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21 Aug

Why Your BFE is Wrong

The Base Flood Elevation (BFE) represents the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) 1% Annual Chance Floodplain (aka. 100-year flood). Generally speaking, the nearer the structure’s elevation is to the BFE the greater the risk, and for structure elevations below the BFE, the further the structure’s elevation is to the BFE, the more flood water would be expected to inundate the structure during a flood event causing greater damage, therefore higher insurance premiums.

Steve Murchison Flood Zone Determination 0 Comment(s) read more

26 Jul

New Lending Regulations Regarding Accepting Private Flood Insurance

When the Biggert Waters Act of 2012 (BW12) was passed, one of Congress’ goals was to allow for lender acceptance of private flood insurance policies to satisfy the mandatory purchase requirement. The Act contained vague language, and it took lending regulators seven years to finalize a rule for lenders to follow. Prior to the lending regulators creating the final rule, many lenders didn’t accept private flood policies as they were uncomfortable verifying compliance with the BW12 definition and worried about noncompliance fines and collateral protection.

Steve Murchison Flood Insurance 0 Comment(s) read more

07 Jan

HOW TO DISPUTE A FEMA FLOOD ZONE DETERMINATION

Most lenders will contact a Flood Zone Determination company to obtain a Standard Flood Hazard Determination (SFHD) as part of their closing process and in most cases a property insurance agent will make the same request from the same or a different Flood Zone Determination company. With two or more SFHDs being produced for a single location, disagreements in results can arise. These discrepancies can delay closing or the placement of a flood insurance policy.

Kori Flood Zone Determination 0 Comment(s) read more

11 Dec

How do I get a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA)?

For FEMA to remove a structure from the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) through the LOMA process, Federal regulations require the lowest ground touching the structure, also known as the Lowest Adjacent Grade (LAG) elevation, to be at or above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE). But how do I get a LOMA?

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07 Dec

The New NFIP Flood Insurance Manual Crosswalk

If you are like me, when the newly formatted NFIP Flood Insurance Manual came out on October 1^st, you probably thought, “Well great! Now I have to start all over again learning this manual.” I’ve been using the NFIP Flood Insurance Manual for over 16 years and have learned through long experience where to find certain flood insurance topics. I certainly didn’t relish having to re-learn where to find information. Despite the new format being more logical and following a transaction-by-transaction path through the lifecycle of a flood insurance policy, my first impulse was to cringe and curse.

Kori Flood Insurance 0 Comment(s) read more