According to NOAH computations, Maine is ranked 4th in the United States with regard to miles of coastline, so this is good news for the many coastal property owners here.  The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) actively advocated for the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act on behalf of property owners and real estate agents, alike.

Bath, ME Waterfront Park – Nov 2008

The federal flood insurance program has “gone underwater” due to several recent years with record disaster claims.  Because the flood insurance premiums had been subsidized, home owners were not bearing the true cost of the risk. There was legislation on the table that would have attempted to bring things more in balance by imposing huge premium increases on coastal property owners, and on buyers of coastal properties at the time of purchase.  In our market area (Harpswell) we are aware of at least one sale that fell through when the buyer was looking at a $30,000+ per year annual flood insurance premium under the proposed changes.

Read the FEMA Overview of the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014.