One of the overlooked aspects of house-hunting in Maricopa is the floodplain.
Although Maricopa has not had a serious flood in decades, flood zone areas established by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) impact homesites in eight subdivisions throughout the city and the Heritage District.
A buyer cannot get a loan on one of these properties without flood insurance, which could affect how quickly the home sells. Flood insurance can cost $500-$2,000 annually, depending on the value of the home and the zone rating, so homebuyers are usually more concerned about the cost of flood insurance than about an actual flood.
And buyers typically don’t budget for this unexpected cost, which gets added into the mortgage payment. This means that even though they may like the house enough to move forward with a contract, the added expense may cause their monthly payment to be higher than they qualify for.