A La Mode Flood Maps

[Roger]

Any one tried these flood maps on line?

Does the system work?

I was somewhat disapointed at their email sales pitch, indicating that it was $95 per year, then reading along and finding out that it was $95 for just 250 lookups.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

I havent tried it yet, but it sounds entertaining. I have several counties that I work in and the maps are constantly changing. $145 for 500 maps a year sounds reasonable, especially if they are always current. A CD will cost anywhere from $100-150 and I have found that Lochsheil is slow about updating their CD's.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

Hey, Wayne. I noticed you are advertising the Interflood service on this site. do you have any experience with their product?

 

[dbiggers]

Roger --

There's no ulterior motive -- we based the 250 count on numerous surveys and seminar focus groups which indicated that the average appraiser does 20 reports a month typically, or 240 reports a year. (That's been pretty consistent for several years.) We wanted to keep the price as aggressive as possible, and $95 is incredibly low -- far lower than anything else -- and it will cover the typical appraiser's one-year usage.

Note that our 500 map and 750 map quantities are also very aggressive in price -- $145 and $195. That's way below CD's and even other online sites.

Realize that this is an incredibly lower price than you'd find if you signed up for maps from Floodsource.com, which is the data provider for our maps too (their maps, our interface). Floodsource charges $285 a year for 250 maps. Same exact maps. And realize that we still have to pay Floodsource out of the $95 we collect from you! I'd say it's clear proof of how hard we work to keep prices low for appraisers, even when we have to eat quite a bit and risk the upfront investment.

Also compare it to Floodmaps.com and Floodinsights.com. Floodmaps.com is $199 a year, and it limits you to a single state. It also only has maps in selected counties per state. It's even worse at Floodinsights.com, where it's $250 for 250 maps a year, and it only offers maps in ~1500 out of the 3100 counties nationwide. And those aren't even real scanned FEMA floodmaps -- they're Q3 lines laid over street maps.

Compare the price to CD's too, where most are over $120 per county, and are often extra for slow quarterly updates.

Simply put, you will not find a better, more comprehensive, or less expensive source of flood maps -- especially designed for appraisers -- either online or on CD. The $95 is a breakthrough, and the 250 maps is the right size for the average appraiser. For those who need more, the 500 ad 750 map quantities are even less per map and are still cheaper than the competing systems.

You have to ask this too -- when was the last time the other vendors released anything which drove down the price of software in the appraisal market this aggressively?

Dave Biggers
CEO
a la mode, inc.

 

[Em Tee]

Not true, Dave :!: We use Floodmaps.com for $20 a month. There's no limit to the number of lookups, no limit on what state I can access (although I have no need to access other states, but I did try it). So far, I LOVE IT!!!

 

[dbiggers]

Mary, that's no different from what I said -- actually it's even more expensive than what I quoted from Floodmaps.com. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and quoted their $199/year pre-payment discounted price, not their $20/month rate. You're paying $240 a year, which is even more expensive than Interflood.

I didn't say that Floodmaps limits the number of maps, either. I said it limits the states. For many people that is an issue. And no matter what, it makes you wonder why they'd even place that limit on you -- it's one big database, so why restrict you at all?

Even more important are the gaps in coverage. All the others sites (except Floodsource of course) have many counties and areas not covered -- it averages around 40% no coverage from our research. We
we've got less than .04% coverage gap (99.96% covered).

Dave

Not true, Dave :!: We use Floodmaps.com for $20 a month. There's no limit to the number of lookups, no limit on what state I can access (although I have no need to access other states, but I did try it). So far, I LOVE IT!!!

 

[Anonymous]

im not real crazy about athena, but, the flood map/census tract feature is awesome and well worth it.

 

[Em Tee]

I didn't say that Floodmaps limits the number of maps, either. I said it limits the states. For many people that is an issue. And no matter what, it makes you wonder why they'd even place that limit on you -- it's one big database, so why restrict you at all?

Dave: There's no limit on states - what makes you think that? And unlike your site, there's no limit on the number of lookups which results in a tremendous savings if you want more than 20 lookups a month which we certainly exceed!!!!

I've never had a problem with any of their data and am an avid supporter, but to each his own!

 

[Head Surfer]

Hey, Wayne. I noticed you are advertising the Interflood service on this site. do you have any experience with their product?

Tim,

No I don't have any experience with Interflood as I am no longer an appraiser and don't need flood maps. alamode has purchased advertising for this product.

When I was an appraiser (1984-1997) I did use alamode appraisal software and was well pleased with that however.

I am sure that Dave Biggers or anyone else at alamode will be able to answer your questions about this product.

 

[dbiggers]

Mary, it's right there on their order page. I just copied this from their site:

1. Monthly subscription fee $20.00 (per state)
2. Yearly Subscription fee $199.00 (pay for the full year and save.) (per state)

That sure sounds like "per state" to me.

Do the math -- for 500 lookups per year, you're still paying less, and you have better maps on InterFlood.

How many appraisals do you personally do per year? I bet it's below 500 (two full reports per day), in which case you're looking at $145 a year, or just $12 a month. I'm sorry, I just don't see even one single advantage to their methods or pricing.

Dave



========

Dave: There's no limit on states - what makes you think that? And unlike your site, there's no limit on the number of lookups which results in a tremendous savings if you want more than 20 lookups a month which we certainly exceed!!!!

I've never had a problem with any of their data and am an avid supporter, but to each his own!