From: marke@cadence.com (Mark Evangelisto; x6269)
Subject: Flood insurance
Organization: Cadence Design Systems/ACAE Div, Lowell MA
Distribution: misc.invest.real-estate
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 04:27:09 GMT

Hi,
  My wife and I are in the process of refinancing our house and have
run into an interesting dilemma.  Our house sits near the Merrimack
River in Massachusetts and when we originally bought our house 3 years
ago, we were informed that we were in a flood zone and that we were
required to obtain flood insurance.  The other day, our neighbors told
us that they had recently gone through refinancing as well and that
they were told that our street is no longer in a flood zone and that
we shouldn't be required to have flood insurance.  We called the bank,
who subsequently checked with the engineering firm they are using to
make these sort of determinations and they told us that we were indeed
in a flood zone and that we would need flood insurance.

  So, being the inquisitive person that I am, I went and checked into
it myself.  I first called to the city hall.  They refused to tell me
if our house was in a flood zone, saying that they didn't give out
that sort of information over the phone.  When I went down to the city
hall, I was further informed that they will not give out any flood
zone information.  Apparently, there have been several lawsuits filed
against towns for providing wrong information, so they won't get
involved anymore.  But I was more than welcome to look at the flood
zone maps that they had.  I looked at a map from 1991 which showed
that we were NOT in a flood zone.

  Well, armed with this information we called the bank and told them
our little bit of news.  They told us that it was still up to the
engineering firm to make the determination and that they just went by
their decision.  However, if we were able to bring in proof that we
were not in a flood zone to the closing they would consider it.  We
then called the engineering firm to find out what their story was.
They told us that we were in a flood zone and that our information was
incorrect. Well, it turns out that the map they were referenceing was
from 1984!

  Well, it turns out that we won't be able to get proof in time for
closing. We called the National Flood Insurance program and ordered
the proper maps, but they won't be here for 4-6 weeks. The engineering
firm told us that they would order the maps, but it will still take
the same 4-6 weeks to get them.  We told them to take a trip down to
the city hall themselves and have a look at the maps (they're only
about 20 minutes from the city hall) but they seem reluctant to do it.
So what the bank and engineering firm is telling us to do is just go
through the closing and deal with getting reimbursed after we can
gather all the information.  I am very uncomfortable with that as I
expect this to drag on for a while if we go this route.

  I am at the point where I want to tell the bank to shove it and that
we won't go to closing until THEY can get the proper information.  But
I am afraid that they will back out and not honor our locked in rate,
since the closing date is now past the 3 month holding period for our
locked in rate.  But I still feel that it is their responsibility to
do the proper homework before they mandate to me that I have to shell
out $300-$400 for flood insurance when I am not really required to
have it.

  We are also going to try and get reimbursed for the other years that
we were paying flood insurance because we thought we had to but were
out of the flood zone.  Has anyone had to go through anything else
similar to this and if so, what happended.  Am I off base here with my
opinion as to who is responsible for determining all this?  Any help
or opinions would be greatly appreciated. We're supposed to close on
9/21.

Thanks,
Mark

--
Mark Evangelisto                 e-mail: marke@cadence.com
Cadence Design Systems           v-mail: (508) 934-0269
2 Lowell Research Center Drive      It's easier to change the specifications to
Lowell, Mass. 01852-4995               fit the program than vice-versa.
--
Mark Evangelisto                 e-mail: marke@cadence.com
Cadence Design Systems           v-mail: (508) 934-0269
2 Lowell Research Center Drive      It's easier to change the specifications to
Lowell, Mass. 01852-4995               fit the program than vice-versa.