The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has been in the national news recently in a series of critical reports.  One story criticized how the NFIP is using insureds’ premiums to deny claims and overpay insurance companies.  Another criticized a proposed FEMA rule change allowing homeowners to rebuild after receiving a demolition grant for a flood-prone home.  The news has criticized FEMA and the NFIP without sufficient research and explanation.  There are issues with the NFIP’s administration and FEMA’s grant proposals, but going just below the surface clarifies the story beyond the initial sensational headlines.   A few weeks ago, a national news station ran a scathing piece about how two thirds of NFIP premium dollars go to private insurance companies and their lawyers.  This makes the NFIP sound extremely dysfunctional.  The NFIP is administered by private insurance companies called Write Your Own companies (WYO).  The WYO’s manage about 80% of flood policies within the NFIP, while the NFIP manages the remaining 20%.  Premiums are collected by the companies and deposited to the Federal Government where all NFIP administrative costs are then paid.  Over time, the WYO’s found that it was too costly to administer the NFIP program themselves.  So service […]

AFTER THE OUTREACH: DOWNLOADS, RESOURCES AND MORE We want to thank all those that participated in our post disaster outreaches for the South Shore and Cape Cod.  We will be announcing more outreaches for other parts of the state soon!   We wanted to follow up with everyone who attended or wanted to attend but couldn’t.  Please take 2 minutes and complete our survey HERE so that we may continue to design programs to fit your needs.    For those that attended or didn’t attend, we have the following presentations available for you that were given at our various outreaches:   -The MCC presentation on flood insurance and claims- CLICK HERE    -The Elevated Studio presentation on home elevations- CLICK HERE   -Movement Mortgage presentation on the 203K loan program- CLICK HERE  -Shannon Jarbeau, CRS & Floodplain Coordinator for Barnstable County, update on CRS- CLICK HERE All downloads from the outreaches and more can be found HERE    Going forward, please feel free to reach out to us for contacts or assistance through this difficult time of recovery.    Miss the outreaches?  Watch them now on the MCTV website by clicking HERE!  DISASTER ASSESSMENTS: ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE Design and engineering resources are available from […]

THIS WEDNESDAY (April 11th)! Outreach on Post Disaster Help for Cape Cod Dont forget to attend our post disaster outreach for Cape Cod to help guide in recovery after the winter storms:   CAPE COD OUTREACH: APRIL 11th FROM 6:00pm to 8:00pm Cape and Islands Association of Realtors office, 22 Mid-Tech Dr, West Yarmouth, MA 02673 Agenda: -Presentation on flood issues after a storm: Flood claims, what to do if you have been substantially damaged, and the flood policy -Introduction to the State NFIP Coordinators office by Joy Duperault, Director of DCR’s Flood Hazard Management Program and State NFIP Coordinator -Update from the Shannon Jarbeau, CRS & Floodplain Coordinator for Barnstable County on the status of the Community Rating System on Cape -Panel of experts for questions -Workshop areas with several stations on Community resources, Claims, Insurance, and Elevations Intended Audience: Affected stakeholders which can include realtors, community officials, affected residents and more   PLEASE PRE-REGISTER HERE                THANK YOU! South Shore Outreach Follow Up    To all who came out and supported our outreach in Marshfield this past week.  With a packed room, we gave out critical information for those that were impacted by floods.    INFORMATION- Our presentation […]