[oblomov]

Of course not- when the federal government bails you out no matter what, why deal with the additional expense and hassle?

[sarasota]

Maybe they can't afford it.

[elli1]

When we bought our first house, the lender required us to get flood insurance because the house was in an area that could flood/ did flood (after 13" of rain in less than 24 hours.) No big deal--the insurance was quite inexpensive.

[Brytani]

How interesting, as a home owner in Florida I was forced by my mortgage company to purchase flood insurance. It's the smallest of our 4 forced policies. Not expensive at all really.

[isthisnickcool]

There is no such thing as flood insurance. It's a contract from FEMA/NFIP that pays from the US Treasury if the property covered by the contract floods. Which means that the program itself is a joke because since it's backed by the US Treasury ALL AMERICANS pay for the losses. Which means millions of people pay "premiums" in the form of taxes for something they can never collect on. Think of it as a bit of welfare for those that live in low areas. The actual "premiums" paid go to run a fat, stupid and sloppy government agency called FEMA.

Since Katrina Congress has already shifted billions to FEMA to pay loses. This is besides all the federal money from FEMA/SBA in the form of low or no interest loans.

In other areas of the county where houses have flooded over and over FEMA may put the area in a high risk flood zone. This means, for example, that the house must be elevated before it can be rebuilt. But how do they do that in New Orleans where you'd have to have the houses WAY UP in the air? They won't do that, they will do what they did before and sell cheap flood insurance in the New Orleans area as the once again pretend that properties WAY BELOW sea level won't flood again in 100 years. Then they WILL flood and all the taxpayers get to through more good money after bad.

Abandon most of New orleans.

[XR7]

Why buy insurance when you can receive FEMA FREEBIES?

[goldstategop]

Flood insurance in hurricane zones is good value for the money. In most of California, earthquake insurance is a waste of money. When is the Big One coming here? You've got to weigh the risks and the costs and decide if the insurance will pay off when you need it.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[The Old Hoosier]

Well, we don't exactly need flood insurance in INDIANA...what kind of survey was this, anyway? Who was asked????