Flood insurance for condo

[John M.]

I'm looking for a reputable company to purchase flood insurance for a second floor condo in a low risk area. Zone X, as classified by the latest updated FEMA flood zone map.

[Doug Smith]

Hey John, I'm a lender here in Tampa, so we know the market. I like Ryan Obenreder at State Insurance. We're not allowed to post contact info in here, so PM me and I'll get it to you. If you're financing the condo using a loan such as a DSCR product, you might need to provide different insurance riders than you might if you were buying it for a property you were going to live in...particularly for a condo. Of course, they are going to want to see the condo master policy dec page, but you'll also need to provide coverage from the "Middle of the Walls In" as well. Of note, in Florida we lenders are not legally allowed to ask for the "Replacement Cost Estimator" from the insurance company and the agents/companies won't/can't provide it, so we lenders don't have a guide to show how they are deriving replancement cost. You might get grief from loan underwriters, particularly ones that sit outside of the State of Florida that don't realize that the insurance lobby in FL has a lot of clout and got the legislature to not allow lenders to even ask for the RCE. That being said, let me cut-and-paste a portion of one funds underwriting guidelines surrounding flood coverage requirements for their DSCR product "The appropriate amount of hazard insurance is determined as the lesser of:
o 100% of the insurable value of the improvements with replacement cost coverage, as established by the property insurer, or the unpaid principal balance of the first and second mortgage (sufficient coverage for the new combined loans), oro The combined unpaid principal balance of the first and any secondary financing, as long as it equals the minimum amount required to compensate for any damage or loss on a replacement cost basis, typically 80% of the insured value of the improvements. If it does not, then coverage that does provide the minimum required amount must be obtained

A commercial, Landlord, or rental dwelling policy with 6 months PITIA coverage is required" 


Good luck to you. I hope that helps a bit.