https://abc13.com/post/houston-association-realtors-will-not-display-flood-risk-data-listings-pushback-members/18543311/

Quote:

---

To keep homebuyers informed, HAR worked with data researchers at Texas A&M to develop Buyers Aware, a tool that would estimate a property's flood risk. That information was supposed to be added directly to property listings, but after two years of work, a unanimous vote by HAR's board changed that.

---

HAR showing how scummy they are once again by now voting to hide critical flood risk data from any visitors of listings. Texas A&M worked on this data for 2 years only for it to be intentionally hidden. Members clearly fear housing prices would drop if consumers were adequately informed a home was in a flood zone.

No surprise. Freakonomics really hit the nail on the head with comparing real estate agents to the klan

If you have a mortgage and the homenis in the 100yr, FEMA flood insurance is mandatory from your bank.

FEMA and HC Flood Control District have been slow rolling updated changes to flood plain mapping. It was started post Harvey and its expected to take the current 500yr and add it to the 100 yr. Got a mortgage? Suddenly youll have another annual bill to pay.

I've been associated with that project and it has taken way too long for those maps to be released for public comment. Not 100% of 500yr will become 100yr. But the vast majority will.

FEMA flood map. Google search. Input address. Simple.

But Nothing is as good as Talking to neighbors before buying. In person, by knocking on their door.

bobbranco said:

---

Buyer beware. Sellers and their agents lie.

---

Especially when the Agent is working for a builder out of one of the Model Homes, & the Builder or Builder's agency is providing the financing.

bobbranco said:

---

Buyer beware. Sellers and their agents lie.

---

And a "buyers" agent lies with them to you.

I don't see what the big deal is. I logged into my HAR account this morning, and picked a random listing. Flood Map is still there, and it shows the exact same data as the FEMA NFHL viewer.

CanyonAg77 said:

---

Here's a hint:

If you buy a house in Houston, it will likely flood

---

THIS.

Same with New Orleans or any other place below sea level.

Im Gipper said:

---

Heaven forbid homebuyers do 2-3 extra clicks on their own to find out critical information before what's likely the biggest financial commitment of their lives.

https://www.har.com/flood

Any buyer not "adequately informed" has 1 person alone to blame. And it's not HAR.

---

Isn't this a service that a realtor would provide? What else do they do for their 3-6% but drive around in their SUVs and browse har.com?

Anyone in the greater Houston area should buy flood insurance unless your house is raised.

And for those whining about the pace of the updated floodmaps, get ready. That show is about to start.

zephyr88 said:

---

Im Gipper said:

---

Heaven forbid homebuyers do 2-3 extra clicks on their own to find out critical information before what's likely the biggest financial commitment of their lives.

https://www.har.com/flood

Any buyer not "adequately informed" has 1 person alone to blame. And it's not HAR.

---

Isn't this a service that a realtor would provide? What else do they do for their 3-6% but drive around in their SUVs and browse har.com?

---

Sure.

And if you consider HAR your "realtor" the info is a couple clicks away. Literally no excuse to not look for it or find.


On commissions, that's one of the bigger accepted scams out there!

HTownAg98 said:

---

I don't see what the big deal is. I logged into my HAR account this morning, and picked a random listing. Flood Map is still there, and it shows the exact same data as the FEMA NFHL viewer.

---

Its not the base map, it was tailored risk analysis and likelihood of flooding in that zone more detailed to your house general area. Just showing a 100y or 500y map doesn't mean anything to the average buyer. Everyone knows there are plenty of zones that have flooded numerous times in the last 5-20 years that are in 100 and 500 zones. This data was gathered over 2 years with the sole intent to show it on the listing and now they realize it looks terrible for sales and would drive prices way down. Who would want to buy a brand new home for example that got say a 10% chance to flood in a 100y zone. I sure as hell don't want a forever home where my chances are that high.

You also have to think about the target demographic, this is Houston. The majority of the population are flippin idiots with multiple baby daddies, a 1k+/month car loan and barely 2 brain cells to rub together. The intent is to help them, not someone who actually researches a major purchase.

This is one of those things deserving of a face palm.

Drainage. Just have to be smarter than water.

Im Gipper said:

---

zephyr88 said:

---

Im Gipper said:

---

Heaven forbid homebuyers do 2-3 extra clicks on their own to find out critical information before what's likely the biggest financial commitment of their lives.

https://www.har.com/flood

Any buyer not "adequately informed" has 1 person alone to blame. And it's not HAR.

---

Isn't this a service that a realtor would provide? What else do they do for their 3-6% but drive around in their SUVs and browse har.com?

