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Read my articles for great information on Buying a home in Jupiter Florida.

Newly Mapped Flood Zone Rate

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OK, So I just recieved my flood policy renewal but it did NOT take into account my recently Letter of Map Revision (REMOVAL) from FEMA.  The timing just happened to be that just 2 days later I was sent another renewal that reflected my correct flood Zone as Zone X (not AE or SFHA) .  Anyway, interesting to compare the 2 renewal notices ‘where the rubber meets the road’.  The first one was for $475, just $25 more than the second one and contained this verbiage…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, all this work for just $25?  Well, if I should ever be foolish enough to let the policy lapse then it can be renewed at the same preferred risk cost.  If changes are made to bring those properties in a Special Flood Hazard Area up to ‘market rates’ then I will not be impacted.  And a Buyer for my property will A) not be required to carry flood insurance by their lender, and B) be entitled to the preferred risk policy rates weather they purchase flood insurance right when they buy the property (transfer from my existing policy) or a year after they buy the house.  BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY THERE IS NO ‘MULTIPLIER’ THIS YEAR OR NEXT OR THE YEAR AFTER THAT.  So they are not ramping me up to a non preferred risk policy rate.

Buying a Mobile Home in Florida

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Recently I had the opportunity to look into what it takes to buy a mobile home in Florida.  Some of the best location in Florida are mobile home communities.  So, in terms of real estate, what should I look for?  Well the first thing I would say is try to buy in a community where you own the land.  This will be evidence by the existence of a parcel id for the land.  It may also be a coop which is OK but may be able to have homestead exemption for tax purposes and they are generally more difficult to finance. Remember that you are buying a mobile home which is NOT real property UNLESS the owner has filed for ( DR-402 ) and been granted a real property decal.  The palm beach county property appraiser has information on this at their web site…

https://www.pbctax.com/services/motor-vehicles/mobile-homes

Basically, what the owner is doing here is declaring that the once mobile home is no longer mobile and is now permanently affixed to and part of the real property below it.  Thus the land and the building is ALL real property now and it may be constitutionally homesteaded.  Note here that if it’s on land owned by a coop then it may still be afforded homestead protection from creditors under a wider definition in the florida statutes.

The other thing to be aware of is insuring a mobile home is expensive.  Insuring a mobile home with Citizens in western palm beach county is about 1500 per year for 26,000 of coverage. By comparison, insuring a home along the beach is about 2,000 per year BUT for about 300,000 in coverage

Is Section 8 income a ‘Protected Class’?

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I just copied this from FAR Legal flash email…

URGENT LEGAL ALERT FROM FLORIDA REALTORS® GENERAL COUNSEL
Recently, Florida Realtors® became aware of several lawsuits filed against real estate brokers in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties concerning allegations of discriminatory advertising—a violation of fair housing laws. Specifically, brokers are being sued for discriminating against tenants with Section 8 vouchers. These violations, however, pertain to local ordinances, not the Federal Fair Housing Act. Under these local ordinances, landlords and Realtors® are precluded from discriminating against tenants with Section 8 vouchers, as this falls under the protected class “source of income.”

Florida Realtors® General Counsel Margy Grant advises that “Realtors® are encouraged to audit their listings and advertising to ensure that no listing, either in the MLS or not, contains any language that disallows housing to someone with a Section 8 voucher. Realtors® must work to educate their landlords or property managers that this is not permissible under the local ordinances.” Additional details follow:

Realtors® in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties should be aware that their county’s Fair Housing protected classes extend beyond those created under federal law. The federal Fair Housing Act protects against discrimination based on the following seven categories:

  • race
  • color
  • religion
  • national origin
  • sex
  • disability
  • familial status

Broward County’s ordinances include the seven listed above. The following categories have been added to a local ordinance located in Section 16½-2 of the Broward County Code of Ordinances (click here to view):

  • age
  • marital status
  • political affiliation
  • sexual orientation
  • pregnancy
  • gender identity or expression,
  • veteran or service member status
  • lawful source of income, (SECTION 8 VOUCHERS)
  • victims of dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking

Exemptions:
Please note that Section 16½-35.5 contains exemptions to these rules which are similar to the federal fair housing laws, as well as exemptions regarding housing for older persons and communities restricted as 55 and over.

Miami-Dade County’s ordinances include the seven listed above. The following categories have been added to local ordinances located in Chapter 11A Discrimination, which includes specific rules on housing in Article II (click here to view):

  • ancestry
  • pregnancy
  • age
  • marital status
  • gender identity
  • gender expression
  • sexual orientation
  • source of income, (SECTION 8 VOUCHERS)
  • actual or perceived status as a victim of domestic violence, dating violence or stalking

Exemptions:
Please note that Chapter 11A contains exemptions to these rules which are similar to the federal fair housing laws, as well as exemptions regarding housing for older persons and communities restricted as 55 and over.

