[StBernard] Flood Insurance Questions

[Westley Annis]

Wesley,

I've got some interesting information many might find useful.  Over the past
few days I've been contacted a few times to perform appraisals on homes that
were detroyed by Katrina - entirely by flood waters I should note.  One was
in Orleans and the other in Meraux.  Upon speaking with the homeowners I
learned neither had flood insurance, so I was a little puzzled as to what
reason they would need a "pre-Katrina value to their homes, as well as an
"after-Katrina" since obviously there was no insurance value dispute.  I
learned it was for income tax "write off" purposes.  One homeowner is an
attorney and explained he could write off the loss on the home.  I'm sure
there are restrictions and prerequisites by the IRS, but I understand there
is something to this.  Also, the other homeowner mentioned they heard U.S.
Senator David Vitter and Congressman Bobby Jindal say something about
getting Congress to either increase or extend the number of years the
homeowners could write off the loss against one's income.  I believe one of
the homeowners said there was some information on this on the IRS website.

Let me suggest to everyone to look into this - speak to a CPA or tax expert.
Particularly if you did not have flood insurance or if you are going to take
a loss after all the insurance adjustments are settled.  I would think if
you had any equity in your home above uninsured losses, this would be an
applicable situation.

An example of one of the properties demonstrates the amount of loss the
homeowner incurred.  Their mortgage from 10 years ago has a balance of
$80,000.  Even though the sales price of the home 10 years ago was $135,000,
based on my appraised value the property had a pre-Katrina value of
$255,000.  Thus, the homeowners loss is $175,000, and they're looking to see
how much of that can be written off against future taxes.

Needless to say, I had to put on what appeared to be full "haz-mat" gear to
walk through the house - this was in Lakeview where the muck was nearly 2
feet.

If I can be of service to anyone, feel free to contact me at:  985-882-9421
(Office), 504-722-6662 (cell), email at:  scurich at bellsouth.net

Best wishes,

John Scurich