By Jean Eaglesham and Nicole Friedman
Excerpt: John Simeone was sure his vacation condo, nestled in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, would sell easily. Then the listing went live in August: “It was like a bolt of lightning hit me in the head.”
The three-bedroom townhouse in Lincoln, N.H., was labeled on the home-listing site Zillow as an “extreme” 9 out of 10 flood risk.
Simeone was shocked. The home is around 60 feet above the nearest river, and the flood rating shown on Zillow linked to a report with a different address.
He thinks the rating spooked buyers. Despite a price cut, his $769,000 home remains unsold.
Millions of home sellers and buyers are caught in the battle over how to rate a home’s exposure to natural disasters—and who gets to see that information.
Until November, all the major listing platforms showcased scores from First Street, a small but influential climate-research company. It rates homes by their vulnerability to wildfire, flood, wind, heat and poor air quality.
A backlash from the real-estate industry prompted Zillow in November to remove the scores from display, while still allowing buyers to click through to the data. Other listings sites still show the scores, but some will suppress them if a seller objects. The flood score for Simeone’s home no longer appears on Redfin or Realtor.com at his request.
A very high flood or fire score makes a house less likely to sell, according to a Zillow analysis last year. It can also create a “disaster discount,” with high-scored homes that do sell more likely to go for under the initial list price, the analysis found.
