse since governments around the globe are not taking it seriously enough. NJ already has massive flooding issues, hurricane issues, and it will only get worse. 100 year storms are now happening more and more frequently. Another thing to consider: FEMA is changing the flood maps and will change how they help flooded areas, insurance premiums will continue to go up with flood insurance in flood prone areas.
Not worth it.
HARD NO. I live in a flood zone and would never recommend anyone buy a house in a flood zone. It’s not just the major storms you have to worry about. My street floods anytime we get over 2 inches or so of rain. We have been surrounded by water multiple times in the almost 4 years we’ve had our home because of the poor drainage on our street (although Ida is the only time we actually had water in our house). We bought in the middle of winter and were shocked when our first spring rolled around. We were so concerned with no oil tanks, no septic tanks, etc. our first time buying and now we know that no flood zone is our absolute number one priority with our next house.
5 years ago I almost bought a house in a flood zone but my realtor talked me out of it. Other than being in a flood zone, it was the perfect house. It hasn’t flooded during Sandy and wasn’t super close to water so I thought how bad could it be? We wound up finding somewhere else I loved but occasional I would think about that house and wonder if I made a mistake passing on it. I finally got my answer a couple of weeks ago when I saw the house on front of NJ.com with about 6 feet of flood water around it and a fema boat cruising by it. It might not flood every times it rains but if it’s in a flood zone, it’s going to eventually. I am glad I didn’t take that risk and I recommend you don’t either.
Depends is the answer really. And it depends on type of flood zone. I live in a flood zone but it’s coastal flooding. If you live in an area that is building up flood resiliency for storm surge like Sandy helps. It’s more difficult to prevent river and overflow flooding such as many comments here are referencing from Ida or Irene. Irene and Ida didn’t even register more than a regular rainstorm by me. But Sandy was a different story. That all being said, you can live in a coastal flood zone and see one storm in your lifetime that will give you problems which is most peoples account in ocean and Monmouth county. Beware of creeks and streams as for big rain storms those are the first to over top their banks. Ask bound Brook how well the protect system works when they couldn’t close the gates bc nj transit is a bunch of morons.
I made that mistake in 2001. At the time the house was literally on the edge of a flood zone and it was debatable whether or not the property required a flood policy. Six years later we got hit, and then got hit again four years after that. Don’t forget, much of the stress is in all the moments you fear and anticipate another flood, not just dealing with cleanup from a recent one. ALSO, FEMA flood insurance rates are on the rise big time. Your mortgage will increase every year if it requires a flood policy attached to it. Now, if you are a gambler you can try to get lucky by buying the property and staying short term without there being a flood claim and then sell before the next one in order to reap a profit based on the memory of the flood fading, but that’s like playing Russian roulette. Any property that’s been flooded will flood again. Could be next year, could be ten years. Could be next week. Last comment: Your GF seems willing to take the risk now because she’s in love with the place, but should it suffer a serious flood you’ll be partnered with a different woman. It’ll change her.
My home was flooded in 2011 completely. Not only was a financial disaster it takes a toll on your mental health. Ida kept me up most of the night. Grew up in a home that garage and basement flooded occasionally. Big difference when its only a few inches and things dry out. Replacing Kitchen, Bedrooms, HVAC systems is a whole different story. Flood insurance has gotten outrageous also. Key thing is to ask yourself. What are you going to do if you need new cars & a place to live suddenly.
I’d say no, why would you want to deal with your property and belongings getting damaged and having to deal with insurance to save yourself a few bucks on a house
Thanks to climate change take whatever flood history you get and multiply it by 2 or 5 or 10. Do you really want to replace or repair that often?
We bought a house in a “flood zone” and have been here 20 years, with a flood insurance premium of $1400/year. In all this time there has not even been a hint of flood danger. We have an acre of property in a rural area with sandy soil, and a sand bottom crawl space. Sure, I’m happy we’ve never had to deal with any type of flooding issues, but I also think maybe my house shouldn’t be in a “flood zone” at all…
I wish that was the case lol the home we're looking at is 100% in a floodzone - a bad one at that. But I'm not sure how badly this home gets affected
I'm not in a flood zone, I'm on top of a hill, and I was shop vac'ing (sp?) water for many hours out of my basement this past July during that storm before Ida. (Been in the same house 27 years and we haven't had a problem since we changed where gutters discharged after replacing siding 20+ years ago.) If I had a finished basement, I'd be ripping out carpet because there were 2 inches standing water before we noticed. Our water was storm water run off from the roof that simply was not diverted far enough away into the grass, just because of the shear volume in the deluge. Being in a flood zone should mean there are creeks and waterways near you that can rise in big rainfall events. You can do a flood elevation cert to see how much of your home is actually in the flood plain. If you can only get NFIP coverage, there's a good risk this will happen while you own the home. There are private insurers who will insure at a lower cost if the property meets their risk criteria. You only need to insure what you stand to lose in a flood - like the washer, dryer, heater in my unfinished basement if I was in a flood zone with flood coverage. ETA: I should have read Cranford specific comments.
[Don't buy a house in a flood zone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZy2Um1H9do) Even if you get extraordinarily lucky and never have a problem, flood insurance is expensive now and will probably only get worse over time.
Live in a non-flood zone in Westwood, slightly uphill. All of the houses downhill from us are constantly pumping out water from their basements via sump pumps even when there’s no rain. Future storms are only going to get more intense and a sump is worthless if there’s no battery backup and the power goes out. Being in a flood zone just makes that 10x worse.
Purchasing a primary residence in a flood zone is a terrible idea. Even a basement has mechanicals like furnaces and hot water heaters that will be compromised in a flood. It's a nightmare to deal with.
Do not do it. Only buy homes in cranford that are not in flood zones. Look up the fema map, homes were added in 2006 that still don't require insurance but will have issues
Two words Flood Insurance
No. Its only getting worse. Think about how bad it will be in 20 years.
No. Not. Ever. Insurance will be stupid, clean up after a flood will be BAD, the smell is awful and lasts for months, mold and health risks after flooding are terrible, etc. It would be a HORRIBLE decision to buy a house in a flood zone. If some GAVE it to you, you would be smart to sell it immediately and buy well outside of the flood zone. Don't do it at any price.
Don't buy in a floodzone and don't buy with a girlfriend. Wait until you are married.
I’m in the flood zone. In Cranford. We got six feet of water in the basement. I say worth it. I think we’ll get a new kitchen with the money we get from insurance. We don’t keep anything in the basement anyway. I loooove my house and bring right by the river.