Buying a house is already a tedious process. With a housing shortage and interest rates driving up prices, the struggle to find a home can feel impossible, especially for first-time buyers. With home insurance becoming increasingly precarious, it’s no longer about finding the “right solution” but rather ensuring that your investment doesn’t go under in the truest sense of the word. As storms, tornadoes, floods and fires become more frequent and severe, homeowners could face much greater risks than ever before. This week Zillow announced that they will be launching a new tool that provides detailed information on flooding, wildfires, wind, heat and air quality to help homebuyers better understand insurance requirements and terms that affect their purchasing decisions and insurance payments could impact.

Understanding the risks posed by climate change allows a buyer to feel more secure in their home and can also help homeowners predict costs US News and World ReportMany mortgage lenders and investors typically ignore climate-related reports and disasters and require individual buyers to do their own research. Potential buyers can call an insurance company and ask about a property’s loss history, or they can use other public data such as the United States Geological Survey’s Seismic Hazard Models to determine the likelihood of an earthquake. Local municipalities often provide information about groundwater levels and water testing, as well as building code violations that can make a home more vulnerable during weather events.

Flooding, however, is a particularly difficult issue: Buyers may consult FEMA’s 100-year flood plain maps, but according to the National Resources Defense Council, FEMA’s maps “do not adequately represent actual flood risks” because, it continues, “FEMA maps the 100-year floodplains with only 50 percentile confidence. That means there’s only a 50 percent chance that a 100-year flood will stay within the line drawn by FEMA. North Carolina State University’s College of Natural Resources notes that these maps can and do influence whether individuals choose to purchase flood insurance (typically not included in standard policies). As a result, only four percent of US homeowners have flood insurance, while one ABC News The analysis “identified up to 20.8 million U.S. properties with a flood risk of 80% or greater by 2053.”

The ABC The report was created using data from First Street, a New York-based nonprofit research group that calculates real estate risk using peer-reviewed research and data modeling to predict extreme weather and climate-related events. For its app, Zillow works with the company to include information on key risks such as fire, flood and wind risks, as well as air quality – particulate matter, which can cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease, is increased by humidity and air temperature. It’s all pretty academic, but in the Zillow app, browsers can display everything translated into “risk scores, interactive maps, and insurance requirements.”

Perhaps this will be useful for residents of areas like Phoenix, Houston and Florida, which, while at high risk for climate change-related disasters, still attract millions of new residents each year. But the tragic aftermath of Hurricane Helene this week, which plunged the American Southeast into flooding, storm surges and strong winds, has served as a wake-up call for many who believe there is such a place as a “climate safe zone.” Even in Asheville, which sits 2,000 feet above sea level and 300 miles from coastal areas, there was widespread devastation. CBS speculates that it could be one of the costliest storms ever, with total damage and economic losses approaching $110 billion. Perhaps Americans could then, with more comprehensive and available data, compel greater political will to address the climate crisis head-on – if not even stimulate a functioning infrastructure to mitigate future disasters.

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