Our
Goal:
To Maximize Your Asset Values
About CRIO Group is the leading and most sophisticated flood practice in the insurance industry and is comprised of four separate but affiliated companies that collaborate to deliver a unique and comprehensive portfolio of value-added flood services through its CRIO Flood Advantage program. The four companies include: • • • •
CRIO, Inc. Flood Zone Correction, Inc. Flood Risk Solutions, LLC. Premier Elevation Certificate Network, Inc.
The CRIO Flood Advantage program is designed to make your life easier by proactively managing your flood risk more efficiently and effectively than ever before. We provide a risk-free opportunity to reduce flood insurance costs, improve flood coverage, increase asset values and proactively manage your flood risk to prevent uninsured losses that you would have to explain to your stakeholders. Our clients own and/or operate more than 4 million multifamily units and more than 100,000 retail, office, hospitality, industrial and other types of commercial properties. Our proven expertise in flood risk analyses, flood map changes, flood insurance, and FEMA/NFIP related activities makes CRIO Group the leading flood resource for commercial real estate businesses. Since 2001, we have helped clients obtain over $5 billion dollars of additional free flood coverage through their existing property insurance policies, saved clients tens of millions of dollars every year on flood insurance, added hundreds of millions of dollars to property values, and prevented many uninsured losses. Our mission is to help property owners understand their true flood risk, to correct and inaccurate flood zone designations and flood maps, and to ensure property owners have appropriate flood coverage at the lowest possible price. Our highly dedicated team is comprised of coastal engineers, civil engineers, surveyors, certified floodplain managers, insurance agents and other flood risk professionals who specialize in flood-related issues. Our team leverages multiple professional disciplines to achieve one primary goal: maximizing your asset values.
Delivered savings
600
to over commercial real estate companies
Reviewed over
50,000 commercial buildings
Reviewed over
7000 commercial properties
Our clients own and operate
4 million
over multifamily units
100,000
and over commercial properties
Found that over
60% high-risk flood designations were wrong and corrected every one of them
A True One-Stop-Shop for All of Your Flood-Related Needs CRIO Group serves as a true one-stop-shop for all of your flood-related needs. Our industry-leading flood expertise enables us to help you understand your true flood risk and to maximize the value of every dollar you spend on flood insurance. Catastrophic flood events, such as Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy have made flood exposure one of the hottest topics in the insurance industry. It has become absolutely critical for commercial real estate companies to proactively assess their flood risk to understand their true exposure so they purchase appropriate flood insurance coverage. Attaining a thorough understanding of your true flood exposure gives you leverage when negotiating your flood deductibles, flood sub-limits and flood insurance costs during your property insurance policy renewals. Our proprietary research-driven underwriting process enables us to deliver a more accurate assessment of your true flood risk, which enables us to reduce your flood insurance costs and enhance your flood insurance coverage. Additionally, we keep you abreast of upcoming changes in FEMA flood maps, NFIP regulations, private market options and other factors that will impact your access to and cost of flood insurance in the future. We monitor the issuance of new flood maps that are scheduled to take effect in the future and replace current maps, so we can keep you abreast of how these changes will impact lender requirements, your aggregate flood exposure, and your flood insurance options and costs before the new maps take effect and impact your bottom line.
Real Service We always put your interests first, promptly attend to your needs and provide unlimited access to our greatest resources.
Real Creativity We invest the time necessary to thoroughly understand your risk and objectives, and provide tailor-made solutions that convert your risk into opportunities.
Real Transparency We deliver complete and voluntary transparency about compensation.
Increased asset values by more than
$1 Billion
Our cutting edge flood insurance brokerage solutions and flood risk management consulting services are tailor-made to meet the toughest flood-related challenges in the commercial real estate market. Our specialized programs are designed to maximize your asset values by reducing your total cost of risk, improving your flood coverage and minimizing your losses. We provide sophisticated consulting, transactional and support services necessary to help you decide how to proactively manage your flood risk. Flood Insurance Brokerage • • •
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Private Market Flood Program Excess Flood Insurance Program
Delivered more than
$5 billion of additional free flood coverage through existing property insurance policies
Reduced annual flood insurance costs by more than
$50 million
Flood Risk Management Consulting • • • • • • • • •
Flood Zone Correction Premium Reduction Flood Map Revision Portfolio Review Levee Research Elevation Certificate Coordination Development Consulting Mitigation Consulting Grant Assistance
NFIP Flood Insurance Historically, NFIP flood insurance has been the only primary layer flood insurance available for buildings located in FEMA-designated SFHA. Commercial real estate companies typically have many individual NFIP policies that create an administrative nightmare because there are scattered renewal dates and provide undesirable coverage terms compared to the flood coverage afforded in your master property insurance program. As broker of record for your NFIP flood insurance policies, we simplify the process of managing your NFIP policies by leveraging our superior knowledge of the NFIP rules and regulations to reduce the number of NFIP policies and the associated costs, and to manage your flood policies and flood risk more proactively than other insurance brokers. CRIO delivers industry-leading policy servicing and claims management, and we proactively leverage our unique and comprehensive portfolio of value-added flood consulting services to mitigate your flood risk and reduce NFIP costs to improve net operating incomes and increase asset values.
