Buying a house next to a creek

[Anonymous]

Me and my wife are in the process of making an offer on a home located next to a creek. The creek is in front of the house as opposed to the back. My wife really loves this house but I am concerned about future resale value. This house was sitting on the market for almost a year and we think the proximity to the creek may have something to do it. I could see families with young kids passing on this house but that could be addressed with fencing which we plan to do if we buy this house. We had an inspection done and no issues were found. The creek is not deep at all, water does not stagnate. This house will be our forever house. While I am concerned that when we decide to sell this house 20 years from now we may face the same issue the current owners are facing now, my wife’s argument is that we shouldn’t be concerned about resale value 20 years from now because we do not know what will happen in 20 years. While this will be our biggest investment so far, our potential mortgage/tax/insurance will be 20% of our take home pay and we are putting 20% down.
The creek is in front of the property and according to FEMA’s flood map it’s in a minimal flood zone. And flooding has never occurred in this particular area. The house is in NJ. We just moved here from DC. We both grew up here just not next to a creek lol

[Anonymous]

I grew up with a creek in the back of our house, and I absolutely loved it. If I could buy a house with a creek (whether to the back, front or side) I would snap it up, so long as there were no flooding issues.

[Anonymous]

I really doubt the creek is the issue. Houses with creeks are very common in parts of NJ and southern PA. I know many families who grew up with them. I'd check to see what else could be the problem with the house.

[Anonymous]

Is it a natural Cryeek or a glorified storm drain? How far away from the house is it and does water flow down from the house to the creek? Of ours your forever home, go for it once you check insurance premiums. Especially if the creek is not right next to the road, the kids will have so much fun and learn from it.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I’m not getting it because usually this is a plus

[Anonymous]

We have a creek and love it. Like you said you are planning on remediating and not selling for 20 years so you’d have to be silly to worry about this- I would think it sat on the market for other reasons so do your due diligence there.

[Anonymous]

OP, sooner or later, the creek will flood. Are you prepared for that? With climate change, we're getting 50-year and 100-year rainfalls every year now. The creek might not have flooded in the past, but it will flood.

[Anonymous]

How much higher is the house than the creek?

[Anonymous]

I wish we had a creek. We go to my parent and play in the creek behind their house

[Anonymous]

The flood zone would worry me - make sure you can afford the insurance. The creek itself is a plus.

[Anonymous]

Im a civil engineer. The climate is getting wetter, more violent and heavy storms. Homes and plats which rarely, if never flooded prior are now flooding regularly. It is only going to get worse and a battle you will never will vs. mother nature. Im not surprised home is still available. There are plenty of homes out there. Walk away.

[Anonymous]

Find out how old the flood maps are and unless they’re very recent, have an engineer look at the property.

Ask neighbors about flooding. We almost bought a house on property that the previous owners said had never flooded, and the day before closing DH happened to talk to a coworker who lived in the neighborhood and he told us that the house had flooded, his kids had been over playing in the water after it happened. We got our earnest money back.

[Anonymous]

We have a creek in the backyard and love it, but it is a steep steep drop to the creek. I would be wary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, sooner or later, the creek will flood. Are you prepared for that? With climate change, we're getting 50-year and 100-year rainfalls every year now. The creek might not have flooded in the past, but it will flood.

This a thousand times over.

I bought not too far from a creek. Check the FEMA maps but take them with a grain of salt—even if they’re new. Our maps were redone in 2012 and my end of the street was taken out of the flood zone. The area around me should expect 500-yr flooding events, some spots where the land is lower or closer to the creek 100-yr.

Unfortunately, the streets over from me have had severe flooding in 2013, 2017, and 2019. As in basements filled with water, having to replace hot water heaters and other appliances each time, and for some people on the worst-affected streets, water rushing through the main floor of their homes. People now get really nervous when we have a stretch of heavy rain—and it happens more often than it used to. You’ve got ground water bc it’s saturated, plus creek water and everything it carries in.

Ive been lucky so far and have only had to shopvac ground water from my basement (and cut out a few feet of drywall and insulation). After the 2nd time I left the basement unfinished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, sooner or later, the creek will flood. Are you prepared for that? With climate change, we're getting 50-year and 100-year rainfalls every year now. The creek might not have flooded in the past, but it will flood.

This. I wouldn’t buy anything near a creek. Ever. I’d be scared going to bed anytime heavy rain was forecasted.