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Flood zones are changed all the time. My IL's have lived in their house for 20 years. For 15 of those years, it wasn't in a flood plane. Now it is. Should they contact the previous owners because now it's in a flood plane?
How are the previous owners supposed to know that someday the flood planes would be changed? That's like having a water leak 2 years after buying the house and saying the previous owners should have told you it was going to leak. There was nothing to disclose.
Basically, get flood insurance. If your property is even borderline, you should have it. Actually EVERYONE should have flood insurance, because it covers more than people think.
I had an elderly acquaintance who said he was not going to join the group who wanted truthful decision about the flood plain, not just a flyover and we'll see what sticks kind of thing. He said it's a good thing to be in a flood plain because it means you live by water and that means you're doing well in life. He never went in it though to fish or boat.
FEMA updated flood maps so more people would get flood insurance. When you look at updated maps you'll see little circles which indicate higher elevations from surveys.
Happened to me, so I just told them to pack sand and got rid of my home equity line of credit years ago.
not sure if anything else is being done, but...
BoA got sued about the scam https://www.classaction.org/force-pl...urance-lawsuit
Flood zones are changed all the time. My IL's have lived in their house for 20 years. For 15 of those years, it wasn't in a flood plane. Now it is. Should they contact the previous owners because now it's in a flood plane?
How are the previous owners supposed to know that someday the flood planes would be changed? That's like having a water leak 2 years after buying the house and saying the previous owners should have told you it was going to leak. There was nothing to disclose.
Basically, get flood insurance. If your property is even borderline, you should have it. Actually EVERYONE should have flood insurance, because it covers more than people think.
I agree with having flood insurance even if you're not in a flood plain. My old house was near a river, but not in a flood zone. However, the water table was extremely high and I had three sump pumps - 2 under the house and one in a drainage pond to drain the yard. Now I have a basement with a sump pump. Even though I have a generator to make sure that sump pump won't stop, I still have flood insurance to cover any possible situations, especially since my new HVAC equipment is also in the basement.
I had an elderly acquaintance who said he was not going to join the group who wanted truthful decision about the flood plain, not just a flyover and we'll see what sticks kind of thing. He said it's a good thing to be in a flood plain because it means you live by water and that means you're doing well in life. He never went in it though to fish or boat.
You don't need to live near water to be in a flood plane. Half of Houston is now in a flood plane, and not because those homes are near water.
Cities like Houston are flat, darn near sea level, get a ton of rain, and have soil that drains poorly. So when it does rain a lot, the water just has no where to go and it floods. Not all flooding is from rivers and lakes overflowing.
And flood insurance usually covers all rising water. It doesn't necessarily need to be from a storm.
...lender says go get the survey and certificate so I can refi. What should I do?
It's just one piece of paper called an Elevation Certificate. A licensed surveyor is the person that does the measurements and fills out this form. Just call a surveyor and order the elevation certificate. Make sure YOU get a copy because you will need to have this on file for shopping around for insurance.
Few hundred bucks for this at most. Just order it.
And hope and pray that the elevation of your home (ft above sea level) is at or above the minimum required base flood elevation (BFE) specified in the flood zone. Ask the surveyer about that ...what is the FEMA min required BFE and what is the BFE of your living area of your home.They usually measure the floor of your lowest living area in height (above sea level) and match this to the FEMA Flood Map's required min BFE. The survey company should be able to point out these numbers on the form, after they fill it out. One person might come to do the measurements and they probably have to fill out the form and stamp it later in their office, then send you the filled out form.
Added details: the county gave me a flood map with my house on it. Only 2 corners of the house are in zone AH. The rest of the majority of the house is shaded X. I am a 77 year old senior and don't have a few hundred dollars for a surveyor. I still think this is unfair.
You could appeal the designation with your local zoning board, but no guarantee that it will work and the bank may still not allow refinancing without flood insurance. Unfortunately, fairness doesn't matter in this situation.
"Flood insurance is a good thing to have for how cheap it is."....yeah, right, mine was $1K a year....in the lower Colorado River flood plain...we all know that river is unlikely to flood any time soon.
You could appeal the designation with your local zoning board, but no guarantee that it will work and the bank may still not allow refinancing without flood insurance. Unfortunately, fairness doesn't matter in this situation.
I don't believe flood zones are designated by local zoning boards. They are designated by a Federal Agency
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