Flood insurance
Your homeowners insurance policy doesn't cover flooding
It never has. Flood insurance is bought separately, and most people find that out at the worst possible moment.
Get a flood insurance quoteFlood zones
Do I need flood insurance if I'm not in a flood zone?
If your lender hasn't required flood coverage, that means the map puts your property at lower risk. It doesn't mean the risk is nothing, and it doesn't mean water can't reach you. Drainage fails, storms stall, and ground that has never flooded floods.
We'll tell you what your flood zone designation means, what coverage would cost, and whether we think it's worth it for your property. Sometimes the answer is no.
Get a flood insurance quote
Two ways to secure flood insurance
Flood insurance comes either through the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), the federal program with standard terms and limits, or through private carriers, who can sometimes offer higher limits and different conditions. Which route suits you depends on your property, your mortgage, and what you need covered, and on which routes are open when you ask. We'll tell you.
Building coverage
The structure itself and what is built into it
Contents coverage
Your belongings, bought separately from the building
Your flood zone
What the designation means in practice, not just on the map
Waiting periods
Flood coverage doesn't always start the day you buy it. Bought alongside a mortgage, it usually starts immediately.
Frequently asked questions
- Possibly. Being outside a high-risk zone lowers the odds, it doesn't remove them, and coverage costs less when the risk is lower. We'll give you a straight answer for your address.
- It covers some kinds, usually a burst pipe. It doesn't cover water that arrives from outside and rises. That distinction is where most disputes start, and it's worth understanding before you need it rather than after.
- It depends on how you buy it. A flood policy bought on its own normally takes thirty days to take effect. Bought in connection with a mortgage, for instance, at closing, or when you increase, extend, or renew a loan, it usually starts right away. And once a storm has a name, most carriers stop writing new flood policies until it has passed. Which is why this is a question worth asking in April rather than August.
- The NFIP is the federal program, with standard terms and set limits. Private carriers write their own policies and can sometimes offer higher limits, broader coverage, or a better price. Neither is automatically the right answer. We compare both and tell you which suits your property.
- Enough to rebuild, and enough to replace what's inside. NFIP policies cap building and contents coverage at set limits, and private carriers can sometimes go higher. We'll work out what your property needs and tell you whether the federal limits cover it.
- It depends almost entirely on your flood zone, your elevation, and what you're covering. For a lot of properties outside high-risk areas it costs considerably less than people expect. We'll price it and tell you.
Find out where you stand.
Give us the address. We will tell you what zone you are in, what coverage would cost, and whether we think you need it.