Is getting an Elevation Certificate really worth it?

[Anonymous]

Hello all...

so if you've been following my topic "bad surprise from landlord" you know we are currently stilll waiting on the short sale bank.. gah!

on top of everything else we have to get flood insurance. fema suggested an elevation certificate to attempt to lower our premium.. seller does not have one and i heard back from the town yesterday and neither do they.

is this thing really worth it? has anyone else had to do this? is it going to be worth the hundreds of dollars for a surveyer only to save $5 or will my premium go down significantly? phone rep basically made it sound like it was a gamble - it might or it might not!

we are not next to a river.. we are next to a culvert that fills up only with an extensive amount of rain. seller filed a claim once in the 3 years he was there.

thank you for any info you can provide!

[Anonymous]

Get it. It sometimes can get you out of Federal Flood Insurance alltogether.   Are you in the 100 year flood plain?

Seller should have disclosed this if not in my state it's an e/o claim. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Get it. It sometimes can get you out of Federal Flood Insurance alltogether.   Are you in the 100 year flood plain?

Seller should have disclosed this if not in my state it's an e/o claim. 

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yes we knew upfront we needed it but i was waiting to back from the town and also kind of putting it off lol..

what if we are below the flood plain? will it increase the premium?  

also this is not something we can do till we own the house right? either way i personally dont want to do it till the house is ours just saying

i have no idea if we are in the 100year flood plain.

[Anonymous]

Take a look at the links. First one is the FEMA flood map, just enter the address. Second explains the elevation certificate.

https://msc.fema.gov/portal
https://www.fema.gov/elevation-certificate

Keep in mind the maps are based on approximations it's all hypothetical. I won't bore you with the hydrology used.
Myself I would error on the side of caution and not avoid food insurance if possible. You state that the nearby culvert has overflowed...unless it was a 500 year rain event, I would see that as a red flag.

Also in case anyone is wondering the the descriptions, 100, 500...year have nothing to do with the passage of time. It's the probability of the water reaching that level in any given rain storm, 100(1%), 500(0.2%).

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Take a look at the links. First one is the FEMA flood map, just enter the address. Second explains the elevation certificate.

https://msc.fema.gov/portal
https://www.fema.gov/elevation-certificate

Keep in mind the maps are based on approximations it's all hypothetical. I won't bore you with the hydrology used.
Myself I would error on the side of caution and not avoid food insurance if possible. You state that the nearby culvert has overflowed...unless it was a 500 year rain event, I would see that as a red flag.

Also in case anyone is wondering the the descriptions, 100, 500...year have nothing to do with the passage of time. It's the probability of the water reaching that level in any given rain storm, 100(1%), 500(0.2%).

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no no.. we HAVE to get flood insurance thats not a question... 

my question was is it worth it to pay a surveyor to MAYBE reduce my premium.. the last time i spoke to the rep on the phone it didnt sound like a sure thing and i dont like gambles when it comes to possibly wasting hundreds of dollars lol

[Anonymous]

Sorry I misread your original post.
You could get a quote for the survey cost. As to figuring out savings I have no idea.
Based off the government jargon, it sounds to me like the elevation certificate only applies for new or major improvements to existing properties. Something like building on piers, re-grading or raising the structure off the ground would be my guess. If you do talk to a surveyor, they may know something of the subject as well.
Sorry I couldn't help more...my experience of flood maps is limited to the impact on roads and bridges.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Sorry I misread your original post.
You could get a quote for the survey cost. As to figuring out savings I have no idea.
Based off the government jargon, it sounds to me like the elevation certificate only applies for new or major improvements to existing properties. Something like building on piers, re-grading or raising the structure off the ground would be my guess. If you do talk to a surveyor, they may know something of the subject as well.
Sorry I couldn't help more...my experience of flood maps is limited to the impact on roads and bridges.

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no worries thank you! i posted cause i didnt find anything on here and i figured someone else might eventually have the same question.. ill keep it updated like my other thread

[Anonymous]

So I did a little more reading. The flood zone should have a BFE (base flood elevation). The survey can be used to determine if the current structure sits above the BFE or not. It will need to be something like 3ft above the BFE in order to get the certificate. If you think you are close to this, (on a high point or near the edge of the zone) you may want to have a survey done.
As far as cost maybe a quote from the surveyor and insurance company may at least get a ballpark figure.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
So I did a little more reading. The flood zone should have a BFE (base flood elevation). The survey can be used to determine if the current structure sits above the BFE or not. It will need to be something like 3ft above the BFE in order to get the certificate. If you think you are close to this, (on a high point or near the edge of the zone) you may want to have a survey done.
As far as cost maybe a quote from the surveyor and insurance company may at least get a ballpark figure.

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thanks!!