While it would be a concern that the house had water from the previous hurricane I would be more concerned that any damage had been corrected. There is no guarantee that future hurricanes would not damage the house and you will have future hurricanes. If you do move you should invest in both hurricane and flood insurance as each covers differing damage caused by storms. The water your friends mentioned should be covered under flood insurance while wind damage would be under the hurricane portion.

That area is impacted almost every year by hurricanes.

Absolutely appropriate. Make contact with the recommended agent. Tell her exactly what you just posted. Ask for the information. You probably won't get the seller's disclosure, but by asking such pointed questions of the seller's agent, you will get an answer to your question. It will inform you has to how to proceed.

FYI, if you go see the home, don't limit yourself to considering only property. Be sure to look at whatever else is available nearby. It will make you a more informed buyer.

@Homechef59, currently, we have identified 5 possible homes in our price range we certainly have preferences among that group. Of course, any one of them could go under contract at any time, and more may come on the market before our trip (in about 2 weeks, I think).

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to get the Seller's Disclosure now. The only times I have had difficulty getting the seller's disclosure is if the seller hasn't completed it yet or if there is truly something noteworthy/negative on the disclosure. Most of us are pleased to send the sellers disclosure out to the buyers' agent right away as it shows a truly serious buyer. I usually put the sellers' disclosure in the document section of the MLS so it is available to the buyers agent immediately when they review the MLS. Having said that, some sellers disclosures are filled out completely and diligently; and others are not filled out much at all. In any event: ask your specific questions anyway whether you get the sellers disclosure or not. You may get additional information to help you narrow (or expand) your choices to see when you head to SE North Carolina in two weeks.

Denita for informational purposes only would the sellers disclosure mention if water came in during a storm if no damage was done? I could see it mentioning water damage but that is not what the OP asked.

Actually, Maifleur, we are interested in any water encroachment (lot, garage, house) whether they considered it "damage" or not. Our friends who had 2 inches in the garage from Hurricane Florence ended up with mold.

That is what I thought you were asking about which is why I asked Denita if that was included in the sellers disclosure as it is not often seen here.

Edited to add that in the downpours that accompany hurricanes it would be hard to tell what was encroachment vs. just rain on a lot since you mention 2 inches of water. We had a 13 inch overnight rain that even hillsides had several inches deep water running off of them.

In our Sellers Disclosures it is a multi-page form with a whole series of questions on water damage (*Sec 3, Water Intrusion) as well as other types of damage and the last page has many blank lines for the seller to elaborate on items or add additional items. The form we use is specific to Florida so I don't know if the standard forms for NC are similar or not. However, ncrealestateguy can answer specifically since that is his territory.

Denita the OP from their comment to me want to know if there was water not if there was damage. "we are interested in any water encroachment (lot, garage, house) whether they considered it "damage" or not." Any damage should be in the report but not just if there was water especially in the lot vs. garage and house.

You are right maifleur01. Not just damage, but encroachment too. Our Sellers Disclosure has 15 questions on water intrusion, damage and encroachments and other items like polybutylene pipes and other questions. Best resource is their buyers agent.

Well, so far I'm not thrilled with the realtor's team. I signed up on their website Thursday afternoon with a message that one of the team leaders had been recommended to me and that we wanted to drive down and look at houses on a specific date two weeks away. I got what appears to be an auto-reply from a team member. I sent another detailed message Friday, including links to 5 houses of interests from Realtor.com and giving both my landline and cell in the email. I have yet to receive a call.

Thursday contact and still no response? Contact another agent.

Chances are the link is broken or they don't monitor the messages. The agent could be out of town. I'd follow up with a real phone call Monday morning.

As a real property appraiser, I'd avoid that company. You will be much better served to have a local realtor provide this service. They usually do it for free if you are considering listing your property for sale. Any valuation that an online data service is highly suspect. All real estate is local. Valuations can vary widely and are subject to bad data. Keep your money. Valuations will be worth as much as a Zillow valuation. That's not much.

Homechef, there was a spam post above yours . Is that the one you responded to? Please flag spam posts as such to help make them go away for good.

I flagged it earlier as a spam post. I agree with both of you - 1) that was a spam post and 2) all real estate is local like homechef59 points out. Homechef59 nails it with his additonal info in the last post about valuations and bad data.

We are our way home to MD after seeing 8 homes in BC. Most had no issues with Florence. One house had to get a new roof, now in place.

Looks like it disappeared. I just didn't want anyone to use it and waste their money.

homechef I still see it so it is not gone. It should be as she is touting her own company.

Keep on flagging it. The Powers that Be need to see multiple flags, I guess.

You know those people on HGTV who go into a home search saying "Our budget is X" and then a buy a home that is over budget? I didn't think we'd be those people. But now we have two candidates over the range we started with. Live and learn.

Mary if the houses suit you and they fit go for it. While not the same price range you are looking in I either misunderstood the price of this house or were told the wrong price. We walked in and knew it was our house. Paid much more than what our budget was but very worth it.

What typically happens is you think your budget will get you X. It won't and you have to reset your budget usually upwards. When you really start looking you discover that you really like Y. Y just costs more than you were initially prepared to spend. It happens a lot.