Information on Elevation Certificate for a Home

I have. I believe our elevation cert costed around $150. We used ALS in Arlington and they were awesome. Because of the cert our flood insurance estimate went from $4000 a year (no I am NOT kidding) to $200 a year. It was definately worth every penny to have it done. Only half of our property fell in the zone as well.

Good luck!

B.

I work for an insurance agency and it's true...you probably need a new flood cert. And it does make a difference in the premium. I haven't heard of how much it costs because I'm out of East Texas and there aren't a lot of flood areas around here. But if you don't have one and they rate you in the highest catagory...you don't even want to know what the premium would be....I've seen in the $1000's+! And for the person who mentioned the washer flooding, etc.-a lot of the better Homeowners policies cover that now...I haven't dealt with a lot of flood policies but I'm not sure that would cover the washer. I could be wrong but not sure on that.

my best suggestion is to get the insurance yourself. If your mortgage co gets it, it will probably be more. Ours is only about $200 per year, but it is well worth it. We've never needed it and even got something saying we no longer had to have it, but we keep it anyway, just for our own safety. I've known people whose houses have flooded and were very glad they had it and/or very sorry they didn't . I highly recommend you do it, though.

I don't know anything about it, but flood insurance might be helpful if your washer or dishwasher flood the house! I've heard stories about that...

FEMA revises and updates the flood maps every 10 years all over the country. It sounds like when you bought the property only a portion was in the flood plain, but not the house; therefore, no flood insurance was necessary. Now that FEMA has done their update, apparently the house is too. This type of flood insurance is different than internal water damage, say from a pipe leak, and all mortgage companies will have a mandatory requirement for it to protect their collateral. Obtaining an elevation cert is a job of a surveyor, and there are plenty of those around. You can call and get estimates for the best price. The surveyor will determine if the house is in the flood plain; the insurance company was able to tell if part of your property was in it, and that's what flagged the notice. In another 10 years, you may find yourself out of the flood plain!