Congress (finally) extends national flood insurance for five years

Per Ken Wingert, NAR’s senior legislative representative: Our long national nightmare is over. We are officially done with flood insurance extensions for 5 years.

The House had already passed a bill, but the Senate was being held up by Rand Paul (R – Ky.) who tried to attach a controversial and unrelated amendment to the bill. Apparently that’s been dealt with and the bill passed. President Obama will sign the measure this weekend.

“This is the culmination of a successful multi-year Realtor^® campaign,” said Wingert.

Congress had been extending the National Flood Insurance Program a few months at a time since 2008. Twice this led to shut downs, including one that stalled more than 40,000 home sales in June 2010 alone. Passage of this 5-year reauthorization will bring certainty to real estate transactions in more than 21,000 communities nationwide where flood insurance is required for a mortgage.

If anything new pops up, we’ll let you know. Meantime, good — if delayed — news.