---

Sure.

And if you consider HAR your "realtor" the info is a couple clicks away. Literally no excuse to not look for it or find.


On commissions, that's one of the bigger accepted scams out there!

---

Yup, agree.

There's plenty of us who would look up the history of ownership, deeds, liens, FEMA floodplains, etc. we'd also look up crime statistics and trends, growth projections, tax rates... but not everyone is as smart as us.

Realtor 'services' are the biggest scam in America and only gets more atrocious as the sales price of the house goes up.

Well on flooding, you can literally look that up right from the HAR website.

FM 949 said:

---

Anyone in the greater Houston area should buy flood insurance unless your house is raised.

And for those whining about the pace of the updated floodmaps, get ready. That show is about to start.

---

Exactly. If you're not in a 100-year flood zone in Houston, you eventually will be. Plus, if you're not in a 100-year flood zone, the policy is fairly cheap.

FatZilla said:

---

HTownAg98 said:

---

I don't see what the big deal is. I logged into my HAR account this morning, and picked a random listing. Flood Map is still there, and it shows the exact same data as the FEMA NFHL viewer.

---

Its not the base map, it was tailored risk analysis and likelihood of flooding in that zone more detailed to your house general area. Just showing a 100y or 500y map doesn't mean anything to the average buyer. Everyone knows there are plenty of zones that have flooded numerous times in the last 5-20 years that are in 100 and 500 zones. This data was gathered over 2 years with the sole intent to show it on the listing and now they realize it looks terrible for sales and would drive prices way down. Who would want to buy a brand new home for example that got say a 10% chance to flood in a 100y zone. I sure as hell don't want a forever home where my chances are that high.

You also have to think about the target demographic, this is Houston. The majority of the population are flippin idiots with multiple baby daddies, a 1k+/month car loan and barely 2 brain cells to rub together. The intent is to help them, not someone who actually researches a major purchase.

---

The data is out there. You can go to buyersaware.com and pull up the data. It's not "hidden" anywhere.

HTownAg98 said:

---

FatZilla said:

---

HTownAg98 said:

---

I don't see what the big deal is. I logged into my HAR account this morning, and picked a random listing. Flood Map is still there, and it shows the exact same data as the FEMA NFHL viewer.

---

Its not the base map, it was tailored risk analysis and likelihood of flooding in that zone more detailed to your house general area. Just showing a 100y or 500y map doesn't mean anything to the average buyer. Everyone knows there are plenty of zones that have flooded numerous times in the last 5-20 years that are in 100 and 500 zones. This data was gathered over 2 years with the sole intent to show it on the listing and now they realize it looks terrible for sales and would drive prices way down. Who would want to buy a brand new home for example that got say a 10% chance to flood in a 100y zone. I sure as hell don't want a forever home where my chances are that high.

You also have to think about the target demographic, this is Houston. The majority of the population are flippin idiots with multiple baby daddies, a 1k+/month car loan and barely 2 brain cells to rub together. The intent is to help them, not someone who actually researches a major purchase.

---

The data is out there. You can go to buyersaware.com and pull up the data. It's not "hidden" anywhere.

---

I didn't say it was hidden elsewhere, i said they deliberately hid the data that was built specifically for this websites listing pages after realizing it would hurt their bottom line even if it would help consumers make informed decisions. That is scummy.

zephyr88 said:

---

Im Gipper said:

---

Heaven forbid homebuyers do 2-3 extra clicks on their own to find out critical information before what's likely the biggest financial commitment of their lives.

https://www.har.com/flood

Any buyer not "adequately informed" has 1 person alone to blame. And it's not HAR.

---

Isn't this a service that a realtor would provide? What else do they do for their 3-6% but drive around in their SUVs and browse har.com?

---

These days, the best that I can tell is that the for vast majority of residential RE agents their only role is to escort buyers on walking a property the buyer already picked out, circulating TREC forms the buyer could do on their own, and providing sellers access to MLS. Not a lot of value add for average commission of $10k based on current Texas data.

Im Gipper said:

---

Heaven forbid homebuyers do 2-3 extra clicks on their own to find out critical information before what's likely the biggest financial commitment of their lives.

https://www.har.com/flood

Any buyer not "adequately informed" has 1 person alone to blame. And it's not HAR.

Nothing is being "hidden". Thread title is very deceptive.

---

Here's a recent news story about a neighborhood (Creekland Village) in Cypress, Texas which is only accessible via The Grand Parkway toll road. Apparently it's everyone's fault except the homeowners.

