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Realtor.com® Flood Risk Data Tool

Louisiana REALTORS • Sep 14, 2020

For REALTORS®, more knowledge is more power.

Sources: realtor.com and the National Association of REALTORS®

Realtor.com® recently released a new tool on its platform - an addition that enables you to see the flood risk of both for-sale and off-market properties. The tool combines data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the First Street Foundation's Flood Factor™ feature to produce a risk score ranging from 1 (minimal risk) to 10 (extreme risk) and an indication of whether that risk is increasing, decreasing or constant over the next 30 years.

In addition, a graph shows the cumulative risk of flooding for a property over the typical 30-year period of ownership, along with the FEMA-categorized flood zone for the property, and whether flood insurance is required.

This information can be used by REALTORS® to provide additional context, guidance and insights to your buying and selling clients.

This new tool allows REALTORS® to:

Make this risk an early part of the home search discussion.
Enable buyers to factor this risk into their evaluation of a property.
Incentivize owners to make necessary home improvements to mitigate flood risk.
Help buyers and owners ensure they have adequate insurance coverage.
Reduce the likelihood that a home sale is derailed by unexpected flood risk information late into a transaction.

Here's how the data from both sources (FEMA and Flood Factor™) will work together to help you as a trusted REALTOR®:

Flood Factor™	FEMA
Provides accurate, property-level flood risk information	Provides detailed, community-wide flood risk information
Incorporates current and future environmental changes	Maps the 100-year flood zone and indicates whether a property is "in or out" of this zone
Maps multiple flood zones and risk levels	Does not provide information specific to individual properties
Includes more flood scores, such as heavy rainfall	Based on site-specific, engineering studies, but limited to two risks (riverine and storm surge)
Nationwide coverage and updated quarterly	Used by community regulators, banks and lenders
Assesses historic flood patterns and projects future risk	Assesses historic flood patterns