Posted: 4/29/2010 6:04:08 PM EDT
| So about a month ago I got a letter from my home lender telling me that FEMA had redrawn the flood plain maps and that my home was now in the " Flood zone" Is there anything I can do about it? The insurance is 900 bucks a year. Is it legal for the morgage company to require this 5 years after they made the loan to me when they did not require it to begin with? Also does anyone know or work for a reputable survey company that can come verify fema's measurements since I am pretty sure that when the house was built fill was brought in and it should be raised above the level that could flood. Any other possible ideas? I cant really come up with 900 bucks for this year and pay the extra 100 a month that they are wanting to fund the escrow account for next years. |
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If your loan is5 years old and in good standing you could probably look into refinancing with a different company that won't try to scam you AND save a bundle on interest as well. Regardless of what obongo says, the banks are eager to do business with "good people" right now.
I built my house in 2007 @ 7.25% interest and refied it in 2009 @ 4.8%. Original loan was 20yrs and after paying for 2 yrs I refied for 15 with the same payments so I shaved off 3 yrs of payments. When originally built the bank said we was in a flood plain but the house sits so high on a hill in the area, the bank never made any issues about it. |
| It doesn't matter who your lender is if the map show you living in or very close to a flood zone, it up to you to prove your not. Years ago I had the same request from my lender, I had to have a surveyor shoot an elevation survey of my property to prove it was above the 100 year flood level. Then I had to send the survey to FEMA so they could issue me a letter stating that my property was outside the flood zone. It was a bit time consuming, cost me a couple hundred dollars at the time. Make sure you keep the letter, anytime you refinance, or when it come time to sell you can prove that your not in a flood zone. |
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Quoted:
It doesn't matter who your lender is if the map show you living in or very close to a flood zone, it up to you to prove your not. Years ago I had the same request from my lender, I had to have a surveyor shoot an elevation survey of my property to prove it was above the 100 year flood level. Then I had to send the survey to FEMA so they could issue me a letter stating that my property was outside the flood zone. It was a bit time consuming, cost me a couple hundred dollars at the time. Make sure you keep the letter, anytime you refinance, or when it come time to sell you can prove that your not in a flood zone. This is exactly my problem. I bought the house and did not need the stuff. Last year FEMA updated their maps and all the prior stuff was "misplaced" The problem is I dont have the paperwork showing that it was all done. The map for my area didnt change. So next week I am going to get a survey going to try and get a engineer letter. What pisses me off is am I going to have to go through this crap every 6 years when they update? |
| Get hold of the Presiding Commissioner for the county you live in. They should have a listing of properties with "Revalidated Letters of Map Change" , from FEMA, for the county you live in. This will list all properties which had a "Letters of Map Amendments" that where not affected by FEMA's map updates. I went through this in 2008, so I know your pain. |