In this short video, Renee Han of Downing Fry Realty explains the different FEMA flood zone designations that affect real‑estate decisions in Naples, Florida. She describes how flood zone maps are created and periodically updated, then walks through each zone type—X (no special flood hazard, no mandatory insurance), AE (established base flood elevation, slow‑rising water), AH (established BFE, shallow flooding), VE (coastal velocity zone with wave action), and A (approximate 1% annual chance flood, no BFE shown). For each, she notes the associated risk level and whether flood insurance is required. The segment ends with a reminder that buyers should consider these zones when evaluating properties and a call to contact her for further assistance.
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Hello, this is Renee Han with Downing Fry Realty in Naples, Florida. This is part of a segment or series I call Ask Renee, where I tackle some of the more common real estate related questions to make sure that you get answers in, in easy digestible formats such as videos. What we're going to talk about today is flood zones. It's important to understand what the different flood zone codes mean as you're looking to purchase and work with your real estate agent on what the properties that you're interested in, which flood zone those fall into. So I'm going to cover the different flood zones again very briefly, and if you want more information, as always, don't hesitate to reach out to me directly. We'll start with what's called the X zones, and, and let me take a step back. There are flood zone maps that are available where you can look at them by shading color, and then when you get into a specific property, obviously you can get into what flood zone those come in. They're not updated every year, but they are updated periodically to try to keep in line with insurance and flood zone requirements. So X zone, this is not in a special flood hazard area. So special flood hazard areas, oftentimes, um, called SFHA, but what it means is you are not required to obtain flood insurance in X zone. So that's a best-case scenario. AE zones have an established BFE, and that stands for base flood elevation, and are susceptible to slow rising waters. Most of Naples tends to fall into this zone. AH zones have an established BFE, base flood elevation, and these are susceptible to shallow flooding. VE zones in the coastal area along the Gulf of Mexico, also known as the velocity zones. These are areas that have an established BFE, again, base flood elevation, and are susceptible to wave action and rising flood waters during a storm. You can see as we're progressing through the zones, they're getting, um, you know, the risk of flood is greater. And lastly, A zones. These are areas subject to inundation by the 1% annual chance flood event and generally determining using approximately, uh, you know, approximate methodologies because detailed hydraulic analysis have not been performed. No BFEs or flood depths are shown when you look at a map for an A zone. Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements and flood plan management standards do apply in this A zone. So again, this is meant to be a very high level, but just as you start to hear about the different flood zones, you've got a general idea. X zones is a good thing, AE zones not quite as good but a little bit better, AH zones again getting to be more risk, VE zones, etc. Uh, high risk with VE zones. So I hope this helps. If you have any questions or any real estate needs, don't ever hesitate to call me at 239-287- 2576. Thanks for stopping by.
