How do you know if you have to buy flood insurance?

When you purchase a new home, at least new to you, you may or may not need to purchase flood insurance in addition to your homeowner’s insurance. Many people in Oklahoma City, OK as us at Freeland Insurance, “How do you know when you must buy flood insurance?”

Typically, this need gets brought up by your bank. Few individuals purchase homes outright, so when you obtain a mortgage, your bank provides you with a list of fees and purchase requirements. If the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) designated your home as lying within a flood zone, you will find out in your mortgage documents.

If you must purchase flood insurance, you can also find this information in your home sale and closing documents. When a home is situated within a map zone that requires flood insurance, the home seller must reveal this information in the listing or sale documents. It is one of the items the law requires the home seller to reveal during the sale process. This makes it very important for you to read all documents related to the home purchase before signing them.

You can also ask the home seller or the real estate agent outright. The law requires them to answer you directly and admit if the property does require flood insurance.

Don’t worry. Flood insurance does not cost that much. The laws are written the way they are to protect consumers from purchasing without full knowledge of what they are buying. They also have to tell you things like if a death occurred in the home or a fire.

You need to know in advance that the home requires flood insurance because, like home insurance, you have to own the policy before the bank will let you take possession of, i.e. move into, the house. Since the bank really owns the home until you pay the mortgage, they require you to assume the risk of the unpaid mortgage by buying insurance. This reduces their risk of loaning you the money to buy your new home.

Contact Freeland Insurance serving Oklahoma City, OK to obtain your flood insurance today. Let us help you find the right National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) policy for you.