Building in Flood Zone A

[jo pascuall]

I met up with a developer, who is building a home in the flood zone A. I asked about the flood insurance and what kind of premiums i would expect. He said the slab of the home was above the 100yr BFE and with the home came a certificate of elevation stating so. I looked up an elevation certificate from the FEMA website, (this is where i am confused) it asks for the Flood zones in section B8. What Flood Zones are applicable when building in Zone A with the home above the BFE? Zone A and X? Has any one had an elevation certificate done with this specific situation?

[rbarz]

I met up with a developer, who is building a home in the flood zone A. I asked about the flood insurance and what kind of premiums i would expect. He said the slab of the home was above the 100yr BFE and with the home came a certificate of elevation stating so. I looked up an elevation certificate from the FEMA website, (this is where i am confused) it asks for the Flood zones in section B8. What Flood Zones are applicable when building in Zone A with the home above the BFE? Zone A and X? Has any one had an elevation certificate done with this specific situation?

If your BFE is above the 100 year than it is either in the 500 year or out of the floodplain all together.

Flood Insurance will not be required by your mortgage if your BFE is above the 100year and FEMA (I believe) only offers insurance to those within the 100yr Floodplain or floodway. Your normal insurance carrier can offer you flood when above the 100yr and the rates are much much lower. (I.E. for $200k inside 100yr its about $1000/yr through FEMA compared to $200/yr outside the 100yr through Nationwide).

[rbarz]

I met up with a developer, who is building a home in the flood zone A. I asked about the flood insurance and what kind of premiums i would expect. He said the slab of the home was above the 100yr BFE and with the home came a certificate of elevation stating so. I looked up an elevation certificate from the FEMA website, (this is where i am confused) it asks for the Flood zones in section B8. What Flood Zones are applicable when building in Zone A with the home above the BFE? Zone A and X? Has any one had an elevation certificate done with this specific situation?

If your BFE is above the 100 year than it is either in the 500 year or out of the floodplain all together.

Flood Insurance will not be required by your mortgage if your BFE is above the 100year and FEMA (I believe) only offers insurance to those within the 100yr Floodplain or floodway. Your normal insurance carrier can offer you flood when above the 100yr and the rates are much much lower. (I.E. for $200k inside 100yr its about $1000/yr through FEMA compared to $200/yr outside the 100yr through Nationwide).

[Urbannomad]

I'm no expert on all of this, but I can tell you about my situation. I live in the100-yr/AE (or 1% as they now like to call it) zone. My house was built above the BFE by about 2' and I have an elevation certificate stating this.

My mortgage company (and all of my neighbors) did still require the purchase of flood insurance. However, being above the BFE I qualified for the "Preferred Risk" rate as if I was not in the 100-yr zone and my lower premium reflects this. Your regular insurance company will "setup" the policy, but all of your coverage and paperwork comes via FEMA so the price is the same regardless of what company you use, and you don't need to worry about moving the policy if you switch general homeowner providers.

Sorry, but you lost me a little at the end with the B, A, X, requirement questions. Hopefully I have cleared up some of this for you. Feel free to send me a pm if you have any questions. Here are some sites that I found useful:

http://www.harriscountyfemt.org/

http://www.msc.fema.gov/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/info?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&content=floodZones&title=FEMA%20Flood%20Zone%20Designations

http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/flooding_flood_risks/map_changes_flood.jsp

http://www.floodinsights.com/floodlookups/floodzon.htm

I would also recommend giving an insurance agent a call and they can explain it all to you, plus give you a price for flood coverage with your elevation certificate. Despite all of my rambling it's pretty straight forward.