BTG is correct.
While I was doing Residential Real Estate Appraising in the late 80s thru 2000 I watched the politicians play games with the A-V ratings on the Flood Maps. Like West Sacramento. They may TELL you that you are not in a flood zone, but the actual maps (of which I had copies for around 20 years) said this area is subject to over topping of the levee and if the levee breaks you can expect flooding...that sort of comments from the Corp of Engineers. The group who did New Orleans Levees. In fairness to the Corp, I heard money earmarked for levee improvements in New Orleans were spent elsewhere. (sure wasn't for boats).
When my friends or my kids buy a house in an area they are not familiar with, buy flood insurance at least the first two years. It is usually cheap. If you are not in a flood area,
you used to be able to get it for $200-$300 a month. I haven't priced it in years.
The book answer used to be, have your house at least 3 ft about the base flood elevation for that area. Good advice.
Flood maps are guidelines, NO guarantees. I am not in a flood zone and this house flooded 3 times. Knee deep type flood. Never again, we paid to have our own levee with 2,000 year flood
protection. Concrete all the way.
You can also buy river front properties up around Ox-Bow. I have never been in them, but they look like Modular Homes. Hard to tell any more. The market used to show resistance to buying them. I went through the factory and they are built better than many stick homes.
In the 90s, for a house to sell above $400,000 along the Sac. River was rare. Now? Who knows.
Good Luck with it.