LETTER OF MAP DETERMINATION DOCUMENT (REMOVAL)

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A few months ago I was notified by Bank of America that my house is now in a FEMA Flood Zone AE which is a Special Flood Hazard Area and thus I had to have flood insurance.  I already had flood insurance because, well, because it’s smart.  But my house is not in Zone AE. Zone AE goes through my front yard but my house is in Zone X and this is what is securing the loan, what flood insurance insures, and what is rated for flood insurance purposes. I just couldn’t get Bank of America or my insurance agent to look at darn FIRM map and follow the logic outlined in the FEMA Flood Insurance Manual.  BTW, both Bank of America and my insurance agent use  a company called CoreLogic to issue what is called a ‘STANDARD FLOOD HAZARD DETERMINATION FORM’ but they don’t even look at Elevation Certificates prepared by a surveyor even if you have one ready for them.  The only thing they will consider is a Letter of Map Amendment/Revision from FEMA which by definition is a change to the FIRM Map.  Anyway, not being deterred by the process I made a Letter of Map Change (LOMC) application.  I did this on-line but in retrospect I should have mailed them a hard copy version of the form.  If I had then I could have had a surveyor fill out a portion of that form and that would have sufficed.

Since my property was built prior to the FIRM Map being adopted in my town there was NO APPLICATION FEE for the LOMC.  I applied and sent in pictures of my property and a plot plan and all kinds of supporting documents which truly should have resulted in an ‘out as shown’ determination but FEMA wanted an F-053_EC_May2017_RE_rev or an MT-1 Form 2 – Elevation Information Form prepared by a Professional Engineer or Land Surveyor.  For starters the Elevation Form is not even on the FEMA web site but they sent it to me after I called in.  Looking at this I decided I may as well just get an EC so I initially hired Target Surveying.  The crew they sent out seemed OK but wow was the EC form just all kinds of wrong.  We parted ways and I would NOT recommend them.  I then hired Legacy Surveying in Tequesta.  The qualifier there is a Greg Tucker whom I spoke to at length and he is a VERY knowledgeable person.  I submitted the EC to FEMA and inside of a few days they issued a LETTER OF MAP AMENDMENT DETERMINATION (REMOVAL).  This shows the insured building is located in FEMA Zone X and thus is NOT in a Special Flood Hazard Area.  I have sent this along to Bank of America, Core Logic and my insurance agent.

18-04-1479A-120217

Now, a few things I learned:

  • Try to determine what the Lowest Adjacent Grade (LAG) of  the house is and ONLY apply if you know this is HIGHER than the Base Flood Elevation or BFE shown on the current FIRM Map.  For my property the LAG was 6.5′ and the BFE is 6′ where both are by the 1988 datum.
  • If your property was built before the FIRM Maps were adopted then the LOMC process is FREE.
  • If your property WAS NOT initially identified as being in a Special Flood Hazard Area on the Initial Flood Boundary Map then your house is NOT on ‘FILL‘ as defined by FEMA.  This matters in what FEMA application to choose.
  • If your property WAS initially identified as being in a Special Flood Hazard Area on the Initial Flood Boundary Map then your house MAY be on ‘FILL‘ if fill was added to the land AFTER the date on the Initial Flood Boundary Map.  This matters in what FEMA application to choose.
  • If I had used the mail in form to apply for the Letter of Map Change from FEMA and had the surveyor fill in a few numbers then I could have forgone the request for an EC from FEMA and I would have essentially KNOWN the outcome of the LOMC request.  If the LAG is higher than the BFE then the LOMC request should be approved.

13796 Sand Crane Dr, Palm Beach Gardens FL 33418 in Eastpointe Country Club

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I previewed the bank owned property (Owned by Housing and Urban Development or HUD) at 13796 Sand Crane Drive  Palm Beach Gardens FL 33418 in the gated golf community of Eastpointe Country Club.

The HUD homes are basically always over priced in my opinion but this one.  WOW!  The property started off as a 2 bed house with a large covered patio and a 2 car garage.  The previous owner created a den (no closet) in the garage so the garage is now a 1+ car and they enclosed the patio which the house did not need.  The headers into this area are very low at about 6′-4″ so it feels like what it is, an enclosed patio.  The interior of the house has knock down ceilings and the kitchen has new cabinets with the exception of the pantry.  The living area also has all mexican tile which needs to go and no hurricane panels to be found anyplace.  Also, this house faces the western setting sun.

Eastpointe is very nice community and has really made strides in the last few years to get their house in order.  The club house is renovated and the clubs are now joined together.  Thus, one does not need to join one course or the other and the memberships are very reasonable for golf in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

How does FEMA determine what is ‘fill’ and what is ‘natural grade’?

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So here’s one I dug into today.  How to does FEMA determine when a property was filled for purposes of Letter of Map Change applications?

First, look up the community in the FEMA Community Status Book.

https://www.fema.gov/national-flood-insurance-program-community-status-book

Note the date of the ‘Init FHBM’, or the Initial Flood Hazard Boundary Map.

Next go to the advanced map search area of the FEMA Map search and search for your town.  Look for the oldest map and open it which should have a date on the map that matches the ‘Init FHBM’ date just found.  Locate the property on this map.  IF, AND ONLY IF, the property is identified as being inside a SFHA on this map then any fill added to the site after the date of the ‘Init FHBM’ is considered fill by FEMA.  For instance the Initial Flood Hazard Boundary Map for Juno Beach was enacted 30 September 1982.

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