A recent change in the FEMA Flood Maps for our area has prompted me to write about the impact that flood zones can have on buyers, sellers, and the cost of living. Flood insurance requirements of mortgage companies are a moving target. As FEMA reevaluates an area every 5 years your mortgage company may look at your property and demand that you buy flood insurance. Flood insurance can save your home in the event of a flood. Don’t take this lightly.
Why do the maps change? development upstream from an area can cause more rain and snow melt to flow into an area. Every parking lot and roof and road changes drainage. FEMA is charged with keeping the maps up to date.
I live in the Prescott Country Club and back to a golf course. The Clipper wash seperates the property from the 12th tee. It provides a nice buffer and keeps golf balls from attacking us. FEMA just upped the flood status of the Clipper Wash. I am expecting the mortgage company to require flood insurance or a waiver of the need for flood insurance by a licensed surveyor. One of the owners in the Prescott Country Club received a letter from their mortgage holder stating that unless they provided flood insurance, The mortgage company would purchase it and charge them $350 per month for coverage on a home worth $189,000. The bill for that insurance should cost about $50 per month. He owner also has the right to dispute the requirement by certifying that the property is not in the flood zone. A surveyor charges about $500 for the certification and you pay regardless of his findings.
If you receive a notice from your mortgage company you had better attend to the business. Good agents in the real estate business check the status of the flood maps with their local county at the time a property is listed for sale. A seller has the ob ligation to disclose a flood zone if they know about it. However, as you can see, the maps change. What once was considered out of the flood may now be in the zone and require flood insurance.
Here is a link to FEMA for your use.
Jerry Germansen
eXp Realty Arizona
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