According to several recent reports, FEMA is on the proverbial “chopping block” for upcoming budget cuts. The proposed plan aims to shift climate risk financial responsibility away from the federal government and back to state and local governments (and insurance companies). What could this mean for the housing market? One can only guess but it’s clearly not a positive sign for anyone who owns property in a designated flood zone. Interestingly, this is another area where FEMA may be phased out — the assignment of flood zone risk. There’s a “new kid on the block” and this company offers cutting edge climate risk assessment data. Say “bye-bye” to those old outdated flood zone maps and “hello” to state of the art high resolution interactive ones provided by a high tech data-driven company. What is the name of this company (and can you buy stock in it) ? It’s called “First Street.” If you’ve never heard of it, you’ve certainly seen it if you’re searching for a new home. Both Zillow and Redfin have a climate risk section under most listings. The data for that section is sourced from First Street. Founded in 2016 by Matthew Eby, First Street is a research and data company that analyzes climate risks for individual properties. This last fact is key – the data is for an individual property (not a simple FEMA map of flood zones). It is this tailored precise approach that makes data very powerful (and valuable). The company also offers online free webinars via Zoom; registration is available at their website firststreet.org.
Photo Credit – first paragraph: “U.S. Army Soldiers from Georgia” by National Guard of the United States/ CC0 1.0