[StBernard] Repair Cost %, FEMA and the LRA

[Westley Annis]

About the questions of cost %, LRA, and FEMA
 
Because your were in flood zone B, many of your questions are easy to
answer.  The elevation requirement will not affect you unless you do nothing
with your house (based on your above 50% damage) until after the Advisory
Base Flood Elevations are adopted- so if you begin any contractor repair
work, keep your invoice of the work or another option, if you have an
electrician file for an electrical permit, even on a will call basis.
 
The LRA formula for what you would be eligible for does deduct your
homeowners insurance benefit as well and the verdict is still out about any
Murphy Oil settlement money you received, it may also be deducted.  What we
do not know officially is if the house is bumped up to greater than 50%
damaged and LRA totals the house out for 100% pre-storm value minus
insurance if there will be other requirements attached to that for none B
zone residents.
 
The key to this is while the LRA sorts through this any person who has
decided to rebuild or repair their home, get started and let the LRA catch
up with you.  Keep very good records of your repairs and keep photo
documents of everything that is done as well as before and after photos.
Outside of the Murphy settlement money, LRA has not told us that they are
using any special factoring for the oil spill area.
 
I'll try to repost the matrix from earlier with some updates- good
suggestion.
 
Good luck and God Bless,
Craig
 
 
-----Original Message-----
I lived on Karen Drive in Chalmette and know the pre-storm value of my house
because I had just had it appraised two weeks before the storm.  I have
gutted the house, but need to have some questions that need to be answered
before I even think about repairing it.  I did not have flood insurance and
am hoping that the grants provided by the LRA will provide some help.  I
know that I was in flood zone B.
 
1.) It is my understanding that FEMA is using somewhere between $60 to $67
per sq. ft. repair cost as a way to assess damage.  Even using $60, my
damage would be over $100,000 which is greater than 50% of the value of my
house including the land.  Does this mean that I would be required to raise
my house in order to be able to get flood insurance in the future?
 
2.) Since my damage is about 90% of the value of my house alone, will the
LRA say that the house should be torn down and start again from scratch?
 
3.) I was in the Murphy Oil Spill area.  Does anyone know if that affects in
any way how FEMA or the LRA will consider my property?  I have a loan from
the SBA, but even they say they won't bother to put a lien on my house
because it is in the oil spill area and they don't want to have to deal with
that issue.
 
We are currently living outside of the state and I use this website to try
to keep up with what is going on in the parish.  It would be a great help to
all residents if someone in either our local government or the state or
federal government would design a matrix that residents could look at to see
what their choices are.  
 
Westley,
thanks for keeping up this site, it has been a great help.