ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – An Ormond Beach couple hopes the federal government will approve their application to purchase their flooded home, but they fear they could be shortchanged in the process.
Bruce and Lisa Chiarizzi’s home on Cherokee Drive has flooded at least four times over the last seven years.
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News 6 first met the couple after their home was flooded by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
The storm’s heavy rain and storm surge pushed the nearby Tomoka River over its banks, sending three feet of water into their home.
It happened again during hurricanes Ian and Nicole.
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This year, Hurricane Milton sent a foot-and-a-half of water into their home.
The couple applied for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency two times to elevate their home on stilts to avoid future flooding.
Both times, they were denied.
[RELATED: News 6 investigation reveals 77 properties in Volusia County are deemed “repetitive flooding”]
Now, FEMA is considering whether to purchase their home and demolish it as a form of flood mitigation, but Lisa and Bruce are concerned about how much they may get for it.
“It started off at the county, and I kept asking the gentleman who is in charge what the value was,” Lisa said. “He kept telling me that he knew how to do his job and not to worry myself about it. Then, it was transferred to the state, and I asked again, and I was told, ‘Don’t worry yourself about it.’”
According to emails sent to the Chiarizzis from Volusia County Emergency Management, their application for purchase included a proposed purchase price of $246,469, which is close to the assessed value of their home on the county’s tax rolls.
News 6 investigated, and according to FEMA’s handbook on property acquisition, “FEMA policy states that communities acquiring properties with FEMA funds must ‘establish and document a fair market value. The value must be derived from a reasonable methodology that has been consistently applied throughout the community, such as independent appraisals, opinions of value, or a formula based on tax assessments.’”
A press release issued by FEMA reads: “If a home is eligible for acquisition, the homeowner is offered a pre-disaster fair-market value for the property as determined by a certified appraiser. There is an appeals process available for homeowners who disagree with the appraisal value of the property.”
The Chiarizzis hired their own appraiser, who assessed their home’s market value at $404,000 – a difference of approximately $157,000.
“I want what’s on that grant, which is fair market value on the day before the event,” Lisa said.
Volusia County emailed the couple: “FEMA is more likely to approve the project at this lower value. Once it returns, the state would then be able to adjust the budget to the new appraisal amount, which we have confirmed they do have.”
News 6 contacted Volusia County Emergency Management and the Florida Division of Emergency Management to shore up what the Chiarizzi’s can expect, and neither office responded.
“If they want to buy this house tomorrow and say, ‘Walk away, here’s the money,’ I would be fine,” Lisa said. “This is a building, but this is my biggest piece of equity that I own. This is the money that I need to create a life for the two of us.”
FEMA estimated it could take a long as a year-and-a-half to get final approval and funding.
That means while they wait, the Chiarizzis must finish this hurricane season and possibly face another next year.
They said they will watch and worry that their house could flood for a fifth time.
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