The next chapter

Let me first start off with an apology. I know many of you have tried to get in touch with us or have been patiently waiting for an email with an update, but to no avail. We are sorry it has taken so long to get to you but to say it has been crazy has been an understatement and I am sure you can all understand. The husband and I are still doing fine, but this has been two very long and difficult weeks. And to be blatantly honest, I just did not have the strength to write what was going on for most of the time. I will not go through the blow by blow, but below is a quick account of what has been going on:
-We met with FEMA, the gentlemen was very nice and told us to expect our denial letter within 7 to 10 days. Apparently FEMA has way too much time on its hands and denies all claims the first time and then once they receive the appeal they actually review the claim. We are still waiting for our denial letter, but are more than ready to fight the denial.
-The car insurance person came to see the cars. Only my car was covered by the policy because we only carried a limited amount of coverage on the Corvette. The insurance company totaled out my car (for obvious reasons) and is paying more than I owe, which means I have a down payment. My car was towed off last Monday and I got the check in the mail today. So we should be able to start car shopping soon. As for the Corvette, the husband decided to sell it on Craig's List due to the lack of time and money to fix it right now. He sold it today and I think it has gone to a good home. The people that bought it plan to restore it and give it to their 87 year old mother. They promised we could go visit it! And just because life is fun, my rental car had a completely flat tire last Monday on the driver side and now has a slow leak on the passenger side...will the fun never stop!
-The flood insurance adjuster made it out to the house Friday a week ago. He is a delightful gentleman that informed us that it would be between 60 and 90 days minimum to get an insurance check and that there was a good chance our house would have to be demolished and rebuilt at a higher elevation (more on this later). He finished the assessment part of his work and then headed out. He informed us that he would be in touch in 7 to 10 days to schedule the scope portion of his work. He further stated that we were not to do any more work on the house until he returned. Needless to say he has not returned and we have done no further work. Our house was deemed "unlivable," shocking I know, but unfortunately given everything that was not a foregone conclusion. We are also entitled to emergency funds to help cover immediate costs...we are still waiting (I am not sure what the exact definition of immediate is, but I am certain it is shorter than 22 days.)
-The wind insurance adjuster came to the house last Monday with no appointment and apparently did the whole inspection without us. We spoke with him this weekend and he is going to provide money to replace 100 feet of fence, 5 days of mandatory evacuation, and food loss due to power outage. So now we are just waiting for that check.

So that I think catches us up on all of the people that have been to visit the house. We are still at the same point with the house; it is down to the studs and has been drying for about 2 weeks...so now we just wait for the flood person.

On to the discussion of having to tear down the house and start over. Apparently following the devastating hurricanes in Florida and Louisiana prior to 2007 there were some changes in the laws regarding base flood elevation. I am not going to get into the details, but if your house is below base flood elevation and has substantial damage (damages are greater than 50% of the value of the home) then you must elevate to at or able the base flood elevation. The base flood elevation is determined by a flood map from the National Flood Insurance Program and the elevation of the homes are determined by survey and recorded on an Elevation Certificate. To make a long story short the base elevation for our area is 12 feet and our house is 12.74 feet. So we are good to go. But there was a lot of back and forth about what year the certificate had to be and whether the benchmark changed...and so it has been nearly two weeks of not knowing whether the house could be rebuilt or if we would have to demolish the house and start over.

So today we got the good news that our elevation certificate was accepted by the city and now we just have to get permits when we are ready for electrical, plumbing or air conditioning. Needless to say a great weight has been lifted.

The husband and I want to say thank you to all of our friends and family for your willingness to help, listen, and offer kinds words and big hearts. This has been a very traumatic time, but it is much better surrounded by some many people that love us.
We will be in touch!