I personally don't want a "flood score" on my property. How do I know what goes into calculating that risk that covers a broad area. The flood maps themselves are fine.

If you went by Harvey flood maps, you'd see standing water where my house was built. What you wouldn't know is that we spoke with the neighbors on my street who didn't flood during Harvey by an inch of two and built our lot higher than their houses to reduce our risk. I highly doubt that would be adequately taken into account when this flood score is posted impacting our value.

What is the OPs point? Has the OP never bought a used car?

Buyer beware.

I was working for the Drainage Division of the City of Dallas and co-writing their first stream modeling software. They didn't want to use the COE model for some reason. We were searching for a home and found one in the Lakewood area that we liked. It was an older home, near a creek and the realtor assured us it would never flood. We almost put in a contract on it, but the creek proximity worried me.

The next day at work, I looked up some historical flooding maps and found it had flooded in the past. I was young and naive and would have felt like an absolute idiot if I had bought a house in a flood prone area!

doubledog said:

---

What is the OPs point? Has the OP never bought a used car?

Buyer beware.

---

He complaining the used car lot website hides the problems by providing a link to a website that shows you all the problems.

https://www.maapnext.org
https://www.harriscountyfemt.org

Updated FEMA maps were released recently to the government entities and floodplain managers for a round of comments

Buyers Aware drastically overstates flood risk. In my neighborhood homes that didn't flood during Harvey are rated as high risk, with no distinction for homes that did flood. Their maps are a mess, with scattered low risk homes in the middle of high risk ones.

I get the feeling that someone threw in a "climate change" factor into their estimates. They seem to be planning on bigger rain events than Harvey.

zephyr88 said:

---

Im Gipper said:

---

zephyr88 said:

---

Im Gipper said:

---

Heaven forbid homebuyers do 2-3 extra clicks on their own to find out critical information before what's likely the biggest financial commitment of their lives.

https://www.har.com/flood

Any buyer not "adequately informed" has 1 person alone to blame. And it's not HAR.

---

Isn't this a service that a realtor would provide? What else do they do for their 3-6% but drive around in their SUVs and browse har.com?

---

Sure.

And if you consider HAR your "realtor" the info is a couple clicks away. Literally no excuse to not look for it or find.


On commissions, that's one of the bigger accepted scams out there!

---

Yup, agree.

There's plenty of us who would look up the history of ownership, deeds, liens, FEMA floodplains, etc. we'd also look up crime statistics and trends, growth projections, tax rates... but not everyone is as smart as us.

Realtor 'services' are the biggest scam in America and only gets more atrocious as the sales price of the house goes up.

---

Wait until you learn what the medical, insurance, and law industries do to earn their totally legit salaries.

And while we're at it, what do you do?

Construction

I build highrise condos full of doctors and lawyers. The realtors make almost as much as we do (on a percentage basis) with zero risk, no warranty and a tenth of the headache.

What do you do?

zephyr88 said:

---

Construction

I build highrise condos full of doctors and lawyers. The realtors make almost as much as we do (on a percentage basis) with zero risk, no warranty and a tenth of the headache.

---

The median income for Realtors in 2023 was $55,800.

Meanwhile, looks like your profession did much, much better.

Microsoft Word - CICPAC and PAS Compensation Report - Published 2024

Heineken-Ashi said:

---

zephyr88 said:

---

Im Gipper said:

---

zephyr88 said:

---

Im Gipper said:

---

Heaven forbid homebuyers do 2-3 extra clicks on their own to find out critical information before what's likely the biggest financial commitment of their lives.

https://www.har.com/flood

Any buyer not "adequately informed" has 1 person alone to blame. And it's not HAR.

---

Isn't this a service that a realtor would provide? What else do they do for their 3-6% but drive around in their SUVs and browse har.com?

---

Sure.

And if you consider HAR your "realtor" the info is a couple clicks away. Literally no excuse to not look for it or find.


On commissions, that's one of the bigger accepted scams out there!

---

Yup, agree.

There's plenty of us who would look up the history of ownership, deeds, liens, FEMA floodplains, etc. we'd also look up crime statistics and trends, growth projections, tax rates... but not everyone is as smart as us.

Realtor 'services' are the biggest scam in America and only gets more atrocious as the sales price of the house goes up.

---

Wait until you learn what the medical, insurance, and law industries do to earn their totally legit salaries.

And while we're at it, what do you do?

---

Law? I'm board certified in tax law. I represent some of the biggest companies with some of the most complicated legal issues there are, and there aren't many people that have the ability to do it. I make 7 figures because that's true.

Realtors are a dime a dozen.