Can anyone share flood insurance experience? What do you do when an insurance premium could kill a deal?
Getting close to closing in a very simple self-storage property in a southwestern state.  The property borders an AE flood zone which apparently means 100yr flood.  In this case the property touches this zone but the storage structures do not due to additional elevation. 

We got a flood insurance quote for just under $20K/yr.  It will ruin the deal. Seller never had flood insurance. Lender is requiring it for reasons I don’t understand yet. 

Can anyone shed any experience on similar scenarios?  Questions I should be asking? How do I find better insurance rates? Yes I looked at the govt’s website to confirm the buildings aren’t in that zone.
[{"id": "h0ehrje", "text": "Get a Flood Elevation Certificate if the structures foundation is above the Base Flood Elevation. Any surveyor in your area should be able to do it. \n\nIn my area flood insurance is common but depending on the specifics of the location and if any claims have been made on the property, range from $0.30/sf to $3.00/sf.  Flood insurance is not getting any cheaper thanks to recent administration changes.", "replies": [{"id": "h0ei2sl", "text": "Thanks. I think that phrase came up today... FEC.  Can you give an example for each extreme of your cost range?  My thinking is this is mostly a metal building. So while personal belongings might be lost the building isn\u2019t going anywhere.  Thanks for your response!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "h0mf5fj", "text": "What zone is the actual building in? If it is in zone X, find a different lender because they shouldn\u2019t be requiring flood insurance. Check with the lender for their reasoning and if their flood determination supplier screwed up. Seller may have a survey showing that the actual building is not in a flood zone. He also may not carry it if he holds the property mortgage free.", "replies": [{"id": "h0mhbw8", "text": "Yes the buildings are in zone X but part of the parking lot is in AE.", "replies": [{"id": "h0ms1gd", "text": "My guess is your lender is a moron. I\u2019ve seen it plenty of times as I deal with this all the time. I am a commercial lender/portfolio manager and also run the flood determinations for all my new loans. The determination generally will sometimes say AE but if you provide the bank and supplier of the determination with the survey they can confirm the building is not in the AE flood zone this flood insurance would not be required. We have in insurance specialist at our bank and I\u2019m constantly telling her how it works, people just don\u2019t get it because sometimes it\u2019s just not common in certain areas.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]