Flood Insurance - Anyone successful filing for Map Amendment?

Question

FYI: Will repost this in the Property Insurance Category since I did not get any comments when this was posted in my local area.

We have a multifamily property that is in a designated A14 for flood zone and as such in a higher risk of flooding needing a flood insurance. We did not get a certificate of elevation via land survey before we bought this property. Wondering if anyone has been successful in getting a LOMA (Letter of Map Amendment) to FEMA (if the certificate of elevation supports it) and changed their designation out of the flood zone?

Looking forward to hear about others experiences. Thanks!

Erick Sembrano · Answer

@Jason Regan Hi Jason, glad to know someone from the Leominster area respond. Thanks for sharing your experience, sounds like something positive may come out of getting an elevation certificate even if I can just reduce the cost of the flood insurance. That would be great if you can PM med the name of your insurance person. Thanks!

@Caroline Gerardo Thanks for the link, it's a helpful read although I still don't understand most of it. It seems like as you said the burden of proof is on me and other property owners. Here's the add - 41 Pleasant St Leominster MA

@JD Martin Thanks for sharing the company, would be interested to hear about what will happen with your situation, if you could give us an update that would be great.

@Jonathan Bombaci Thanks for the company share, will look into it and hope I can decreased by insurance cost. Will also see how far I go with getting an elevation certificate and diving deep into this rabbit hole.

JD Martin · Answer

Timely - I just spoke with a company about a week ago that works on this exact issue. Company is called National Flood Experts. They quoted me about a grand to do the elevation survey for one of my properties, and about another grand if they get it taken out of the flood zone. So the first grand is a sunk cost, the second one is only charged if they're successful. My flood insurance is about $625/annual, so on a long-term buy & hold it's probably worthwhile to do if you have a lender-requirement for flood insurance. I am going to work on it at the beginning of the year so I'll be glad to come back and post how I made out.

Jason Regan · Answer

@Erick Sembrano hey man your in my home town! I actually own a 2 family in Fitchburg that has the same information and know the area of Leominster you are speaking of has the same issue.  It is in a flood zone, but we have never seen anything close in my lifetime.  I had an elevation survey done on my fitchburg one with no luck, but I did find an insurance company who sold me Flood insurance for less then $400.  My guess they looked at it and said no way this thing is flooding.  I can give you the insurance persons name I used if you want.  Shoot me a message

Erick Sembrano · Answer

@Caroline Gerardo It seems like a very slim chance of overturning a flood zone designation. The property is in Central Massachusetts in a city called Leominster. It's in the downtown location actually, there's a nearby creek about a block away.

@John Mocker Thank you for the message, so getting the Elevation Certificate seems to be the initial first step.

Do you think an Elevation Certificate can at least lower the price of the flood insurance if the designation is not as low?

Karl Butenhoff · Answer

@Erick Sembrano Small world! I went to the UofM for both undergrad and grad school. Good luck pursuing an elevation certificate!

Karl Butenhoff · Answer

@Erick Sembrano late to the thread here so maybe you already have this figured out, but just wanted to add my recent experience. I purchased a property along the Mississippi River in MN that the owner never had flood insurance on because they owned the property free and clear, however, there was an elevation certificate on file with the county. With the elevation certificate, we paid around $1000 per year on a $500,000 house, which I thought was reasonable. After moving into the house, I did some research and found that the elevation certificate had the primary structure high enough above the base flood elevation for our flood zone that we shouldn't need flood insurance. So I submitted the paperwork through FEMA for a LOMA and paid something like $100 and about 6 months later they granted the LOMA which removed our house from the flood zone so our bank no longer requires us to carry flood insurance. It was a very straight forward process and definitely worth the effort.

Just recently we purchased another house next door to ours, which is in the same flood zone, but did not have an elevation certificate on file. I shopped around for flood insurance and on average got quoted around $8000 per year for a $180,000 house. Obviously that was not going to pencil, so I had our county land surveyor survey the property for $250 in order to get an elevation certificate. After doing so, our flood insurance dropped to $600 per year.

Moral of the story, it is definitely worth your time and money to get an elevation certificate if you plan on holding the property long term, or even a few years based on your base elevations and the elevation of the structure in question. Hope this helps!

Erick Sembrano · Answer

@Caroline Gerardo that is really informative! Thanks for the link and also for the insights. As this is my first time to buy in that area and also a property that is in a flood zone, I did not have much idea about it. Having said that, I did not get a Clue report.

Erick Sembrano · Answer

@Sean K. Thanks for the reply! Do you know if the FEMA flood zone / rate changes will be for the better or worse in terms of cost for coverage? I will look into other policies to hopefully bring my cost down if possible while getting the same coverage. Thanks again!

Erick Sembrano · Answer

@Robert Murphy It's nice to hear from someone from the insurance side of things. Yes, I do agree completely about having insurance for something catastrophic that I wouldn't be able to shoulder on my own if a bad flood happens. Thank you so much for writing out the steps and how it's done and the process. Sounds like the first step is really to determine BFE with an Elevation Certificate, figure out LAG, and see if there's a chance to get the LOMA. Really appreciate your input!

Sean K. · Answer

Hi Erick,

I am an insurance agent in NJ and I sell flood insurance regularly.  one thing that no one has mentioned yet is that FEMA is changing the way flood zones and rates are calculated.  It will now basically be more of a distance from a hazard area vs. before a static line on a map.  Suggestions below:

1-you will probably see changes to your NFIP policy at next renewal.  Assuming you have a NFIP policy.

2-In order to do any kind of appeal you will need an elevation certificate.  They usually run about $500. Surprised that you didn't get it before as it is only way to get accurate price.

3-You do not need a service to do the appeal for you once you have the elevation cert.  You can do it yourself or through the broker that sold you your policy.  That is part of what you are paying them for is service.

4-You should look into private flood options, not available in all areas, as you will not need an elevation cert.  Plus they can offer more areas of coverage that are not available on NFIP policies.

Hope that helps,

Sean

Flood Insurance - Anyone successful filing for Map Amendment?

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