Not through First Street directly, not right now. That’s the actual gap behind a new lawsuit out of the Florida Attorney General’s office, and it’s the same gap a homeowner runs into the moment they ask the question.
Why Would My Score Be High if My House Has Never Flooded?
Because the score isn’t measuring what already happened. It’s a model projecting what might happen over time, and a “never flooded” track record doesn’t rule that out on its own. A FEMA flood zone works on a different logic that can look similar: Zone X means a property sits outside the mapped high-risk area, not that it carries zero risk. First Street’s Flood Factor runs on its own model, built on a longer time horizon and its own data, and the two don’t always land in the same place on the same house. That gap between the two rulers is normal. What’s now in court is whether First Street’s own number, once it reaches a buyer, is honest about what it’s actually saying.
What Is the Lawsuit Actually Accusing First Street Of?
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed suit October 23 against First Street Technology, the company behind the 1-to-10 scores showing up as Flood Factor, Fire Factor and the rest, sold together under the Risk Factor name and displayed on Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com listings. The complaint leans on one property in Oldsmar, in Pinellas County, sitting in FEMA Zone X, outside the mapped high-risk flood area. First Street gave it a Flood Factor of 7 out of 10. Redfin displayed that, according to the complaint, as a 74 to 82 percent chance of flooding over 30 years. The State’s argument is that First Street’s own published methodology implies at least 99 percent for any score of 6 or higher, so the number a buyer actually saw on the listing didn’t match the company’s own scale. The same listing carried a Heat Factor of 10 out of 10 and a line predicting seven days above 108 degrees this year. Tampa has recorded one day over 100 degrees, in 2025.
Is There Any Way to Dispute the Score?
That’s the State’s whole first count: that First Street’s models overstate risk and that there’s no real way for a homeowner to push back on a number once it’s attached to their listing. Nothing about that is settled. A complaint is one side’s account, filed to open a case, and First Street hasn’t answered it on the record yet. But the question itself, whether a wrong score sitting on your own listing can actually be corrected, doesn’t have a clean answer right now, and that’s true no matter how the lawsuit ends up turning out.
Does a High Score Actually Change Whether My House Sells?
The complaint says it does, citing outside research rather than its own numbers. It points to a Zillow finding that 52 percent of homes given a high flood risk assessment eventually sold, against 71 percent of low-risk homes, and a Realtor.com analysis showing high-risk homes in Miami and Tampa selling for less and sitting longer. Those figures were read inside the State’s complaint, not pulled from Zillow or Realtor.com directly, so treat them as the State’s own citation of somebody else’s research rather than numbers verified independently. What is settled, separate from any lawsuit: Zillow quietly pulled its own Climate Risk Scores off listings in December 2025, a year after launching them, and now sends buyers to First Street’s own site instead. A California Regional MLS executive is on record saying a score like this “can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability” of a property.
Why Does This Matter If You’re Trying to Sell Right Now?
If you’re behind on payments and racing a lender’s clock, your buyer pool is most of the game. A number on the public listing telling a buyer this house floods three times out of four, when nothing in the owner’s own history backs that up, can shrink that pool for a reason that has nothing to do with the house itself. The same score is reportedly feeding into some insurers’ underwriting too, which can raise what it costs to carry a house that’s already a stretch.
What Can You Put in Front of a Buyer Instead?
Until the dispute question gets settled one way or the other, the lever that’s actually available today is what you put next to the score, not the score itself. An elevation certificate. Proof of an active flood policy, or the lack of one, and what it costs. A documented claim history. Actual photos of the house after the last storm that came through. None of that erases a number sitting on a listing page, but it gives a buyer something concrete to weigh against it.
Nothing here is settled. The lawsuit is one side’s filing in an open case, and a high score on a Zone X house isn’t automatically proof of an error either. The two are different measurements built to answer different questions. What you do with a score that looks wrong on your own listing, and whether it’s worth a conversation with an attorney, is still your call.
I work out of Jacksonville, Florida, and distressed property is most of what crosses my desk. If this is close to your own situation, I’m easy to reach.
JimArmstrong904@gmail.com, or (904) 671-4161 if a call’s easier.
Jim Armstrong, REALTOR® · Momentum Realty · SFR® (Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource) certified. This is general information, not legal, tax, or financial advice.
Momentum Realty is not associated with the government, and our service is not approved by the government or your lender.
