interflood has bad data!

[Mountain Man]

I haven't had a problem with the interflood maps yet. The are the same as my old paper maps, except they are already digital and I can access them when out of the office. Each to their own, but it is has saved me some time and trouble in the past.

 

[Julia Young]

What is the latest update?
I still use 1994 and was thinking of buying into Alamode's
floodmap subscription. I guess I will wait until the kinks are gone.

 

[Paulette in Texas]

We just subscribed to this interflood thingie last week. Yes, yes we are huge fans of the big ones...win2000. That said, we have been in the learning curve for a few days to make sure that we were doing it right. Still haven't figured out why we have been billed for 25+- flood reports for 12 addresses but I'll get around to calling them to make that right. That said.

Client of long standing decided to spin the wheel and get somebody cheaper for their FHA reports. We don't play discount, blue-light specials. Our fee is our fee or take the proverbial hike. That was about 6-7 weeks earlier.

They were not happy with the problems that they had dealing with a series of "cheaper" appraisers. And NO it had nothing to do with the numbers. Seems they always got to their numbers. I guarantee we don't. So they came back. Did our first one and yes we raised our price before we accepted them back. Guess what. They just did the deal right NEXT door to our FHA. It closed and was shown as Zone X or NOT in Flood Zone. In your dreams. Pulled the 5-7th report with interflood and...you got it: Zone Ao big time...flood zone. We checked our hand copies and had to agree.

Thanks to interflood, we had great documentation to keep on trucking. We told the lender to get their act together. Survey also backed up our opinion. Should be fun. Unfortunately, some poor innocent believed everbody who said it was NOT in the flood zone. He'll get to pay an additional $1500-$3000 a year for life for the priveledge of having that home. How long before that one is a repo. Yes...these were BOTH new construction: improvement to land. So, yes this new internet service is wonderful. They even taught me how to do the clipboard thingie. Now that's a first. While they were at it, the tech guys showed me how to do paste and copy photos. Son-of-a-gun...hello 20th century. I'm looking forward to the 21st century next. In the meantime, we are sticking with the ones that brung us: Thanks to the tech guys at interflood and of course, win2000. Way to go. And yes,
go w...
Rotts rule, shih zuh's doing fine.

 

[Caterina Platt]

Hey Paulette,

Good to 'see' you again!

If I were that homeowner with the $1500-3000 annual increase in my homeownership costs, me thinks I'd be talking to an attorney. Somebody's E & O should be taking a hit on that little oversight.

 

[Pat Butler]

Paulette-- just imagine if that other appraiser get sued for misreporting the flood plain and that the adverse flood zone was hard to place on the map.

Imagine that he used interflood and it told him the flood zone was X rather than C. That would be one more issue in the court room that would show his incompetance. It would one thing if he said that he definitely looked at the map and it appeared that the subject was in a Zone C rather than an adverse flood plain. But if he didn't even get the Zone C correct (interflood told him X) then his argument would look very weak and it would appear that he might not even have looked at the flood map altogether. That's my concern with interfloods incorrect determinations.

Pat

 

[David S. Roberson]

I agree with Ross (CO). I don't need flood maps for Novato, CA or Peoria, IL when I appraise in 6 middle Tennessee counties. Scan the actual hard copy map & panel number, annotate showing your subject's location with Athena, CYA, and sleep well.

 

[Mountain Man]

That's my concern with interfloods incorrect determinations.

Interflood doesn't make a determination, the appraiser does. Just like you have always done. When you put in an address, the map shows an approximate location, and the appraiser clicks on the map to center it. The flood map is just a digital image of the FEMA flood maps. If you are too close to tell if it is zone X or C, make your report subject to a flood cert. I have not noticed any difference between the online flood maps and the paper ones, except the online being easier to import into my reports.

P.S. I love the online service because I live near the state line and have to cover 2 states. As far as commercial, one week I am in N.GA, the next I may be in Savannah. Last week, I used it for a flood map in S.GA for an auto dealership. Who knows where the week after that????

 

[Paulette in Texas]

Interflood doesn't make us more of a target, it makes us less of a target. If the best of technology, and they are that, says it is yada, then who the heck says it isn't? We use them to zero in with Geo-coding. We are NOT surveyors; we are not "God." We are giving them an opinion based on their address, recent flood maps and geo-coding. If they want a guarantee, then they will have to buy it from some other entity other than appraisers and Interflood. They are just another tool to help us offer service. But guess what?

I would certainly rather have an Interflood designation in my report than one where I personally made the guess-ti-mate. And I suspect that our E&O insurance people would darn sure rather have us as a client because we are making a good faith effort to represent a factual flood zone to the intended reader of the report as opposed to the "appraiser's" best guess. Have you seen most not urban flood maps? They are delusional at best. Major roads that have existed for 15-20 years are not on them but some dead-end ditch is? Go figure. Thanks, but no thanks. I love their fast, easy and reliable opinion as to flood zone. We have only done about 40 reports so far since purchase, but we can't say they are anything but accurate. Sorry, if yours is not working out but in the greater Houston area including 5 surrounding counties, they are right-on. Way to go Interflood. Thanks a bunch. Partins in Houston
go w...
rotts rule and yeah shih szus or however you spell it.

 

[Tim The Enchanter]

Paulette said, and I agree.

We are giving them an opinion based on their address, recent flood maps and geo-coding. If they want a guarantee, then they will have to buy it from some other entity

I've been using Floodinsights.com for a while and it's very easy. Type in the address, and pop out a map.

Then to CYA all reports say "The flood data shown is from www.zzz and believed to be reliable but not guaranteed." :wink:

If anyone sees a hole in that CYA statement, let me know :!:

 

[Charlotte Dixon]

O.K., so I'm way behind you all in this category! Since I send files over the internet 99% of the time now, and since the V.A. insists that we keep the file size down, I no longer put a flood map in the report. Now, if the property is in or anywhere close to the flood plain, I certainly do put one in, but that is only about 5% of the time, if that. There comes a time, at least in my business, that I must put a cap on all these bells and whistles out there. Only within the past 2 years I've gone E.D.I. and digital photography, which is a really big boom for me. But, with flood maps, I keep them updated and took an idea from our local Planning & Zoning office. I bought a lightweight plastic 8'' x 24'' flower box which does just fine for our little office. It fits nicely on the end of one of our work tables and having been in the business so long, I've memorized the numbers of these maps pretty well (yep, nerd, nerd, nerd) . We keep a cardboard marker in the front....take a map out and slip the marker in. I tryed a few of the flood map services and found them inadequate and costly. I mean, 50 hits for X number of dollars is still too high for me, especially when we do 600 or so jobs a year! So, I copy my old fashioned map on my old fashioned copy machine and throw in in my work file (only takes a minute or two). Works fine for us in this little office and in this little state. :wink: