If you didn’t’ have flood insurance and your house flooded, then you most likely applied for FEMA’s disaster assistance program. This is a great program for those affected by the flooding. However, you should not base all your hopes on FEMA and here is why:
What Will FEMA Pay For?
FEMA’s maximum allowable grant to a homeowner that lost property during a disaster is $33,000. However, the average payout is far lower that that.
What will FEMA pay for disaster assistance?
FEMA will pay for some assistance but like all government welfare programs, it’s based on several factors. FEMA will ask you for your income and all the insurance coverage that you had to determine how you qualify.
If awarded the grant, FEMA will pay your grant into your bank account. This grant can be used for temporary housing, emergency home repairs, uninsured and under-insured personal property losses, medical, dental and funeral expenses.
According to FEMA’s Fact Sheet, there have been 529,000 applicants with 167,000 approved for $125 Million. While that seems like a high number, that actually comes out to a whopping average of $748.50 per applicant!
What will FEMA pay for repairs?
Are you expecting FEMA to pay for all your repairs? The name of this program is the FEMA disaster assistance program, and it’s just that: assistance. It’s meant to take the sting off the repair bill. At this point you are probably looking at a repair bill between $30,000 and $60,000! However, most likely FEMA will pay for about $5,000 – $7,000.
According to FEMA and this article, the average payout for Houston’s 2016 “Tax Day Flooding” was $5,702.
How long will it take for FEMA to pay me?
Like all government organizations, FEMA will take a long time to process your request. Between Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, it is estimated that 529,000 people have requested some sort of FEMA assistance. With that many people, it will take a long time to get paid out.
Your Options
What are your options at this point?
- Wait for FEMA to pay.
- Pay the $30,000-$60,000 repair bill out of pocket and fix the house.
- Get a disaster loan for repairs.
- Sell your house as-is.
If you decided to sell your house as-is so that you can move on with your life then call 713-322-6645 to find out more about selling your house fast!