Flooding in June?

I'm guilty.  I ignored my own advice.

When we bought our home four years ago in sunny Southern Oregon (home to Rentec Direct’s rental software), in the middle of June, we were very excited about our new digs.  Don't get me wrong, it was a total wreck of a house in need of a complete overhaul, but it was ideal for us - room for improvements, rich farming soil and affordable acreage close to town.  We walked the property, the length of the creek and throughly investigated the neighborhood.  Everything seemed to check out perfectly. We were happy to learn we did not need flood insurance and that made sense to us as the creek was fairly tiny and the beautiful Applegate River was 1/4 mile from this property.

What we did not do was talk to the neighbors in the area and ask them for any "dirt."  If we would have, we would have found that the previous owners did not report that the property had flooded, and more than once.  Like, completely submerged acreage.  Our super friendly new neighbors called us this winter to ask if we were floating down stream when the big rains hit, and then went on to tell us the flood "history" of the property.  At that point, I didn't need any schooling.  It was obvious.

I was pretty freaked out when our creek rose six feet and was lapping at the edge of our driveway.  Thankfully we had a backhoe and the skills to deal with the excess water drowning us, and when the water receded, we didn't have any permanent damage.  And, in the middle of the raging water, our insurance agent reassured me our policy would cover any damage as it wasn't technically a "flood" unless neighboring properties and lots of acreage were totally underwater.   Still, I couldn't imagine what a mess it could have been!  If we hadn't dug a 100' long and 2 foot deep mote across our property, our cow barn would have been underwater!  We could have lost all our fruit trees and our home could have flooded.  And our septic drain field would have failed.  Yeah, we're talking a real mess.

So, whatever you do, make sure your talk to the neighbors!  People always love to tell you the "secrets' and sometimes you'll get more useful information than a standard due-diligence will offer.  I've always told people to do this... especially in the property management industry.  Why I didn't take my own advice is beyond me.

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