Archive for the ‘Flood Surveyor’ Category

Rare Earthquake in Virgina is felt in Washington, New York City, North Carolina, and even in NJ where I live! The entire building shoot in a NJ corporate office as a rare earthquake occured!

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Are You Trying To Find The Fema Flood Maps?

Fema offers flood maps on their website to help real estate owners determine if their property is in a flood zone. You can obtain the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) which represents the official depiction of flood hazards in a town or community.

The good news is looking at the Fema flood plain maps on their website is a free service if you are interested in viewing these maps online. I will warn you now that you better have a fast internet connection and a fast computer with a lot of memory. These Fema maps sure do take alot of memory away from your computer. I think I crashed mine several times, but finally got it to work. You can also create custom FIRMettes. A Firmette is a specific area of a map that you have an interest in. If you require hard copies, you can always use the paid service and order copies on the map from Fema. If you are interested in looking at some fema maps for your property, visit Femas website here: http://www.fema.gov/hazard/map/index.shtm. You can also call FEMA to discuss obtaining a map at 1-877-336-2627.

Who Typically Uses a Fema Flood Plain Map?

Fema maps are used by various people such as citizens, real estate brokers, insurance agents, community officials, banks and lending institutions, and more. A common use is to determine if a property and/or building is in a zone that will require flood insurance.

Some tips on how to read a FEMA Flood Map. Take note of these items when looking at your map:

• Flood Insurance Risk Zones
• Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA)
• Base Flood Elevation (BFE)
• 500 year Flood Areas

Many improvements have been made to the design of the FEMA Flood Maps. Fema has a database of knowledge that will teach you all about flood maps, how to use them, and more.

Do I Need An Elevation Certificate For Flood Insurance?

Good question. Has your property been recently declared in a flood zone? If it has, you now have to pay flood insurance. Well actually that’s not 100% true. If you do not have a mortgage, then you do not have to pay flood insurance. But if you do have a mortgage, don’t worry, your mortgage company will be sure to contact you to let you know that if you do not purchase flood insurance, that they will purchase it for you. I have heard of flood insurance costing as much as several thousand dollars per year and more.

My Personal Experience with a flood zone and flood insurance costs.

I have a personal experience to share with you regarding flood insurance and purchasing a flood elevation certificate. My house was recently placed into a flood zone, since its a lake front house in Greenwood Lake, NY. The day I found out I was livid! The first thing that came to mind is how can I fight this. My insurance agent was kind enough to share her knowledge with me and informed me that some people can reduce the cost of flood insurance by paying a surveyor or engineer to do a flood elevation certificate.

What is a Flood Elevation Certificate?

A Flood Elevation Certificate is a document generated by an engineer, surveyor, or qualified person that will provide data to help properly rate properties for flood insurance. An Elevation Certificate can determine where precisely your home is located in relationship to the Base Flood Elevation. You may want to obtain a flood certificate if your property is in a flood zone, and you are considering disputing it.

What was the end result?

I had to pay a surveyor to do a flood elevation certificate of my property. I happened to be one of the luck ones who benefited form this! It determined that my house is not actually in the flood zone, but my property is. I submitted this certificate to my flood insurance agent, and she submitted it to the flood insurance company. I received a call today with great news! My flood insurance cost has just been reduced to $275 from $1300!!!!!! You can check out fema insurance prices. This is a HUGE savings on an annual basis, and as you can see I benefited from it. Each situation is different. Talk to a surveyor or engineer in your area to discuss you situation. UPDATE!! I submitted my certificate to FEMA and guess what, my house is no longer required to have flood insurance, thus completely removed and my insurance is refunded. Note: This is the always the case, but in my case, this worked our nicely!

Disputing a Flood Zone Determination

My next step is to try to dispute the fact that my house was labeled to be in a flood zone. I have not done this yet, but i will post the results after I do it.

Do You Need To Purchase Flood Insurance?

Contact us today if you are interested in flood insurance, and we will have a representative contact you shortly.

Flood Elevation Certificate Resources

Listed below are some useful links to help you with your research on Flood Elevation Certificates and why you may want to purchase one.

http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/hm_main.shtm

Fema Map Assistance Center

National Flood Insurance Program

Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) and Letter of Map Revision – Based on Fill (LOMR-F) Process

Fema has been revising flood maps, and if you live near a flood zone, you could be one of the unlucky ones who’s property has been recently changed to be included in the flood zone. Many Fema maps have not been updated for years. Now that they have been updated, many people are receiving letters from their mortgage company telling them that as long as they hold the mortgage for their house, they are required to purchase flood insurance. If you receive this letter, you either have to purchase the flood insurance, or the mortgage company will purchase is for you. There are some ways to try to dispute this, however, the process will take some time, and there is no guarantee that you will resolve the situations. Each property is unique.

You can contact Fema to learn more: http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/hm_main.shtm

If you decide that you want to purchase a Flood Elevation Certificate, then contact us.