Flood Zone Determination

The following article by Julia Weaver of Redfin is reposted to MassiveCert.com.

August 25, 2021 by Julia Weaver

Considering all that’s happening with climate change and the potential risk it brings to homeowners, you may be wondering if your house is in a flood zone. Whether you are a first-time homebuyer, looking to sell a vacation home, or simply a homeowner looking for some answers, you have the right and responsibility to find out.

A Non-Guaranteed Determination is any product containing a FEMA flood zone where the provider does not guarantee the result. If you are from the lending industry, you may not have heard of this because you need guaranteed results for most all lending tasks to be federally compliant and have those results printed on a Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form. But in the insurance, communication, real estate, appraisal, and property management industries, there are dozens of uses for a Non-Guaranteed Determination because, frankly, it is a lot cheaper. You may be paying $8 for a Life of Loan Determination (if you pay more, contact MassiveCert sales) or less than $4 for the same Determination without the monitoring.

This article is written to aid the general public in understanding the mandatory purchase requirement and FEMA’s flood zone designations. It describes the FEMA zones and the mandatory purchase requirement at a high level and provides some details for those who have interest in nuances.

MassiveCert's 142 million FEMA flood zones were used by First Street Foundation to compare the organizations' flood risk perspective. Both models are beneficial and help move the flood risk conversation forward. But, the models are created for different purposes because the concept of a single definitive floodplain is a fallacy.

MassiveCert aims to make every American aware of their own personal flood risk so they can make informed decisions. Through a partnership with First Street Foundation, we released FEMA flood zone date for 142 million properties nationwide. 

This article is written to aid property owners regarding their flood risk. Floodplain Managers, flood insurance professionals, surveyors, etc. may note that this information is high-level and not every variable is covered. Even so, it is hoped this information helps those not directly involved in the industry understand the basic terms and how they relate to flood risk and flood insurance rates.

Of course, the best way to keep a home from flooding is to build it well outside of a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). But we know, about 25% of flood claims come from properties not in these high-risk zones. Further, the risk of flooding is obviously vastly different between properties considered to be in low-risk areas when one is a few inches above the Base Flood Elevation (BFE) and the other is many feet above that imaginary line (the elevation at which a hydrology study predicts 1% chance of flooding in any given year). What’s more, many individuals have to consider properties in SFHAs. Cities like New Orleans, Houston, and Charleston to name a few, don’t give home buyers and businesses many choices other than high risk areas.

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.

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. 

Hi everyone.  We recently published a press release announcing the launch of our DirectFlood platform so everyone can have access to high-quality and affordable guaranteed flood zone determinations.  Here's the press release:

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