Has anyone's home been newly designated to be in a flood zone? (insurance, mortgage) - City-Data Forum

Snafu · 09-01-2009, 07:53 AM

I was unpleasantly surprised to receive a letter from my lender (just refinanced in April, and my mortgage was then sold) which says that the area in which I live in NH is now in a FEMA Flood Zone, and I have 45 days to get the insurance or else they will find it for me.

I started doing the research, so I'm trying to get a LOMA (Letter of Map Amendment) IF a surveyor comes out and gets me the exact numbers (there's apparently a Base Flood Elevation - BFE - and I have to be a certain elevation ABOVE that to get the amendment approved). That is not exactly a cheap option, but if I don't, the Flood Insurance is required now for the life of the loan! Apparently, the lender can still require Flood Insurance even with a LOMA, but you can then qualify for the reduced rates.

It appears my Homeowner's Insurance company cannot even quote me a rate without the BFE figures, but they agreed they WOULD give me the reduced rate if I could get a FEMA Amendment Letter... (Apparently Zone A and AE, which I am in, require BFE figures for the insurance companies, but the other assorted zones do not).

What an absolute scam by FEMA, in my opinion. I know New Hampshire got hit pretty hard by rains in the past couple years, but doing a blanket swath of huge parts of New Hampshire like they did was a bit much. When I contacted the town, this has apparently been happening to many of the folks that have recently refinanced... that is the trigger. Most folks with insurance already in-place are not being targeted... yet. I found it rather convenient that I could get FEMA Flood insurance just based on my Zone... no elevations needed... and the quotes were right on the web! I guess this is their way to recoup the money they have been losing on the folks that keep rebuilding the house that has flooded every year for the past 20 years???

Here's the url to go and find out if your home is now located in a flood zone... just type in your address. It may take a while to load, you you may have to hit the "refresh" button for the map to display.

http://gis1.msc.fema.gov/Website/newstore/Viewer.htm

I'd be interested to hear if this has happened to anyone else recently?

jthibodeau · 09-01-2009, 08:15 AM

Snafu,
If your home has a recent septic system design, you many find the elevations used to design your system being "feet above sea level". I'm not sure if this information will be acceptable to your insurance company. However, it should give you information that may be of benefit to you if you can determine the flood zone elevation for your area.

You also may get a close idea of your elevation by viewing a topographical map of your area.

Snafu · 09-01-2009, 08:21 AM

jthibodeau,

thank you for the information. I needed to get the septic plan before I could do any work on the front of my house (septic and leach field information), so I'll see if the elevation is included. That may work for my insurance company, but according to the FEMA webpage, you need a licensed surveyor equivalent person to even apply for the LOMA.

This may at least get me an idea if it's worth moving forward. Thanks again!

Snafu · 09-02-2009, 03:16 PM

A second call to the FEMA Mapping Assistance line proved very helpful. Since I am in Zone A (no Base Flood Elevation provided - BFE), I thought it was incumbent on me to get the information. It appears, however, that I need a licensed surveyor, etc., to fill in the specifics of a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA), but the FEMA folks themselves will get the environment engineers (I think that was what they were called) to determine the Base Flood Elevations for the specific single property requesting the letter. The lowest point on the structure (i.e. basement floor) need only be AT OR ABOVE the BFE to qualify for an amendment and waive the flood insurance requirement. The entire property does not have to qualify... only specific structures requested. I was told the process takes 30-60 days to complete.

I know this now sounds too easy, but getting only specific elevations for my building(s) and where the current water level is sounds MUCH more reasonable than figuring out the 100 year flood line. My fingers are crossed.

FYI, my town hall had a copy of the Flood Map (for New Hampshire, the most recent one being used is from 17 May 2005), and it showed that from the aerial survey of the area, for at least my property, it fell in an area where they apparently chose all properties on the same side of a given road as the water ... all those on the other side of the road, even if at lower elevations, were not designated as being in the flood zone. Per jthibodeau's suggestion, my septic plan did indeed have some good elevation figures, however, these would not be sufficient to send as documentation to support the letter request. A Certificate of Elevation is necessary from a licensed surveyor for this.

Hope this helps someone else out. It was sure an education for me!

rscalzo · 09-03-2009, 06:18 PM

The link doesn't work. An error message keeps coming up.

Snafu · 09-13-2009, 05:15 PM

sorry for the delay in responding, but if I copy/paste the url
(" + theTitle + ") the web page comes up...

If you google "FEMA Flood Maps", it should take you to a listing, and the first one should be the FEMA Map service center.

p.s. I shelled out the bucks for a certificate of elevation, got the other paperwork needed by the bank (survey and registered deed), and that was faxed over to my mortgage company on Friday. Now I have to wait... FYI, it turns out I am 19 feet above the current water level, which has actually been high this year due to all the rain...

Unfortunately, the bank refused an extension on getting the flood insurance in place, so I had to shell out $1250.00 to cover the entire year of the policy until I get a decision back from FEMA. On a more positive note, if I do get the map amendment, the insurance company refunds the entire premium amount once they receive the release from my lender. I was rather relieved, though, one other person in my town is paying close to $4K per year for flood insurance.

What I also found odd was that in the appraisal for my property that was done in 2005 states that I am in a 500-year flood plain, and no flood insurance is necessary. According to the Flood Map filed in town, I'm on a 100-year flood plain... rather odd.

Snafu · 02-02-2010, 04:26 PM

For anyone that was following this thread or is now undergoing the FEMA Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) process, I was notified this past week that my "existing structure" was found to be at a sufficient elevation (lowest level of structure was my basement at 601 feet, and Base Flood Elevation was 588.8 feet) and has been "removed" from the floodplain. [The guidance is that you need to be at or above the BFE.] I was finally granted a waiver of the flood insurance requirement, and I'm now requesting my flood insurance premium refund.

The wording on the LOMA, however, was not something I was expecting. The determination was granted on 1/20/10 and was valid for the "Life-of-Loan". I guess I'll be going back to FEMA to find out what this means - does this not convey with the property if I sell? What happens when I pay off my loan?

Anyway, the entire process from start to finish ended up being close to 4 months, but it is possible to get the Flood Insurance requirement waived, with the proper documentation.

Good luck to any others paddling the same boat...

Snafu · 09-04-2011, 10:21 PM

If you search on FEMA and flood maps, you should be able to navigate to the following page, where you can search on a given address to check if a property is in a flood zone...

I did a check and a couple dozen other folks in my town have gone the same route as I did and received LOMAs.

FEMA Map Service Center -

You can click on Maps and "Find a FIRM" and on the left is an option to type in your home address to retrieve and view the map. It does not show actual house locations, but you should be able to figure out where your house is located on/near the bodies of water.

Good luck...

JeffInCO · 07-23-2012, 09:59 PM

Snafu,

Did you ever find out why your LOMA is valid only for the life of the loan?

My lender has volunteered to work with FEMA to get the LOMA... I have to wonder if there is a motivation for them to do this besides altruism (i.e., my LOMA goes away if I ever refi?)

Thanks,

Jeff

BurninErn · 07-28-2012, 05:19 PM

Our neighborhood got hit recently. FEMA in my opinion used a technicality, saying that the highway to the east of us was never intended to act as a levie. All that is on the other side is a piddly little seasonal creek. We are about 2 miles east of the Sacramento River, but that is not the "threat." They held meetings for us but that was just informational, not a chance to petition or anything.