The situation
The Wescott family — a Boston-based relocation — had been touring Daniel Island for nine weeks with a different agent. They were three days from writing an offer on a house when the FIRM panel changed underneath them; the property had moved from X to AE, meaning the lender was now going to require flood insurance the seller hadn’t disclosed. The other agent didn’t catch it.
Listing + offer strategy
Walker pulled the new FIRM panel, the elevation certificate (dated 2019, pre-LiDAR update), and asked the seller’s side for a revised elevation cert. The seller wouldn’t pay for one. We re-priced our offer assuming the flood premium would attach to the mortgage payment forever — $214/mo in our underwriting.
Comparable analysis + pricing
Comps before the flood-zone re-map landed at $1.41M. Post-map, with annualized flood premium, comparable transactions justified $1.36M. We met in the middle at $1.38M, with a $7,500 credit at closing toward year-one flood premium.
Outcome
Single offer accepted — the seller had been counting on the original elevation cert to keep flood insurance optional, and was relieved to close. Wescotts moved in October. FEMA re-mapped again in February; their elevation certificate from the closing now sits in the lender file as protection.
