jimnyc
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- New York
I know this is a tad long.
Short version - want to sell our home. Major flooding issues from 5 surrounding homes of water that drains into our yard due to grading. They do not do it on purpose, happens because they built property here in the long past without any leveling. Can anything be done short of me paying $$$$ to have even more built for our home to help prevent? Thanks!
I know this isn't selling a home, but we are ready to soon and this is my issue at hand.
We purchased our home at the end of 1998, here in NY, City of Larchmont. No issues were disclosed and our inspector found some minor damage here and there in which they fixed prior to closing. Everything was great. About 5 years later we had a very bad downpour and our basement flooded with nearly 4 feet of water. There was a foot or so outside. Came in under sump pumps in our garage and basement as water couldn't drain. We lost our washer, dryer, hot water heater & furnace.
Oddly all neighbors were A-ok. One of them then tells us that this would happen to the prior owner as well, and that the backyard area used to be a lake of sorts many years ago. They built homes on these 2 blocks and apparently received a permit by just draining this lake that was here. It must not have been massive but large enough. Now our neighbors to the right, to the left, and 3 homes on block behind our house. All 5 houses of water naturally come down very minor grades and into our yard. They do nothing to make this happen, just the way the property is.
We spent now over $50k on a massive well system, french well and all running to a huge pit with industrial pumps which pump it into the sewer down the end of road. We did that all legally and received permits and even had to rip up a 1' section of road from our home to sewer.
We have still flooded with 3-4' of water in times of larger rains while no one else has any issues around us. Lost water heater 3 times total thus far and furnace, and motherboard on furnace about 5 times for $700 each time. Allstate will not cover and would only do so if something broke that caused the flooding.
Neighbors won't do anything at all as they have no issues and don't care about us. But to fix would require massive more work at our home to make something that would stop this nightmare. Alternative would be to regrade the area of yards somehow but that too would be massive and city would never cooperate, nor help in getting it done in any way.
We are at our wits end and unsure if there is anything at all we can do besides keep eating losses. And of course if/when we sell we would properly disclose the issue and then no one would probably ever buy the house or property.
I tried to keep as brief as possible but cover main details. This has been over a 25 year period. We just flooded again in our home and spent the weekend cleaning and throwing away things. We do have heater and furnace on a professionally made stands made out of cinder block. The bases were reached anyway and another hour or less of rain and we may have lost them again.
I'm sure folks have perhaps seen familiar but my question is if there is anything that can be done about it other than us spending another huge amount of money?
We may have no choice but to sell as-is and take a massive loss on the home, or spend a huge amount. We even paid off our mortgage early at 22 years. I know that doesn't matter but just an expression of where we stand and investment made/paid.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Even if that means we are just screwed.
Thanks much!
Jim
Short version - want to sell our home. Major flooding issues from 5 surrounding homes of water that drains into our yard due to grading. They do not do it on purpose, happens because they built property here in the long past without any leveling. Can anything be done short of me paying $$$$ to have even more built for our home to help prevent? Thanks!
I know this isn't selling a home, but we are ready to soon and this is my issue at hand.
We purchased our home at the end of 1998, here in NY, City of Larchmont. No issues were disclosed and our inspector found some minor damage here and there in which they fixed prior to closing. Everything was great. About 5 years later we had a very bad downpour and our basement flooded with nearly 4 feet of water. There was a foot or so outside. Came in under sump pumps in our garage and basement as water couldn't drain. We lost our washer, dryer, hot water heater & furnace.
Oddly all neighbors were A-ok. One of them then tells us that this would happen to the prior owner as well, and that the backyard area used to be a lake of sorts many years ago. They built homes on these 2 blocks and apparently received a permit by just draining this lake that was here. It must not have been massive but large enough. Now our neighbors to the right, to the left, and 3 homes on block behind our house. All 5 houses of water naturally come down very minor grades and into our yard. They do nothing to make this happen, just the way the property is.
We spent now over $50k on a massive well system, french well and all running to a huge pit with industrial pumps which pump it into the sewer down the end of road. We did that all legally and received permits and even had to rip up a 1' section of road from our home to sewer.
We have still flooded with 3-4' of water in times of larger rains while no one else has any issues around us. Lost water heater 3 times total thus far and furnace, and motherboard on furnace about 5 times for $700 each time. Allstate will not cover and would only do so if something broke that caused the flooding.
Neighbors won't do anything at all as they have no issues and don't care about us. But to fix would require massive more work at our home to make something that would stop this nightmare. Alternative would be to regrade the area of yards somehow but that too would be massive and city would never cooperate, nor help in getting it done in any way.
We are at our wits end and unsure if there is anything at all we can do besides keep eating losses. And of course if/when we sell we would properly disclose the issue and then no one would probably ever buy the house or property.
I tried to keep as brief as possible but cover main details. This has been over a 25 year period. We just flooded again in our home and spent the weekend cleaning and throwing away things. We do have heater and furnace on a professionally made stands made out of cinder block. The bases were reached anyway and another hour or less of rain and we may have lost them again.
I'm sure folks have perhaps seen familiar but my question is if there is anything that can be done about it other than us spending another huge amount of money?
We may have no choice but to sell as-is and take a massive loss on the home, or spend a huge amount. We even paid off our mortgage early at 22 years. I know that doesn't matter but just an expression of where we stand and investment made/paid.
Any feedback would be appreciated. Even if that means we are just screwed.
Thanks much!
Jim
