Flood Zone Issues & properties without a c/o

[Alexander King]

Biggest bit of info I learned that saved a deal for me when I purchased a property in an A/E Flood Zone which had no certificate of occupancy was to immediately have the property reassessed. A/E Flood Zone is the worst flood zone and FEMA, a gov agency, limits the amount of money that can be input into these properties for insurance reasons. They allow an owner to spend only 50% of the property appraised value into the property for your first 5 years of ownership. After 5 years the input allowance goes back to zero and the owner can start spending again. To clear a c/o permits need to be pulled showing repair numbers in order to bring the property back up to approved conditions. If town officials don't believe the repair budget will fit into that 50% appraised figure, or that there isn't enough allowance to cover unexpected breaks within 5 years they may not issue a building permit because theirs fears of an audited by FEMA. Reassessing the property should increase the value and give the rehab budget more breathing room, or else even more money would need to be spent raising the first floor above the flood level. Anyone else run into problems with this crazy rule?