Since the devastating floods of 2010, more than a hundred Nashville homeowners have sold their badly-damaged property to the city. Another 78 in the floodplain are still waiting to close on their buyouts.

To have completed more than half of the buyouts less than two years after the flood is actually a pretty good pace. For comparison, it took officials in Cedar Rapids, Iowa 19 months after their flood to get to the point of even submitting an overall buyout proposal, much less start closing on any homes.

Metro Water spokeswoman Sonia Harvat says the goal here has been to move as quickly as possible because the wait is costly for homeowners.

“They are responsible for the home until Metro closes on it. For the mortgage if they have a mortgage on it, you know, the yard maintenance and upkeep of the home, to make sure that it’s safe.”

Harvat says there’s no way of predicting how long it will take to finish the closings. The federal and state agencies that help pay for the purchases have already approved all of the homes on the list, but she says there’s still a lot to check.

“Is it a clean title? Is there a lien on the property? Has there been a second mortgage? You know, a lot of that can delay the process.” 

And she says the city has to check how the homeowners have spent any other flood recovery money from government agencies, which can mean sorting through large piles of receipts.

Right now Harvat says the city is close to completing another 25 closings, which will leave just over 50 to go.