We’re building an elevated house on Johns Island, within eyesight of the Stono. Looks like we’re going to close just before Christmas.
Getting ready to start looking for homeowners and flood insurance, anyone have any recommendations?
What is your flood zone? I’m in a V zone and pay $3500 just for flood. And that’s being 5 feet above BFE. Just make sure you understand that before you close! I shopped around a little, but from what understand all flood is roughly the same.
We are on the high side of James Island. We are not required to have flood insurance. Bought my house in 2004 and never got any flood insurance. This year I decided to look into it with all the weather we have had these last few years. Went ahead and got it because it was only 350$ a year. As stated above, where you are zoned will dictate rate. I use State Farm.
Congrats on the new house.
Karma is 360 degrees
“If fishing were easy it would be called your mom”
It will help get you more accurate to pay for an elevation certificate.
5 years ago when I bought my house I did a big search and Aydlette on folly rd across from Walmart was the best deal I could find. Haven’t thought about it since, everything is automatic. I’m in the middle of Johns Island I didn’t do flood insurance
Similar to you…we built near the Toogoodoo, 12 foot flood zone and the house was built 15 feet above sea level. Our flood insurance is $563/yr with Wright National Flood Ins Co out of Florida. We obtained the insurance through our broker…Nick Latto at CT Lowndes. Give him a call, he does his best to get you the lowest premiums with a reputable company.
(Edited to add actual premium amount and correct company name.)
quote:AE zone???
Originally posted by sea tonicSimilar to you…we built near the Toogoodoo, 12 foot flood zone and the house was built 15 feet above sea level. Our flood insurance is around $450/yr with St. John’s out of Florida. We obtained the insurance through our broker…Nick Latto at CT Lowndes. Give him a call, he does his best to get you the lowest premiums with a reputable company.
I’ll try to be brief:
After you pick and insurance provider you’re comfortable with you should look into having an elevation certificate prepared by a licensed Professional Land Surveyor who REGULARLY performs these types of surveys. I do them but I don’t like to due to the liability, so don’t be shocked by the cost. It takes me almost as long to fill out the certificate as is does to perform the field survey to gather all the necessary data that is needed to fill out the cert. Your coastal zones have different requirements than we do in the midlands, so find someone from the Charleston area. You’ve got plenty of them down there. The FEMA F.I.R.M maps used to determine flood zones are somewhat general in mapping the zone boundaries due to the scale, but the base flood elevation for your location is a known number. The certificate will state all of the important information needed to determine the rate you’d have to pay, and can go a long way in helping to reduce the cost of the flood insurance.
I failed. Good luck. I grew up on Johns Island and miss it dearly.
There’s a reason I’m close to the top of the food chain.
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Been doing the elevation certs for about 10 years. They are not that bad. Shoot me the adress in PM and I will tell you what your flood zone you are in.
I assume that since you are building you already would have had an elevation certificate done by someone because both the city and the county require them during construction. Usually one done per the construction drawings and then one done at the strapping inspection and then a final one at completion that is also given to the insurance company.
If you have any questions just shoot me a PM.
quote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:AE zone???
Originally posted by sea tonicSimilar to you…we built near the Toogoodoo, 12 foot flood zone and the house was built 15 feet above sea level. Our flood insurance is around $450/yr with St. John’s out of Florida. We obtained the insurance through our broker…Nick Latto at CT Lowndes. Give him a call, he does his best to get you the lowest premiums with a reputable company.
Flood Risk/Rated zone AE 12ft
quote:Yep. That's the main driver of cost. He said that he is within eyesight, so that means he's not on the water, and I would suspect he is in an A zone as well. I'm in the V zone currently and costs are much higher.
Originally posted by sea tonicquote:
Originally posted by skinneejquote:AE zone???
Originally posted by sea tonicSimilar to you…we built near the Toogoodoo, 12 foot flood zone and the house was built 15 feet above sea level. Our flood insurance is around $450/yr with St. John’s out of Florida. We obtained the insurance through our broker…Nick Latto at CT Lowndes. Give him a call, he does his best to get you the lowest premiums with a reputable company.
Flood Risk/Rated zone AE 12ft
Our house has no “structure” in the flood zone, all breakaway walls, etc.
Ok, so looking at my paperwork, it’s flood zone AE, then it says, “Base Zone Elevations, Zone AO, use Base Flood Zone Depth”, 14’.
Can anyone decipher?
It’s an elevated house, all garage underneath.
If you don’t get a better explanation, my understanding is that you have to build at least 1 foot over BFE to meet code, and 4 feet over to get the best insurance rates for my V zone. If you are in AE then that is glorious. Your rates would be in that $400-$500 range. In the V zone I have to have breakaway walls that were 40% open. I don’t know what the current code is for AE, but the last house I rented in AE was mostly block foundation with flood vents around the base. Note that on my elevation certificate it matters what structure looks like below the flood zone. I had to redesign my elevator shaft to get better rates. Without breakaway walls on my elevator, insurance would have been $6k per year for me. Again, lots of builders on this site. Chip (OnaFishionMission???), on this site gave me solid advice on this stuff.
BOHICA no matter how you slice it
As an insurance agent, being in a flood zone which you are, you have to have an elevation cert to get an accurate quote or policy. No matter who you go to, the flood insurance will be the same as all of us are brokers for FEMA. So no need to shop that. When it comes to homeowners insurance, if you decide to go with a broker and not go with one of the larger companies, do your homework on them. Google “AM Best” and search the company on there to see their financial background. I hope this helps.