Joe DownsCEO & Co-Founder, Belrose Storage Group. Founder, Storage Moguls.

The FEMA Flood Zone Check Every Self Storage Investor Needs to Do on Every Deal

18 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment, the presenter shares a practical habit for self‑storage investors: whenever they receive a property address—by phone or email—they immediately look it up on the FEMA flood map. They capture a snippet of the map and send it back to the requester, often revealing that the property lies in a flood zone that the bank’s due‑diligence missed. The speaker emphasizes that flood insurance is quoted per building, not per parcel, and can be significantly expensive if the building is in a flood zone, making this verification step essential for accurate cost estimation and risk management.

Chapters

And one of the habits that I have is anytime somebody calls me or sends an email, you know, I pull up that address and look at it on maps. I took a snippet from the FEMA map and stuck it in the email, sent it back to him. He said, oh my gosh, I had no idea it was in a flood zone. The bank didn't catch it that it was in a flood zone. And it wasn't just recently remapped. So always make sure because that flood insurance can be higher than your property and casualty. It's per building. You got to get it quoted per building and it is not cheap. If you're in a flood zone, it's expensive.