In Clearwater, Florida, Bridget Neumann, an insurance broker, has spent the past week trying to replace a policy that no longer exists — at least right now. With the federal government shuttered, the National Flood Insurance Program has paused issuing new policies that many homebuyers need to secure their mortgages.
That means that the $4,000 annual flood coverage her client was expecting to pay for a modest, two-bedroom ranch is off the table. The only two quotes she found at private carriers are for $9,000 and $12,000.
Hundreds of miles away on Florida’s Atlantic coast, a real estate agent plans to coach his clients on a workaround, asking the seller’s insurance broker to sign over the home’s existing flood insurance coverage to a prospective buyer. And on North Carolina’s barrier islands, another agent is floating a rent-to-own arrangement — anything to keep a deal alive until a buyer can actually get flood insurance…