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Shore Acres & Snell Isle

Shore Acres and Snell Isle: selling a flood-damaged home on your terms

Few neighborhoods in Tampa Bay were hit harder by the 2024 storms than Shore Acres and the waterfront streets of Snell Isle. If you are deciding whether to repair, raise, rebuild or sell, we can give you one more option to weigh.

Quick answer
  • Helene's surge flooded Shore Acres in September 2024, after several earlier floods
  • Snell Isle was developed in the 1920s on land reclaimed from mangroves
  • The FEMA 50% rule often decides repair versus rebuild here
  • We buy gutted, unrepaired and partly repaired homes

Two neighborhoods, one problem

Shore Acres sits in northeast St. Petersburg along Tampa Bay. Much of it sits low, and the middle of the neighborhood is lower than its edges, so water collects there. Residents had dealt with flooding several times in the years before 2024. Then Hurricane Helene brought storm surge over six feet, and many homes took on water well above the floors. Milton followed two weeks later.

Snell Isle, north of downtown, was developed by C. Perry Snell in the 1920s on land that was largely mangrove and below high tide. Parts of Snell Isle flooded in 2024 as well. Both neighborhoods have a large share of older homes built close to the ground, long before current flood elevation rules.

Repair, raise, rebuild or sell

Owners here are usually weighing four choices:

  1. Repair. Possible if the damage stays under the FEMA substantial damage threshold.
  2. Raise the house. Expensive, and not every older slab home can be lifted practically.
  3. Tear down and rebuild. A new elevated home, with the cost, permits and time that brings.
  4. Sell as-is. To someone who will take on the rebuild.

Under the FEMA rule, if repairs or improvements equal or exceed 50% of the structure's market value, the whole house generally has to be brought up to current flood standards. The City of St. Petersburg makes that determination. Read our guide to the 50% rule. We are not attorneys or engineers, so talk to the city and your own advisors too.

If you've applied to a mitigation program

Some Shore Acres owners have applied to Elevate Florida or other elevation, rebuild or buyout programs. If you have, check with the program before you sign a sale contract with anyone, including us. Selling could affect your application, and you should know that before deciding.

Selling the house the way it is

You do not need to finish the drywall, replace the floors or pull permits to sell to us. If the house is gutted, that is fine. If it is half repaired, that is fine. Leave the ruined furniture and anything else you don't want. Any mortgage, liens or back taxes are paid from the sale at a licensed Florida title company, and we pay the normal closing costs.

Our offer is based mainly on what the lot is worth to someone building new and elevated, minus demolition and the risk and holding costs we take on. It is below what a finished new home would sell for. If you have the means and the patience to rebuild yourself, that may come out ahead, and we will tell you so.

No rush from our side

Some owners here have spent much of the time since the storms living with relatives or in rentals, waiting on adjusters and contractors. We are not going to add pressure. Get our written offer, take it to your family, and decide when you are ready. You choose the closing date. Tampa Teardown is run by 131 Cash Home Buyers, whose office is a short drive away on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg.

Questions owners ask

Do you buy homes in Venetian Isles and Riviera Bay too?
Yes. We buy single-family homes across northeast St. Petersburg, including flood-damaged homes, as long as they are not condos, co-ops or mobile homes.
The city said my house is substantially damaged. Can I still sell?
Yes. A substantial damage determination affects what can be done to the house, not whether you can sell it. We take that into account in our offer.
Do I have to clean out the flood debris?
No. Leave what you don't want, including damaged belongings.

Read next

The 50 percent rule: why older flood-zone houses become teardownsHow FEMA's substantial improvement and damage rule works, why it can force an older Tampa Bay home to be eleva…St. Petersburg: older homes, valuable lots, and a buyer down the streetSelling an older St. Petersburg home that needs everything? Tampa Teardown, run by St. Pete's 131 Cash Home Bu…What it takes to tear down a house in Tampa BayWhat tearing down an older Tampa Bay house involves: permits, utility disconnects, asbestos surveys and notice…

General information, not legal, tax or zoning advice. Every lot is different; local rules decide what can be built. Updated November 2026.

After 30 years

When it’s time, it should be simple.

You don’t need to fix the roof, empty the garage, or figure out zoning. Tell us about the house. We’ll look at the land the way a builder does, make a written offer, and close when your next home is ready.

Our offer is below what a fully updated house would list for, because we buy as-is and pay to clear the lot. If listing would clearly put more in your pocket and you have the time, we’ll tell you.

Call (727) 353-6206

What’s your lot worth?

Send the address. Alex will call you, usually the same day, and tell you plainly what we can pay and why.

Free. No obligation. Nobody will pressure you.

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