I just copied this from FAR Legal flash email…
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LETTER OF MAP DETERMINATION DOCUMENT (REMOVAL)
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.
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
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’?
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.
11352 Briarwood Place North Palm Beach
I showed the house at 11352 Briarwood Place in the Twelve Oaks community in North Palm Beach recently. This house was fully renovated by the current owner and is very nicely done. This model has the master bed and bath on the first floor with a half bath for guest use and then up stairs it has a loft and 2 bedrooms with a hallway bathroom.
719 Ocean Dunes Circle Jupiter FL in Ocean Dunes
I showed this bank owned unit in the Villas of Ocean Dunes on Saturday at 719 Ocean Dunes Circle Jupiter FL. This town house in Ocean Dunes is a very nice sized 3 bed unit with all 3 beds and 2 full baths up. Downstairs has a large living area and a separate kitchen with family style dining area and a half bath for every day use. The kitchen is updated but not over the top with OK cabinets, new appliances and laminate counters. The counters are an easy fix. The half bath down and the master bath need some work but both are functional. BTW, the clothes washer and dryer are in the downstairs bath. The unit does not have a garage which is certainly a negative on a 3 bed unit but other than this is a good deal for the size of the unit. I also heard that although the community is one of townhomes they have a condominium style insurance policy on place and have made a successful insurance claim for new roofs. So all of these are getting new roofs. This unit backs up to the wall separating the community from the bluffs plaza but the wall is not ‘tight there’ so this is not a negative as I see it. Also, this is the high ground in the community and higher ground is always preferable in Florida. The unit has been for sale since 05/23/16 so why hasn’t it sold? Master bed is upstairs and no garage. If this is OK with you then at this price per s.f this is a good deal.
02/20/18 – Looks like the sealed bid offers were not acceptable so the property is once again for sale asking 325k
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