Selling a St. Pete House That Flooded? What You Must Disclose

The water went down weeks ago. The drywall is cut at the line, the fans are gone, and the house in St. Petersburg is quiet again. Now you are thinking about selling it, and somebody told you Florida makes you put the flood in writing.

They are right. Florida law requires the seller of a home to hand the buyer a short flood disclosure. This post walks through what that form asks, when it is due, and how it works when you sell the house as-is to a buyer like us.

This is how the law reads and how a sale works with us. It is not legal advice. Your closing agent or a Florida real-estate attorney is the right person for your exact facts.

What the law says, in plain words

Florida Statutes section 689.302 is titled "Disclosure of flood risks to prospective purchaser." It says a seller "must complete and provide a flood disclosure to a purchaser" of residential real property.

That is the whole duty in one line. It is not only for listed homes. If you are selling a house in Pinellas County, the form is part of your sale whether you use an agent, sell to a neighbor, or sell to a company that buys as-is.

The statute also sets the timing. The disclosure goes to the buyer "at or before the time the sales contract is executed." In other words: before you sign, or when you sign. Not at the closing table, and not after the inspection.

The three questions on the form

The form printed in the statute is short. Each line is a box the seller checks one way or the other:

1. Flooding you know about. Whether you have knowledge of any flooding that damaged the property during your ownership.
2. Money from a flood policy. Whether you ever turned to a flood policy for damage to the property.
3. Help from a program. Whether you received assistance for flood damage to the property. The statute names the Federal Emergency Management Agency as one example, not the only one.

Read the exact wording in the statute before you fill it out. It takes about two minutes, and the words matter more than any summary, including this one.

Knowledge is the word that matters

The first question is about what you know, and it is about the years you owned the house.

That matters most for heirs. If you inherited the house last year, you may not know what happened in the storms before it was yours. Ask your closing agent how to answer for the years before your name was on the deed, and write down what you do know.

For everyone else, our view is the boring one. If the house took water, check the box. A buyer who walks through will see the cut drywall and the new baseboards anyway. A clean, honest disclosure keeps a sale moving. A surprise found after signing is what slows one down.

What the disclosure does not do

The form is a disclosure, not a repair order. Nothing in section 689.302 tells you to fix the house before you sell it. It tells you to tell the buyer.

The city is a separate matter. St. Petersburg has its own review for flood-zone repairs after a storm, often called the substantial damage rule. If the city looked at your house after the water, read our post on the substantial damage rule in St. Pete. It walks through the three roads: repair, elevate, or sell the house as it stands.

The two are easy to mix up:

• The flood disclosure is between you and your buyer. It is about what you know.
• The substantial damage review is between the house and the city. It is about what a repair has to include.

Check the flood zone before you sign

The disclosure is about the history of the house. The flood zone is about the map. Buyers look up the map, so look first.

Pinellas County runs a Flood Map Service Center where you can look up the parcel. The county describes it as "a good place to start looking" when you want to know whether a house is in a flood zone. FEMA has a plain guide to what flood zones and flood maps mean, and it starts where you should: the map shows the flood risk for your home.

Know both before the contract: what happened to the house, and what the map says about the lot. Then nothing in the paperwork is news to you.

Why a flooded house is hard to sell the usual way

A listed house that took water has a long road. Most buyers are using a loan, and the lender wants the house finished. Most buyers want the walls closed and the floors back. And the flood disclosure is in front of every one of them from the first showing.

So the usual advice is to fix it first. That means contractors, permits, and months of paying for a house nobody lives in, before a single buyer walks through.

Selling as-is skips that line. The disclosure still gets done. It is the law. But it goes to a buyer who has already walked the house and made an offer on it the way it is.

How it works when you sell to us as-is

We buy houses in Pinellas County directly from the owner, as-is, with our own money. A house that took water is normal work for us. Here is how the disclosure fits into a sale with us:

1. You tell us the address. Fill in the form or call. Tell us what happened: where the water came in, what has been torn out, and what has not.
2. We walk the house. We look at it the way it is. You do not clean it out, dry it out, or patch the walls first.
3. We put a price and a date in writing. One offer, one closing date, set around your timeline.
4. You complete the flood disclosure at or before signing. Your closing agent can walk you through the form. Check the boxes honestly. We have already seen the house, so nothing on it surprises us.
5. We close with a title company. You pay us no fee and no agent commission.

What happens between signing and closing is in what happens after you accept a cash offer.

Questions St. Pete owners ask us

Do I have to fill out the flood disclosure if I sell to a cash buyer?

The statute puts the duty on the seller of residential real property. It does not turn on how the buyer pays. Plan on completing it either way, and ask your closing agent if you think your sale is different.

The flooding happened before I owned the house. Do I check yes?

The first question asks about flooding during your ownership. If you inherited the house or bought it after an earlier storm, ask your closing agent how to answer. Tell us what you know either way. It does not change whether we can buy.

I already pulled out the wet drywall. Is that a problem?

No. Tell us what was done and what was not. We buy houses at every stage of a cleanup, from untouched to gutted to the studs.

Is the disclosure the same as the city review?

No. The disclosure is a form you give your buyer. The substantial damage review is the city deciding what a repair must include. One does not replace the other.

The short version

• Florida section 689.302 requires the seller of a home to give the buyer a written flood disclosure.
• It is due at or before the contract is signed.
• It asks about flooding you know of during your ownership, and about money or help you received for flood damage.
• It does not require repairs before a sale.
• When you sell to us as-is, the form still gets done, on a house we have already walked.

Tell us about the house

If your St. Petersburg or Pinellas house took water and you would rather sell it the way it is, tell us the address. Use the form on our cash offer page or call or text (727) 613-0241. More answers are on our FAQ.