Flood properties - how to check for insurance?

Question

I have a friend who is contemplating purchasing a property in an area that flooded last summer. The area the house is in didn't flood, but the surrounding areas did. The house is brand new and as of yet doesn't have a postcode.

Is there any way of being able to check if the house can have insurance BEFORE she purchases it? Calling insurance companies will do no good without a postcode.

She has already looked on the Government website to check if that certain area was flooded and it wasn't.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

In the U.S. you can get a FIRMette (flood map) for the area from http://www.fema.gov/ showing potential flood zones if you enter the address or a nearby address.  But I am not sure how other countries keep track of that.

Answer 2

there should still be flood zone maps that will show the property- there has to be some way of describing to an insurance company where the property is located so they can check to see if it's in a flood zone - even though the house wasn't affected by THAT flood - it may still be in a flood zone, which will make flood insurance very expensive or impossible to get and if you can't get it, you might get a mortgage approved or you would have to pay for any future flood damage out of your own pocket - do you have $50,000 lying around?

Answer 3

Ask all the neighbors what their postcodes are .. ring the Insurance Co. and explain that the house is positioned between the neighbors codes ..

NB. it's quite possible that the new house will get the same postcode as the nearest neighbor .. Postcodes are not unique (I share mine with at least 4 other houses in m y street)