RemoveFloodInsurance.com

FEMA map check · LiDAR elevation evidence

Stop paying for a flood zone your house isn't in.

Federal flood maps are drawn in broad strokes. Your lender reads the map. Nobody checks your actual ground. We measure your elevation against the official flood line and hand you the evidence.

Check your address

Free lookup for any U.S. address, straight from FEMA's live map: your zone, panel, and whether the flood line is worth challenging.

No account needed. Live data: FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer. Full reports add USGS 3DEP LiDAR elevation analysis (NAVD88) - and every report is free during our launch period.

217,000+flood-zone parcels analyzed in our nine-county validation study of a major U.S. metro region, using the same FEMA map and USGS LiDAR data our reports run on.
1 in 29in-zone parcels in that study cleared our 2-foot evidence bar with every production quality gate applied (coastal zones, floodways, implausible margins, and too-distant flood elevations excluded). Those are the real odds - and knowing where you stand first means that when you do commission a survey, you commission it with confidence.
$800+/yrtypical NFIP premium. Removal ends the federal mandate under the current map, and keeping any coverage becomes your choice instead of your lender's.

The number your lender never checked

Flood insurance is required by the map. FEMA's own rules say a house whose ground sits at or above the Base Flood Elevation can be formally removed, and the requirement goes with it. Most owners never find out, because checking means reading flood maps against LiDAR terrain data, and few people do that for a living.

What we do: we pull the effective FEMA panel for your address, find the governing Base Flood Elevation, and measure the ground around your building with USGS LiDAR, sampled at the building perimeter when federal footprint data identifies your structure. If your ground clears the line, you get an evidence report built for the people who can act on it: your lender, or the surveyor who files your Letter of Map Amendment with FEMA.

If it doesn't clear, you'll know that too. The report gives you your real margin in feet and a plain answer - free during our launch run - so you know where you stand before deciding on next steps. And when the screening looks strong, a licensed surveyor's certified elevations are the evidence FEMA actually accepts; this report hands them a running start.

FIRM PANEL06081C0158F
EFFECTIVE2019-07-16
FLOOD ZONEAE (SFHA)
BASE FLOOD ELEV9.0 FT NAVD88
LOWEST GROUND11.4 FT NAVD88
MARGIN+2.4 FT ABOVE
MAP CHANGES 500FT8 LOMAs on record

Two reports, one job: end the requirement

Which one you need depends on what the map already says, and the free lookup tells you. Both arrive by email, typically within the hour - and both are free during our launch run. All we ask in return is an honest review of your experience.

If the map already changed

Already-Out Packet

Free during our launch run — we just ask for an honest review

  • Three PDFs: a plain-English how-to guide, a ready-to-sign request letter, and a records packet built for your mortgage servicer's compliance desk (the sample below shows all three)
  • Current FEMA map records laid out in the same field order as the servicer's own determination form, with levee or map-revision case citations, map exhibits, and a timestamped sources log
  • A ready-to-sign request letter that invokes the federal servicing rules (RESPA), which for most mortgage loans require the servicer to acknowledge within 5 business days and answer within 30
  • No surveyor, no filing, no field visit

Our promise: if the current FEMA map doesn't actually show your property outside the high-risk zone, we won't send a contradictory packet - we'll tell you plainly and run the elevation analysis instead, also free.  ·  See a sample packet (PDF)

If your ground is above the line

Elevation Evidence Report

Free during our launch run — we just ask for an honest review

  • LiDAR ground elevations sampled at your building's perimeter (located from federal footprint data) against the governing Base Flood Elevation, with your margin in feet and its stated uncertainty
  • FIRM panel citations, flood-zone map exhibits with the samples plotted in position, and map amendments on record nearby
  • A clear verdict: strong case, borderline, or not supportable
  • Wrong building outlined? Your delivery email includes a correction link: click your actual house on the aerial and a corrected report is emailed automatically, free
  • Strong case? Hand the report to any licensed land surveyor. The research half of their LOMA work is already done.

Our promise: if we can't reach a determinate verdict for your property (for example, no usable LiDAR at your location), we don't send an automated document - a person reviews it and follows up with a plain answer.  ·  See a sample report (PDF)  ·  Not currently offered for properties in CA, CT, NC, OR, or VA.

How it works

The whole process is designed to give you - and the licensed surveyor who does the authoritative field work - the full federal picture from day one.

Check your address, free

We look up your FEMA zone and panel and tell you which situation you're in: already out, worth measuring, or clearly in the zone.

Get the evidence

Your report compiles the map citations and elevation measurements into documents your mortgage servicer or a surveyor can act on directly.

End the requirement

Already-out owners send the packet's request letter to their servicer. Strong candidates file a Letter of Map Amendment, FEMA's own removal process, which has no federal fee for single homes.

What this is, and what it isn't

It is a research and evidence service: official FEMA map data and USGS LiDAR terrain measurements, compiled by an automated analysis of the same federal datasets surveyors and engineers use.

It is not a field survey, an Elevation Certificate, a FEMA determination, or insurance advice. A screening can't guarantee removal. That is why it's a screening instead of surveyor money, and why borderline results say so plainly.

Questions owners actually ask

Is this legitimate? It sounds too easy.

The mechanism is FEMA's own. The Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) has existed for decades, and FEMA processes tens of thousands per year. Flood maps are drawn at neighborhood scale, so individual lots on higher ground get swept in, and FEMA's rules let those owners out once someone measures. Whole neighborhoods also get formally removed by levee accreditations and map revisions. Our nine-county validation study found 68,000+ properties mapped outside the high-risk zone behind accredited levees - exactly the kind of mapping lenders' vendors miss.

Will this cancel my flood insurance?

It removes the federal requirement, since the law that forces flood insurance applies only inside the Special Flood Hazard Area. Your lender then has discretion: a LOMA or current-map documentation is what a lender needs in order to waive the requirement, but the decision is the lender's, and some keep it under their own credit policy. Whether you keep voluntary coverage is between you and your insurance agent. We give you evidence, not insurance advice.

What if the report says I'm not a candidate?

Then you have an honest answer and your actual margin in feet before deciding on next steps - plus whether anything else applies, such as a fill-based amendment. A clear "no" is part of the product. And if your situation changes (a map revision, regrading, new LiDAR), the ground truth a licensed surveyor can measure at your structure is always the definitive answer - our screening never substitutes for it.

Why isn't the elevation report available in some states?

We're rolling the Elevation Evidence Report out state by state; California, Connecticut, North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia aren't in the current service area. Owners there can still use the free lookup and the Already-Out Packet, and any land surveyor licensed in your state can measure your elevations for a Letter of Map Amendment - our validation study of 217,000+ parcels is exactly why we're confident telling you that path works.

Do I still need a surveyor?

For the Already-Out Packet, no. It documents what the current map already shows, with the map-change case citations where one exists. For a Letter of Map Amendment, yes: FEMA requires a licensed land surveyor or engineer to certify the elevations. Any licensed land surveyor in your state can do this. Search your state's licensing board directory, or search "land surveyor elevation certificate" plus your town. Our report does the research half, which typically shortens their work and their quote.

Why can you do this and my insurance agent can't?

Agents read the map determination; they don't measure ground. This screening crosses FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer with USGS LiDAR terrain, engineering data most agents and lenders never touch.