CRIO Private Market Flood Program The Biggert-Waters Act of 2012 calls for private insurers to enter the flood marketplace to provide alternatives to NFIP insurance. CRIO has developed a private market flood program designed specifically for real estate companies that have flood coverage through their master property insurance policy as an alternative or supplement to their primary layer of NFIP flood insurance for locations and/or buildings located in FEMA-designated SFHA. Our program is designed to simplify the administration of primary layer flood coverage, enhance the coverage terms, and eliminates gaps in coverage between NFIP maximum limits and your flood deductible in your property insurance policy. The benefits of CRIO's private market program include: • • •
One master policy instead of many individual NFIP policies. You choose one renewal date instead of having scattered NFIP renewal dates. The per occurrence limit will be tailored to match your flood deductible in your property insurance policy to eliminate gaps in coverage.
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Replacement Cost Value (RCV) coverage instead of Actual Cash Value (ACV) coverage. Option to include business interruption/loss of rents coverage which is unavailable through the NFIP. You can choose a deductible that matches your risk tolerance and lender requirements instead of having to choose from the few NFIP deducible options. Add and delete locations/buildings with ease in the same manner you add and delete to your master property, general liability and excess liability programs. No annual aggregate limit (same as NFIP).
The goal of our private market flood insurance program is to replace most, if not all, of your NFIP flood policies to simplify your life while improving coverage and eliminating costly coverage gaps. If any buildings are ineligible for primary layer coverage through this program, the buildings will be included on the policy for “gap” coverage, which means coverage above the NFIP maximum limits but below your property policy's flood deductible if a gap exists.
Excess Flood Insurance Program For real estate companies that do not have flood insurance coverage in their master property insurance program, we can assist with the placement of excess flood coverage to sit excess of NFIP flood insurance. Our excess flood program affords customary coverage terms to help commercial real estate companies meet their lenders' flood insurance requirements.
Flood Zone Correction Flood zone correction services apply to all buildings that lenders, property insurance carriers, flood carriers or insurance brokers believe are in FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA). SFHA are 100-year flood zones, which are zones beginning with the letters A and V. The objective of flood zone correction is to remove eligible buildings from SFHA by having FEMA issue Letters Of Map Amendment (LOMA) and Letters Of Map Revision (LOMR) to reclassify buildings out of the SFHA and into the appropriate moderate risk zone (B or X-shaded) or low risk zone (C or X-unshaded). Successful flood zone correction is our primary objective because it delivers the greatest benefits to you by: • • • • • •
Correcting erroneous flood zone classifications. Eliminating unwarranted flood insurance requirements imposed by lenders. Maximizing flood coverage afforded under a master property insurance policy. Eliminating unnecessary NFIP policies and the associated premiums. Increasing NOI and, therefore, asset values. Improving marketability of properties for sale.
Premium Reduction Premium reduction services apply to all buildings correctly designated in Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) because the buildings are truly at high risk of suffering flood damage during 100-year storms according to FEMA's rules and regulations. We leverage our proprietary research-driven underwriting capabilities and unique knowledge of flood risk and NFIP rules and regulations to find legally available credits and rate options that reduce premium for the same exact coverage from the exact same flood carrier. This service increases asset values by reducing annual flood insurance costs.
Portfolio Review Portfolio review services provide a foundation of accurate flood zone data for your entire portfolio that you may leverage for the remaining years of FEMA's Map Modernization and RiskMAP programs. It applies to all properties not designated in SFHA by lenders, carriers or other brokers as well as to all properties that you are considering for acquisition. When applied to an existing portfolio of properties, our portfolio review service identifies the “needles in the haystack,â€? which are high risk buildings nestled geographically on properties that other parties have identified as low risk. Our primary objective is to prevent uninsured flood losses by identifying all buildings that are in an SFHA and, therefore, merit NFIP or other primary layer flood coverage. This service ensures proper allocation of your flood insurance budget and helps you accurately plan for future changes that result from FEMA's nationwide remapping programs. The reality of flood risk management is that a standard flood zone determination is simply not enough. All too often, the flood zone classification on a standard determination is wrong. This is a very significant problem for high risk buildings erroneously thought to be low risk buildings because there is insufficient flood coverage in place. This is most common among multiple building properties with one street address, such as apartment complexes, retail plazas, industrial parks and storage facilities. Further, the standard flood zone determination does not address future map changes, specifically they fail to identify buildings that will be placed into the flood zone as a result of a future flood map change or levee decertification. We are the only company in the nation that tracks future flood map changes, which deliver essential forward looking flood risk data that supports budgetary and sell/hold decisions. Our portfolio review service effectively eliminates these risks by delivering the following: •
Identifying the correct flood zone classification for each building in your portfolio based on the current effective FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), regardless of whether or not you have individual street addresses for each building.
