In this instructional video, the presenter, acting as a real‑estate agent, demonstrates how prospective buyers can use the FEMA flood map to determine whether a property lies in a flood zone and decide if flood insurance or a wetland assessment is needed. He walks through typing an address into the FEMA map, zooming in, and reading the color‑coded legend to identify flood‑prone areas. Using a specific example near the former Northport Hospital and West Street, he shows how the map highlights nearby swampy zones and a creek that feeds into Northport Bay. He advises that even if a property looks wet, a professional wetland assessment can confirm actual risk, noting a case where a site appeared wet but was deemed zero‑risk by an expert. The video concludes with a clear recommendation: anyone considering purchasing a home or vacant land should first check the FEMA map for flood zones and, if the property is close to one, obtain a professional wetland assessment.
Chapters
So as an agent, I get asked a lot about flood zones and whether that's something to be concerned about, whether I'll need to buy flood insurance. And so I want to show you a valuable tool that you can use as you're investigating different properties. So you go right here to the FEMA flood map. So you just type in the address right here, okay, and you hit search. So it takes you down here and you can zoom in or zoom out. So right here, all of this colored area in here, it's saying is flood zone. This is a swampy area that's actually— if I zoom in here, this is what used to be the old Northport Hospital. It's now assisted living right in here. Actually, this is the school down here. But this is the area right here along West Street, right in about right here, or actually about right in there is where these lots were. So they're near a flood zone. In this case, I recommended that my client get a wetland assessment done from a professional. If you were to drive by this piece of property and just look at it, you'd say, well, that's wet. And turns out that it wasn't wet at all. So, and then it has zero risk of ever being wet according to the expert that we hired to give us the wetland assessment. So anyway, this right here, you can see this actually comes down into the creek that goes all the way down here to Northport Bay, that comes right by some of where I shot some earlier videos down there by Hazwood Park. And I talked about fishing for suckers with my hands. Anyway, when it comes to searching for flood zones, you can type in any address, it'll take you to that area, and then you just follow this, this legend down here to tell you what's going on with what you're finding on the FEMA flood zone map. So, encourage you, if you're considering purchasing a piece of property, whether it's a home or vacant land, that you at least search the address using this map to see if you're near a flood zone and whether or not you should get a wetland assessment done.
