Thinking about making a move. St Paul, MN to Houston area (Galveston: insurance, credit card)

[cjedstrom]

Originally Posted by nspUSMC

Hey cjedstrom. I am 30 years old. I live on the east side of Saint Paul. I have a wife and a 2 month old daughter and we are also looking to move to one of the major cities in Texas. we started by looking at Austin because we heard good things about the music scene. Then we noticed how scarce jobs can be there. we are currently looking at plane tickets to Dallas to maybe take a peek around that area. would you mind keeping me posted on your findings?

I will definitely keep you posted on anything I find out! Please do the same! So much information! Good luck to you!!

[cjedstrom]

Originally Posted by mingna

Texas has many more species of mosquitoes than MN (85 at last count), including the type that transmits West Nile Virus. Something to be aware of if you have young children, are elderly, and/or immunocrompromised. Many species are very small and bite you so quickly that you don't realize you've been bitten until the welt forms, along with the maddening itching. No chance for the satisfying slap-kill of larger, more lethargic kinds I encountered in MN.

If you are adverse to soaking yourself in DEET, I've found insect repellent clothing to offer good protection- even at the height of mosquito season.

Yeah unfortunately we have west nile here as well. About 60-70 different species here also. Dumb mosquitos!

[cjedstrom]

Can someone PLEASE explain the flood plains to me? I have tried looking at maps but I am just not all the way understanding. "In the 100 yr?" what does that mean? What flood plain is Clear Lake or Webster or any of those neighborhoods in?

Also.. I pay about $900-$1000/annually for homeowners insurance on my $110,000 home right now. Is that pretty comparable? I know there are a lot of factors but just as a generalized statement...? Same, low, high?

How often and how severe are the cities mentioned above impacted by hurricanes? How often do you get evacuated? Is that a dumb question? Haha.

As always thank you! (I am not sure I will ever run out of questions, haha)

[Oildog]

I pay about 1800/yr for HOI for a house thats about 350k.

[Cbink]

Originally Posted by Oildog

I pay about 1800/yr for HOI for a house thats about 350k.

We're somewhat comparable - circa $1,600/yr for HOI for a house that's circa $330k (not in a 100yr flood zone).

[cjedstrom]

So it sounds liek it is actually a little cheaper than what I would pay here. If i am only covering a $110K house for about $1000 and you have triple that ($330K) for only $6-$800 more... Not too bad! Thank you!

[ilikepizza]

You can't assume what you'll pay in insurance until you find the community you want to live in. We live in Pearland and bought our home for $174K. We pay $2000 for windstorm/homeowners and around $600 for flood.

[brassylass]

The floodplains mostly were created a long time ago by USGS and FEMA. Sometimes they are updated with real data. I am not in Houston, but in Florida if you are in the 100-year flood plain you pay a lot more in insurance. It is supposed to mean that you are likely to get a flood that usually only occurs once in a 100 years (it is the size of the flood not necessarily the frequency). For instance, a 100 year storm event was decided in 1984 (in Florida, not sure if there was a national study) to be x amount of inches of rain over x amount of time. The longer the storm period and more rain in that period, the more rare the storm (a 20 year storm vs 100 year storm). FEMA has these maps you can view online. Your insurance will be higher in those zones. If you are in a low lying area or an area closer to the coast or a body of water, you are more likely to be in the zone. Wind and hurricane damage is separate because those statistics do not include wind damage as a measure of a storms size, just rain.

[cjedstrom]

I know there is no for sure formula for insurance without knowing specifics, but I was just trying to get a general idea. Thank you!
brassylass, thanks for the floodplain info. Seems to make more sense. I have found a few sites that helped.
I officially have time off in Sept to come down for a week and check it all out! Super pumped! Even just to drive around and check out all the apartment complexes and just the general area!
Any specific sight seeing things I should do? I am really looking forward to the Bolivar/Galveston ferry. Especially since it is free!

[newlymarried]

There are evacuation zones online that will show areas of evacuation.

Certain parts of Houston are in mandatory evacuation zones, others are not (generally, the more south you live, the more likely you are to be in a mandatory evacuation zone). That being said, it's not always the southern areas that get flooded. With Tropical Storm Allison, the clouds chose to stay put over some northern areas -- parts of The Woodlands got slammed, for example.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people who might weigh in, but here's what I remember...

Ike was about 5 years ago. I'm not sure if there were any mandatory evacuations, but parts of Houston went without power for weeks.

A couple of years before that was Rita -- which was just a few weeks after Katrina. You might remember the news coverage of the nightmare evacuation.

I think there were some tropical storms as well in between.

Obviously, big storms can happen every year or more than once a year. It's smart to be prepared every year -- at the start of hurricane season, I prep our supplies to stay (water, food, batteries, cash (ATMs and credit card machines go out), axe to cut through the roof, etc). I also take an inventory of what we're taking if we go and have a list (important papers, clothing, insurance records, etc). At the end of hurricane season, I put it all away.

I have no idea how close this is to reality, but I assume every 3-5 years we're going to have a major hurricane or other flooding issue of some sort. Sometimes it's not a big deal and sometimes it's a mess.

And btw, I wouldn't skip flood insurance. Too many people have found out too late that their home insurance doesn't cover flood damage -- and suddenly have to take their house down to the studs on their dime. But if you buy in the flood plain, you will be paying a HUGE amount for it.