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Identifying the correct future flood zone classification for each building in your portfolio based on monitoring and reviewing preliminary FIRM that will replace the current FIRM at some time during the remainder of FEMA's Map Modernization Program. Identification of levee systems that are protecting or in close proximity to your buildings, which pose substantial residual risk of loss since many levee systems have not been adequately maintained and most areas protected by levees are classified as low risk flood zones. Most experts predict that many levee systems will be decertified in the near future which will result in these low risk zones turning into high risk zones (SFHA) with mandatory purchase requirements and much higher risk of loss.
Levee Research Levee research services are used as a follow on service when a portfolio review identifies that a property is protected by or in close proximity to a levee system, dam or other major flood protection device or system. We identify the true risk posed by the levee, dam or flood protection system, which may be very different than the risk associated with the flood zone classification shown on the current effective flood map for the area. This data allows you to make sound decisions regarding these locations, which may include placing additional flood insurance on the buildings, performing construction work to mitigate the flood risk or selling the property. Levee research services deliver the following: • • • •
Identify the current FEMA accreditation status of the levee system, dam or other flood control device or system and whether or not it expected to be decertified in the near future. The original design objective in terms of providing protection from 100-year and/or 500-year storms. Who owns and is responsible for maintenance of it and whether or not it has been adequately maintained, whether or not the owner has delivered a certified inspection report to FEMA to maintain its accreditation. Whether or not the levee system or other flood control device or system has suffered any overtopping, failure or seepage.
This data enables risk informed decision making for properties protected by or in close proximity to levee systems. It is critical to identify levee decertification in advance to ensure that you place NFIP flood coverage before you suffer an uninsured flood loss.
Elevation Certificate Coordination Elevation certificate coordination services apply to any location where you would benefit from procuring elevation certificates for buildings that are either in a Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) or close enough to a SFHA to merit a thorough flood analysis. Elevation certificates are essential in the accurate evaluation of flood risk, used for most flood zone correction cases, and to purchase NFIP flood insurance. These services involve procuring accurate elevation certificates from third party surveyors located in the area where the subject property is located. We have a nationwide network of highly qualified surveyors who specialize in elevation certificates and we utilize an extensive quality control program to ensure that all certificates comply with FEMA's rules and regulations.
Flood Map Revision Flood Map Revision Services apply to coastal condominium buildings and other types of coastal buildings located in FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHA) that begins with the letter “V�. These zones are areas where FEMA projects a 100-year flood event will cause not only widespread inundation by floodwater, but also where velocity wave action from the storm surge may cause structural damage to buildings in its path. According to FEMA, V zones are the highest risk flood zones with the most substantial flood risk. During each flood map revision project, our highly specialized coastal engineering team performs a detailed flood insurance study to determine the impact a 100-year flood event will have on your parcel of land, based on new data that is more recent and accurate than the data used by FEMA to create the current effective FIRM for your community that shows your building in a V zone. By using more recent and accurate data, and the same wave modeling and mapping techniques as FEMA, our flood study is far more accurate than the flood study that was used to create the V zone on the current FIRM. Over 80% of the completed new flood studies show that the flood risk is substantially less than what FEMA reflects on its current FIRM, which allows us to reduce NFIP premiums by more than 90%.
Development Consulting It is absolutely critical to obtain guidance from experts when developing a property that is within a FEMA-designated Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA). Our flood risk professionals provide expert guidance during the design phase of the project to help you design the building in a manner that will enable it to qualify for flood zone correction after the completion of construction or, if that type of design is not viable for some reason, to minimize flood insurance premiums for the building after the completion of construction. Our goal is to eliminate or minimize your flood insurance costs to maximize the value of your property.
Mitigation Consulting Mitigation consulting services are designed to help property owners reduce the risk of incurring flood losses. Our flood risk professionals will evaluate your site and building to develop a mitigation plan for modifying the site and/or building to reduce the risk of suffering damage to the building and its contents as well as incurring business interruption losses. Our goal is prevent flood damage, reduce loss costs and reduce the cost of flood insurance, all of which increase asset values.
Grant Assistance We are aware of all grant programs available to victims of federally declared disasters and assist you in applying for these grants that would help cover the cost of rebuilding a damaged structure. Since there are a lot of options available, we present you all the possibilities and walk you through the process of applying for the grant that helps you to implement the desired option. Alternatively, there may be programs available to sell the land and damaged building to the local municipality or state to eliminate the possibility of future flood losses and instead create green space that benefits the floodplain.
CRIO Group 1801 South Australian Avenue, Suite 100 West Palm Beach, FL 33409 Phone: (561) 616-8443 Fax: (561) 616-8859 Email: info@crio.com www.crio.com