RE/Mortage/Insurance Mags - flood ? HELP?

[pepperdawg]

Trying to buy a multi-family as an investment property.

Interested in a property that is in Probate – catch is its down by the river where vans are parked.

Trying to get a simple answer – is it in a flood zone? (e.g do I need to buy flood insurance)? Simple question – our agent seems to be useless; selling agent seems to want nothing to do with this property and since its in probate – no one seem to know anything?

I poked around the town assessors site/GIS site etc - nada. floodsmart dot gov is under construction and maps they refer to I can’t seem to find.

Emailed my mortgage guy – who says:

<<Hi Pepperdawg

Once we get an application, we have a service that determines it’s flood zone status. If it is in a flood zone, all banks require flood insurance that would be escrowed.>>

All I want is a simple – yes its in a flood zone or no its not.

So any Mags in the Mortgage/RE/Insurance fields that have access to the needful system.

(Similar to the carfax requests we see in the padded room all the time.)

I PM you:

123 MainStreet
Anytown USA

And a neekid pic of wife

You return:

Yes - it’s in a klll flood zone 9 -or- no its not.

Bueller?

Thanks in advance.

[fatnslow]

check with county surveyor's office, they should be the official recorder of the property deed with location.

[4matic]

Check with insurance company. They will know.

[Dantheman]

https://msc.fema.gov/portal

[::: :::]

the local building department likely has this info on the property

or insurance co is a good thought too

[pepperdawg]

https://msc.fema.gov/portal

Thx DTM - your link lead to this:

http://fema.maps.arcgis.com/home/web...94072397383025

Property is in a color labeled "Area of Minimal Flood Hazard zone x"

I guess thats good?

[pepperdawg]

Yeah - don't have an agent (anymore) - they let us buy our primary home/car insurances via the interwebz.

Some age we live in...

[4matic]

I guess thats good?

Still depends on how insurance company and lien holder interpret the map.

[Dantheman]

Yes, Zone X is good, <0.2% annual chance of flooding. Ultimately it's your insurance company/lienholder's call, but it's basically unheard of to require flood coverage in areas designated Zone X. What's the proximity to Zone A/Zone B mapped areas?

[pepperdawg]

An lsolated pocket of Zone A is about 100 yards away one direction (a small creek/ditch) and the big river (zone AE) is 100 yards away in another direction.

[pepperdawg]

[alias_rice]

You should be fine. I think zone x is the 500 year flood if I remember correctly. No lenders will give you a hassle for x.

[Dantheman]

Zone X is >500-year, which is really <0.2% annual chance. You could have multiple "500-year" floods in a single year. Like I said above, mandatory coverage in Zone X is basically unheard of. That said, I would be curious to know what the elevation differential is between the house and the Zone A/Zone B boundaries given how close they are. Urban expansion and climate change have made some of those FEMA boundaries obsolete. Remember last year's floods in Louisiana? Many areas that were flooded were not within FEMA-designated flood zones, so none of those people had flood insurance and they lost everything. Even if your lender doesn't require it it might be worth investigating how much it would be to add flood coverage. Premiums would probably be pretty low given the Zone X designation. Disregard if there's actually a 30-ft hill there that the air photo doesn't show.

Signed,

A guy who lives on the Wasatch Front and doesn't have earthquake coverage (but makes more money now than when he bought the house and is an idiot for not having added it already)