FEMA, you've got to love them. When you say that word, I think most people envision New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Well ... FEMA recently revised the flood maps in Seminole County, Florida, and the new maps have put houses and subdivisions into flood zones where nobody has ever seen a flood. Even subdivisions that withstood 3 back-to-back hurricanes in 2004 without even one sandbag are showing up in flood zones. I remember selling some ranchland back in 2005 that was about 25% underwater after the hurricanes, yet not in a flood zone. Ridiculous isn't it, but that's your tax dollars at work ... and that's another story altogether.
So what's the big deal you ask? The big deal is that if you have an institutional loan on your property, then by law your lender is required to make you get flood insurance. And that insurance will cost you anywhere from a few hundred per year to a few thousand per year depending on what flood zone type (X, A, AE, etc.) and what your property's elevation is. In addition, you have to pay a surveyor to provide an elevation certificate to your insurance company, so that they can determine how much your insurance will cost. OUCH! Don't you just love your federal government?
You can go onto FEMA's website and do a search by address to see where your house lies on the flood maps. I did a quick check of mine and found out that my street is in a flood zone, but my house is not. Weird, huh?
I do have a great tip for you though, so get out your pencils. About 7 years ago the flood maps in Orange County were revised and one of my rental properties had the whole subdivision re-zoned into a flood zone. I was forced to buy some flood insurance on this property. My father (a very clever guy) and I owned this property together. He contacted a surveyor friend for the elevation certificate and the surveyor told him that he had been successful in the past at getting the flood maps amended to exclude certain properties. It took about 6 months and cost us around $500 for his work, but we were able to get the flood map amended to exclude our lot from the flood zone even though every other lot in the subdivision was still part of the flood zone. It was well worth the investment because flood insurance cost us about $500 per year anyway, and now we had a premium lot. My father used the same surveyor to do this on his personal home.
Revisions to other counties in Central Florida are in the works too according to the Orlando Sentinel. So remember my advice above, if the flood maps get revised for your property. Until then ... stay dry.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Copyright © 2008. Sand Dollar Realty Group, Inc. All rights reserved.)
Rob Arnold, ABR, CPL, CRB, GRI, Managing real estate broker, Licensed mortgage broker, Notary Public
407-389-7318 / 1-877-389-7318 www.SDRhouses.com www.WeBuyHousesFlorida.com
Your full service and investor friendly Realtor in Orlando. Learn to invest in Central Florida real estate and Orlando real estate. Investor mentoring and counseling available. I also provide flat fee MLS listings, For Sale By Owner, and menu-based services in most parts of Central & South Florida, the Space Coast, and the Treasure Coast including Orlando, Tampa, Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Ocala, Volusia, and Brevard.
We buy houses cash, sell properties, and list properties in Central Florida including Orlando, Winter Park, Maitland, College Park, Ocoee, Winter Garden, Apopka, Pine Hills, Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Longwood, Winter Springs, Oviedo, Lake Mary, Sanford, Deltona, Debary, Deland, Daytona Beach, Melbourne, Mount Dora, Eustis, Leesburg, Clermont, Kissimmee, Saint Cloud, Davenport, Winter Haven, Lakeland, and more.
Comments (5)Subscribe to CommentsComment