One thing we get asked a lot when working with buyers shopping for a new home is what are the different flood zone codes and what do they mean?
In this blog post we are going to cover what the flood zone codes are, and what that means to you.
The FEMA website states that if you live in an area with low or moderate flood risk, you are 5 times more likely to experience flood than a fire in your home over the next 30 years.
The most common flood zone codes are "X", "A", and "AE". These are the ones we will be going over in this post. There are others such a B & C which are typically low risk, but we do not encounter them often here in Central Florida.
Flood Zone X means that the area that is determined to be outside the 1% and 0.2% chance floodplains, and this does not require flood insurance.
Flood Zone A means These areas have a 1% chance of annual flooding and a 26% chance of flooding over 30 years.
Flood Zone AE means the areas of 100-year flood; base flood elevations and flood hazard factors determined, and this requires flood insurance based.
But just because a home is in a flood zone code A or AE does not mean you need to panic!
Both A and AE require flood insurance, which could be as cheap as $500/per year. When you are buying a home in a flood zone you will likely want to have your surveyor do an elevation certificate to help you shop your flood insurance. This is an added expense that will likely range from $400-$500. Even if you are in flood zone X you may want to purchase flood insurance as we are located in a hurricane prone area, and standard homeowners insurance even with named storm coverage does not cover flooding.
There are other codes that require insurance, but they are not common in our area. If you are buying a home and concerned with the flood zone codes, give us a call at 863.333.5053 and we can help you find them and figure out the best steps.