Quote:
Originally Posted by A930Rocket
We are looking at a lot in a flood zone and have been told by my banker that the govt is pulling out of flood insurance in 2-3 years. The lot isn't in a V zone, but maybe AE. It's been awhile but I remember that for $200 or so you could get $50k with FEMA.
Anybody heard of this and what the alternatives will be? Private insurance?
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I own three places in Charleston County, all in Zone AE. What all do you want to know? The big changes I've run into in general are that you can't grandfather in flood insurance anymore, and that an elevation cert (~$300) is required when buying if the elevation of the ground is in a flood zone.
Also, as policies for the two rentals have renewed my insurance (Allstate, who deals with specialty insurance companies) has wanted an elevation cert at the time of policy renewal. The guy who does the elevation cert comes out and surveys everything - the ground level, the elevation of the living space, any mechanicals (HVAC/water heater/...), and notes flood vents.
Base flood elevation is generally 13 feet. The low point of one lot is about 11 feet, but the living space is about 4 feet higher than that and my rates went up about $300/year because I lost the grandfathered policy. The other one has living space at 12.6 feet but I had an elevation cert done when I bought the place because I thought it might have been higher and elevation was already factored in to the existing policy. I don't remember the number for flood insurance but it really isn't bad either.
I'll probably have to get one done for my primary residence at some point but it should be the same, where the living space is above base flood elevation but the ground is not. The rules for investment properties changed immediately and they're being phased in for residential. The ones who are really going to get hit with high flood insurance policies are the ones in V (flood + storm induced waves) who have a nonconforming property, or anyone in AE with living space well below base flood elevation. Those low lying areas would already be in V for the most part anyway.
I can have a look at the details on our policies if the data points would help, to see how much is covered vs. what the cost is. It would be relevant to your situation since we're in the same county.