New Website shows property fire and flood risk

[ultrarunner]

Riskfactor.com launched to detail property fire and flood risk hazards now and projected.

Checking I found some better and some worse than what I thought...

 

[old and tired]

Thanks for the link... it says I'm at 98% likely to get flooded in 30 years. That's not right.

That's just WAY off... I know that it will be 100 percent chance! It's already flooded in 1972 & 1996.

 

[California]

Riskfactor.com launched to detail property fire and flood risk hazards now and projected.

Thanks for posting that! Here (an hour north of San Francisco) my zip code is ranked moderate for the two classes of risk, Flood and Fire.

Flood is impossible. I'm on rolling hills 300 ft above the sea-level floodplain.

Fire - Moderate rating sounds reasonable. This apple orchard is only 10 miles downwind from the 2017 Tubbs fire: "the most destructive wildfire in California history, burning parts of Napa, Sonoma, and Lake counties." (Wikipedia).

Last year I posted in the California regional sub-forum that AIG insurance lost so much in California that they are leaving the state, and cancelling my insurance. I just read that their loss including Tubbs and Paradise fires put them at 10:1 ratio of loss/income.

Securing replacement insurance has been a nightmare. The local agent representing AIG essentially told me to go find insurance somewhere else, his agency wants only homes built after 1970 and code-compliant. This 1920's (?) farmhouse obviously had an interior bathroom added as the first remodel, for one example of its simplicity. No perimeter foundation to bolt down to for earthquake resistance. etc etc.

Another agency recommended by a neighbor refused, said nobody is writing insurance for old houses aside from the very costly high-risk pool plan and he wasn't interested. He recommended a friend.

This third agent finally found coverage at 6x what I was paying before. After installing breakers in place of of plug fuses and some other upgrades, and negotiating less coverage, I'm now paying 3x more. This company has excellent financial reserves but isn't registered in California so the state's insurance department wouldn't help resolve a claims dispute. I'm in a coverage category that seems to include older mobile home parks etc. I can't argue my quality of construction is much better than that but my risk of fire loss has to be far lower.

I dropped the usual temporary-housing coverage, we would retreat from the ranch to our primary home over in the Valley if this place were being reconstructed after a fire. Considering the $2,500 deductible on theft coverage, I decided to self-insure, a claim exceeding that isn't likely. Several other concessions. Liability is my chief concern, I continued the relatively high liability coverage.

Strange times!

 

[Snobdds]

what an overly broad risk based assessment. Basically worthless from a homeowner stand point but priceless from an insurance company justification for rate increase standpoint.

 

[kenmbz]

Shows me at the lowest for flood and fire.
They don't factor me in on these things


My dad is 1 for flood and 4 for fire in San Diego.

 

[ultrarunner]

what an overly broad risk based assessment. Basically worthless from a homeowner stand point but priceless from an insurance company justification for rate increase standpoint.

When I was shopping 4 years ago it was rejection after rejection even with long established insurers and zero loss…

The auto club did agree but at more than double what the previous paid with much less coverage and 7500 deductible.

I am city 3 minutes from fire house, upgraded high capacity fire hydrant with 180psi in front, clay tile roof, closed eves, triple pane windows and full fire sprinklers…

Pleased to see on the 1 to 10 scale my home is a 2

Maybe my prospects are picking up?

On the other hand a rental is marked for severe future flooding due to climate change sea level rise??? Never been a flood here and no rivers or marsh…

Interesting waterfront in heavily forested Olympia WA is a 1 in both categories.

 

[Jstpssng]

Please ensure this location is inside the United States and check your spelling. You can search by the common location formats listed below. We cannot find listings using informal location names such as "Maui" or "Bay Area".

I deal with this constantly. After 19 years I think that I know what my freaking address is. The really odd thing is that about 15 years ago I started typing, and as soon as I entered the street name that site knew the town and state I'm in.

And yes, I'm in the United States, even though most TV weather maps chop the top of the state off, as if they think we're in Canada... Eh?

 

[2manyrocks]

Realtor.com has had a link to flood factor for some time. There has been a crime data link that seems to go and come.

I've looked at property I know has flooded in the past and property that didnt. In my personal opinion, the predictive model seems to be more aggressive at predicting flood damage than historical based maps.

In practical effect, it could be something that could also make a property harder to finance and harder to sell if it starts carrying weight. I can't speak to how influential it actually is.

 

[ericm979]

Lack of a history of fire could mean that the area will not burn easily, or it could mean that fire suppression efforts have been intense and that as a result there is a build up of fuels that will eventually result in a hot and destructive fire. We're in the latter category. That site claims our risk is moderate, probably based at least in part on history. And they're missing the last two largest fires that got closest to us, so even their history is bad.

At least they got the flooding part right.