but heirs property owners are still not in the clear at any moment, an heir could sell his or her share, which then makes everybody vulnerable to having their property lost. reporter: when someone dies without a will, their heirs, kids, grandkids, great grandkids and so on all join the land jointly as tenants in common a property could end up with hundreds of part owners. and if just one of them decides to sell their share, that could result in the forced sell of the entire property below market value about 60% of african american owned land is heirs property and vulnerable to land grabs. bucksport 30 miles from myrtle beach is a prime target for developers development can be good and bad but when you re in heirs property, it s definitely going to be a bad thing. reporter: it s not just a problem for black americans. it impacts the native american community, people in appalachia, and the latino colonias on the border heirs property is an issue among low income folks. low inco
people here can trace their roots back to over a century of life on this land, which has been passed down generation to generation, often informally without a will the legal term for that is heirs property it s always called family land. it was only after post flooding we understood that had a legal ramification to it as well. reporter: bucksport is an increasingly flood-prone region back-to-back hurricanes in recent years devastated the area and in 2018, hurricane florence destroyed hazel bellarmine s home that s water from florence reporter: she found out she lives on heirs property when she applied for fema aid they couldn t approve us certain things it was a nightmare. reporter: hazel s name is not on the deed none of her living relatives are either that meant they couldn t prove the land was theirs. according to long-standing fema funding requirements heirs property owners can t get a mortgage, have limited to no access to housing repair money because you cannot prov
planning reporter: and fixing it is often unaffordable hazel s family paid a lawyer $7,000 to update their deed. and did it get you guys anywhere? nope. they wanted more money and we couldn t afford it are you worried you might not be able to protect this property? i am. this is our houses this is what our parents left us. this is our heritage this is where we belong dasha burns, nbc news, bucksport, south carolina. we thank dasha for that we re back in a moment with a family who survived that condo collapse in florida. what they say they heard and felt seconds before the building gave way survived that condo collapse in florida. what they say they heard and felt seconds before the building gave way.