Flood insurance on a rental property, how to find info and gotcha's.

[Samuel DeMass]

Hello BP world!

Please allow me to tap into your collective knowledge, once again.

I'm looking at buying a property.  I'm doing the math to see if the deal is viable and I need to get a number for how much flood insurance is going to cost me.

I know the house is in a flood plane. I don't know which one exactly. Based on what I can find on FEMA/NFIP maps it looks like it's in "Other flood areas-Zone X" or:

"Areas of 500-year flood; areas of 100-year flood with average depths of less than 1 foot or with drainage areas less than 1 square mile; and areas protected by levees from 100-year flood."

The property was flooded about 3 years ago, during the extraordinaryly heavy rain from a stalled front in the central Arkansas area.  It was a pretty rare case based on the history of the area.

The good news is the property was properly rehabbed, but has been mis-managed and the owner is looking to get out from under it.

The seller indicated the property was "grandfathered" into the old flood insurance, which was cheaper, but I inquired to my insurance agent and he said:

"Since Oct 2013 there is no more "grandfather" on flood insurance. You must procure a flood elevation certificate, approx $600, from a reg land surveyor or engineer before I can quote. The certificate will state lowest floor elevation relative to the base flood level. The higher above, the cheaper.  If lower get ready to pay big bucks. Fed has cracked down since Katrina especially with these recent changes."

Can anyone shed some light, or share ideas, on how to get an estimate of the price of the flood insurance so I can verify the math, before I make a move?  I'm going to attempt to request that the sellers provide this information, but I'm uncertain if they'll be willing to shell out the $600.

Additionally, any insight and thoughts would be greatly appreciated on the subject.  I'm trying to educate myself on this to gain clarity on the issue.

Thank you for your time!