Insurers: Make inquiries on new Lynn flood maps

LYNN – Patty Dzierzak knows her family home is inside the boundaries of the city?s new floodplain map, but she isn?t rushing out to buy flood insurance. Instead, she is heeding the advice of insurers across the city: Keep calm and do some research.?I?m thinking of buying it, but is it worth getting it?” she asked Wednesday.Home and business owners can answer that question several different ways.Federal Emergency Management Agency representative Ivy Frances said owners in floodplains who have federally backed mortgages will receive a notice from their bank requiring them to obtain flood insurance.Federal flood plain maps adopted by the City Council Tuesday add about 800 more property owners to roughly 300 already “mapped in” to local flood zones.The insurance requirement has already spurred anxious calls to local insurers from real estate agents wondering how the requirement is going to affect their ability to sell homes in flood zones.?It?s one more cost the buyer has to take on,” said Columbia Insurance Agency President John Olson.Like Columbia, DiVirgilio Insurance Agency writes relatively few flood policies and usually only does so because a bank preparing a mortgage requires flood insurance.?We get about 15 to 20 a year,” he said.Matt DiVirgilio said flood insurance can add $300 to $600 on top of the $1,000-a-year homeowner?s insurance policy the firm writes for most of its 5,000 customers. But DiVirgilio said his customers will not really know how much flood insurance is going to cost in the wake of the map adoptions until they get policy renewal notices.?Insurance carriers are looking to FEMA for how to price. FEMA?s data guides how much the carrier has to protect themselves by setting premiums,” he said.The federal government has heavily subsidized flood insurance rates for decades and how much a property owner pays for insurance depends on where their house or business is located in a flood zone.Farquhar & Black Insurance rates range from $250 a year for $100,000 worth of coverage to $1,000 to $2,500 for $250,000 worth. Olson said owners should keep rate differences in mind if and when they shop for flood insurance and inquire into getting a “preferred risk policy” designation.?If you can get rates at preferred risk, they?re much lower,” he said.Property owners questioning their floodplain status can hire surveyors to evaluate their property. Olson said the money spent on a surveyor can produce a certificate for submission to a bank indicating the property is not in a flood plain.Dzierzak?s family has lived on Richard Street in West Lynn for three generations, and the home?s mortgage was paid off years ago.Dzierzak?s insurance agent quoted her $400 for a flood insurance policy, and she is weighing that estimate against the chances of her home getting flooded and the value of possessions potentially exposed to water damage.?We?ve had water in the basement, but I don?t have that much in the basement,” she said.Farquhar & Black owner Ned Breed said recent congressional action on flood insurance takes a “consumer-friendly” stance toward property owners.?Hopefully, we?ve come to a good balance between what people can afford and where taxpayers aren?t subsidizing most of the property owners on the coast,” he said, adding, “Right now, I think they?ll see rates stay pretty much the same.”