Hello and welcome. This is Nolan Formalarie with Discover NC Homes and Nolan’s News. And I have Kara Herring with me, Kara from Don Bullard Insurance (https://www.donbullard.com/). Thank you so much for coming. I appreciate it. Don Bullard is located in Southport and Wilmington – amazing insurance company. I recommend them to all my clients. I’m personally insured with them.

Nolan
So I just wanted to give you a little plugin. The service is phenomenal and the rates are unbelievable. Kara is here today to talk about a very important topic that I know very little about but has been coming up in St. James and it’s LOMA. I don’t even know what that means. So Kara, if you can explain that and what is this new thing that we’re seeing?

Kara
Gotcha. So, LOMA is going to be a flood term from FEMA and it’s a letter of map amendment. That’s going to be where a particular lot is inadvertently mapped into a hazardous flood zone. So a special flood hazard area.

Nolan
I’ve seen them in these 8-80 zones (https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/marionnc/latest/marion_nc/0-0-0-2086). So we’re used to section 8-80 zones, so this is something within or could be within an 8-80 zone.

Kara
Right, so an 8-80 zone, but maybe it is exceptionally high, natural ground that particular lot. So it shouldn’t be in that area, but it gets lumped in, in which case then it would be on record that there’s a LOMA for that particular property. Or, if the consumer, or maybe you would suggest that you do think it’s above the base flood elevation, maybe we should get a surveyor to look at it and then submit for the LOMA to take it out of that hazardous flood zone.

Nolan
What is the base flood elevation? What is that?

Kara
It’s going to depend on the area.

Nolan
Okay, I gotcha. So this letter can be submitted and the property can be taken out of the zone?

Kara
It can be taken out of the zone. So you can go to www.floodsmart.gov and put in and address and find out what area is that property in, what flood zone is it in. Now, if a lender goes in, you write a contract, they’re still going to pull that AE zone. So that LOMA, if you have it for a particular lot – so it’s really important for a buyer or seller real estate agent to know about it – and it should be filed with the city, with the community.

So it should be easily accessible, but it’s really important to keep that LOMA because it’s still gonna always be coming up. Again, it’s still gonna show in that 80 zone, but you’re going to have that amendment, which is another piece of paper that says: “Nope, we changed it and it’s not in that hazardous flood zone anymore.”

Nolan
And that does get changed through FEMA, right?

Kara
Yes

Nolan
Okay. Very good. So when an end-user or a builder is going to build – say they’re in an 80 zone and they don’t get a LOMA – what does that mean? How is the bill different?

Kara
Gotcha. The builder will know that they need to build to certain specifications. So if it’s in an AE zone, number one: you’re going to have to have the flood insurance, if you have a mortgage. So that’s going to be a requirement. And then in that AE zone they’re going to want to see that there’s flood vents so that the floodwaters can flow through if it’s on a crawl space or pilings with an enclosed area.

Obviously if it’s up on pilings – what’s called a “diagram five for flood” – that means there’s nothing under there, no enclosure. That when obviously, I mean, there’s no reason to have vents cause there’s no walls. So it’ll have to be what they call “properly vented for the floodwaters to flow through.”

Nolan
That makes sense. And another question: so, like on Beaver Creek – we’re in St. James on beaver Creek Drive, AE zone – but all of a sudden these LOMAs have come up and they’ve never been there before. Who put them in place and why have they been put in place when they were never there before?

Kara
Flood zones change all the time. So, likely in 2018, I know there were some changes out here at St. James.

Nolan
Were they a result from Florence?

Kara
No, it would have been happening, just a restructuring I guess. And then it does take a few years for the maps to actually be resubmitted. So there were some changes, there were some properties that went into the hazardous flood zones and some that came out. Without looking at the particular property – it could have been that maybe it was something that went in and then somebody submitted to get the loan to take it back out of that flood zone.

Nolan
All right. And one last question before I let you leave. So if… this kind of caught me off guard, I was working with a client on a home site, had no clue what this even meant, and a builder actually told us how, as a real estate agent and user builder, how do you know if there is a LOMA involved? How would you know that? By going to this website?

Kara
You may not know. You got to do some research on it. But as I say, if it’s just a lot, you will probably not gonna know of a LOMA unless somebody’s come in and submitted for it – the owner, the builder, maybe a builder’s got a lot that he has submitted for the LOMA. You could check with St. James as well, with their community.

Nolan
Cool. Well Kara, tank you, I appreciate you having us! Again, Don Bullard Insurance – great insurance company, a wealth of knowledge and always here to answer questions. Thank you!

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About Nolan Formalarie

Nolan Formalarie has been in the North Carolina Real Estate Industry for over 8 years and enjoys every minute of it. He is involved in every aspect of the industry including selling and purchasing residential property, home watch services, property management, association management and construction.