Each year the Pilot House is required to renew the Flood Insurance policy, as our property is listed within a flood zone as per The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The City of Norfolk has outlined the flood zones more specifically in the following link: Click Here
This notice can serve as important information to those residents at the Pilot House, who have a mortgage on their property. If you have already paid off your mortgage, you need not read any further. For the rest of us, your mortgage company will likely require that you (the mortgage holder) provide evidence of flood insurance coverage. If you do not provide them with this evidence (ie. a Certificate of Insurance), you could be required to purchase flood insurance for your individual unit. The mortgage company may purchase this on your behalf and bill you the amount of the insurance in your escrow.
I sought additional information with the Federal Reserve Bank System, which publishes the Consumer Compliance Outlook (Click Here). In this publication I found that the required amount of flood insurance for a loan secured by property located in a flood hazard area is the lesser of 1) the loan’s outstanding principal balance or 2) the maximum amount of coverage available under the National Flood Insurance Act (NFIA) for the particular type of property serving as collateral. The maximum coverage available under the NFIA is the lesser of 1) the maximum amount of coverage available under the NFIP for the property type securing the loan (i.e., residential, nonresidential) or 2) the overall property value securing the loan minus the value of the land on which it is located (i.e., the property’s “insurable value”). The maximum coverage caps in an NFIP participating community are $250,000 per unit in a residential building.
The Pilot House has renewed the annual policy for Flood Insurance, effective December 6, 2021, through our insurance broker, Beskin-Divers Insurance Group. I spoke with Roy Beskin in October when we were seeking a renewal. Our policy was renewed with Wright National Flood insurance Company of St. Petersburg, Florida. We now have evidence of coverage for all 29 units of the Pilot House, which is in line with the limit of $250,000 for all 29 units totaling $7,250,000 in coverage. The Certificate of Insurance is available in the following link: Click Here
This link will take you to the current policy, as well as previous year policies. Identify the file named, “Flood Ins 2021-2022.pdf,” and download this to your device/computer. Your mortgage company will likely provide you with instructions on how to share this file with them. In most cases, you will be able to upload this electronically. Usually, your mortgage company will supply you with instructions and a phone number to call, if you have questions or difficulties uploading. Keep in mind that you may also be able to mail it to them via regular mail.
I hope that this can save our mortgage holders considerable dollars by avoiding the purchase of duplicate insurance, which could result from failure to notify their mortgage company in advance. We will continue to update this information in future years. In or around the date that Flood Insurance renews, we will make available this updated information for you to submit to your mortgage company. My additional hope is that this information was helpful and useful to you.
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