Susie, Author at Agency Flood Resources - Page 4 of 4Agency Flood Resources

NFIP November 1, 2015 Program Changes Will Affect Business Structures

by Susieon July 22, 2015 in In the News tagged Flood Insurance, NFIP with no comments

The Biggert Waters Act of 2012 (BW-12) requires FEMA to phase out Pre-FIRM (“subsidized”) rates on Non-Residential buildings used for business purposes. Starting November 1, 2015, the following changes will take effect, which will substantially increase insurance premiums on Non-Residential buildings used for business purposes.

Starting November 1, 2015, the current Non-Residential building category will be divided into two categories:

Non-Residential Business
Other Non-Residential

This requirement to identify business properties within the larger Non-Residential occupancy category will begin for all Non-Residential policies as they renew after November 1, 2015. Policyholders will be required to complete the Non-Residential Building Use Questionnaire for each such policy as it renews.

For rating purposes, the “Non-Residential Business” refers to a building where a licensed commercial enterprise is carried out to generate income and coverage is for one of the following:

(a) a building designed as a non-habitational building;
(b) a mixed-use building in which the total floor area devoted to commercial uses exceeds 25% of the total floor area within the building; or
(c) a building designed for use as office or retail space, wholesale space, hospitality space, or for similar uses.

Properties that have been used as houses of worship, other non-profit entities, community recreation buildings and garages will be categorized as “Other Non-Residential”.

The premium increases for Pre-FIRM (“subsidized”) Non-Residential Business properties will be 25% per year as stated in the BW-12 legislation. These increases on Pre-FIRM business policies will be applied with the next set of NFIP Program changes in 2016. Other Non-Residential properties will not be affected by this rate increase as Section 5 of the Homeowners Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA) limits premium increases to no more than 18% per year on Other Non-Residential properties.

The NFIP refund rules will be changed to allow for prior-term refunds for certain cancellations and policy changes (endorsements). In such cases, refunds will be restricted to 5 years instead of 6; this is to match the Federal requirement to retain policy records for 5 years. In addition, for certain other types of policy cancellations, the NFIP will limit the premium refunds to the current policy term only.

Read full Summary of the revised cancellation refund procedures.
Read full NFIP Bulletin W-15016.

Correcting NFIP Rating Errors Reduces Premiums by 75%

by Susieon June 10, 2015 in Case Studies tagged NFIP, Premium Reduction with no comments

Our client, a super-regional insurance agency, asked us to help them find a way to reduce the NFIP flood insurance premiums for one of their new clients – a large commercial real estate company that owned a single structure multi-tenant retail plaza. The property was insured with six different NFIP flood policies representing total premiums of $24,648 for this one structure, which were written by the prior insurance agent.

THE SOLUTION

We used our unique, research-driven underwriting process to procure documentation which identified that there were two rating errors in this situation. First, in accordance with NFIP rules and regulations, there should have been only one policy for this structure based on its construction specifications. Second, the prior insurance agent used inaccurate rating information to calculate premium, which resulted in artificially inflated premiums. By leveraging our flood expertise, we delivered substantial future savings, captured a large insurance refund, and increased property values.

THE RESULTS

$100,000 insurance refund from eliminating the duplicate policies
$23,966 (75%) reduction in the total annual flood premiums
$340,000 increase in property value, based on the application of a 7% capitalization rate

View case study as a .pdf.

Agency Flood Resources at Advisen’s 2015 Property Insights Conference – New York

by Susieon June 2, 2015 in In the News with no comments

This week Agency Flood Resources, Inc. (Agency Flood Resources) will be participating at Advisen’s 4th annual Property Insights Conference in New York City that takes place on June 4, 2015. The event is expected to bring together over 350 risk management and insurance professionals.

Dan Freudenthal, President of Agency Flood Resources, will be a panelist at the Flood Risk Management and Insurance session that will gather flood risk industry experts to share their insights and discuss how to proactively assess and manage flood risk, and how to leverage this information to improve flood coverage, reduce flood insurance costs, increase asset values and protect assets. Topics will include flood modeling, correcting inaccurate flood maps, NFIP and private market flood insurance, mitigation standards and products, lender issues and how carriers price flood insurance.

“Flood is the most common and costly natural hazard peril in the United States, both historically and today. In this post Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy world, it is becoming extremely important to know how to accurately assess and manage flood risk. Correcting inaccurate flood maps is the first step.” said Dan Freudenthal.

As a nationally recognized expert in the area of flood risk, Mr. Freudenthal has been an active speaker at risk management and commercial real estate conferences about the topics of flood risk, flood insurance, flood zone correction and elevation certificates, and has published numerous articles in commercial real estate, risk management and insurance industry publications.

For more information visit: http://www.advisenltd.com/events/conferences/2015/06/04/2015-property-insights-conference-new-york/agenda/

Hurricane season is here. Let us minimize your E&O exposure.

by Susieon June 1, 2015 in In the News with no comments

Today, June 1^st, marks the beginning of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season. Agency Flood Resources is poised and ready to assist you with performing a thorough flood risk analysis on your clients’ buildings and reviewing policy language to determine if you have sufficient flood insurance coverage in place for your clients. Even though weather experts predict that the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season will have less storms than average, as agents of Katrina or Sandy victims would tell you, it only takes one storm hitting the area where your clients’ buildings are located to cause substantial losses for your clients and potentially substantial errors and omissions exposure for you. Do not wait for a substantial flood event to bring to your attention deficiencies in the flood insurance coverage you have placed for your clients. We can help you identify high risk buildings that merit additional flood insurance coverage and policies with inadequate flood insurance coverage terms or limits.

Agency Flood Resources, Inc. is an excess and surplus lines brokerage firm that specializes in flood insurance and flood risk management consulting. Flood is the most common and costly natural hazard peril in the United States, both historically and today. The catastrophic flood events of the last ten years have made flood expertise more important today than ever before. We know the flood insurance marketplace. We know how to accurately assess and underwrite flood risk. We offer all of the flood insurance products and value-added flood risk management consulting services necessary to help your insurance agency minimize its errors and omissions exposure while simultaneously helping you gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Know Your Clients’ True Flood Risk

by Susieon May 28, 2015 in In the News with no comments

The recent flood events in Texas and other parts of our nation remind all of us that it does not take a Superstorm Sandy or a Hurricane Katrina to cause a wide spread catastrophic damage to homes and buildings. All of these events reinforce the importance of knowing your clients’ true flood risk and having appropriate flood insurance in place for your clients.

We have the wholesale brokerage industry’s leading flood practice. Our team consists not only of insurance professionals who specialize in flood risk, but also highly experienced water resource engineers, surveyors, certified floodplain managers, general contractors and other types of professionals who bring their expertise to bear to help you thoroughly assess and properly insure your clients’ flood risk.

Contact us to learn how we can help you minimize errors and omission exposure while simultaneously strengthening your client relationships and helping you win new business.

Dan Freudenthal, President

Call: 844-359-7468

Email: Contact us

Page 4 of 4« First...«2 34

Susie