FloodSource Acquires Website Firm.(Brandon Brewer, FloodSource Corp. buys LOMA/LOMR.com Web site)(Brief Article)

In a deal that expands its online capabilities to keep up to date with changes in flood zones, FloodSource Corp. here has acquired LOMA/LOMR.com from Flood Hazard Determination Inc., Seattle.

LOMA stands for Letter of Map Amendment and LOMR stands for Letter of Map Revision.

The vice president of business development for FloodSource, Brandon Brewer, explained that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would make small exceptions for individual properties in its flood zone definitions. However the agency will not remap the area until it is required to.

Instead it issues LOMAs and LOMRs. A LOMR is issued when there is a change in the flood zone configuration.

FloodSource as part of its services had been tracking LOMAs and LOMRs, but until this recent purchase, it lacked the capabilities to do so electronically, he said.

LOMA/LOMR.com went through the exercise of linking the FEMA-issued letters to the existing flood maps. The website allows users to enter the property address and purchase the LOMA or LOMR. These letters are important to prove the property is outside of the flood zone and flood insurance is not mandated to be purchased.

FloodSource, Mr. Brewer said, is an information provider to lenders, servicers and others of maps, LOMAs and LOMRs, plus it can do the flood zone determination function itself.