Read What First Street Says Your Input Can and Will Not Do.

First Street’s dispute page says that, as a rule, it does not update Factor scores based on individual requests or disputes, and it carries an exception sentence. Two of its help pages say information an owner sends through its contact forms will not change the property’s Factor but can help improve its models.

By William Douglas Baker

Founding Editor

A Redfin listing page we viewed on Oct. 31, 2026, about 6 p.m. Central, showed “7/10 Flood Factor” in a block headed “Climate risks.” A second Redfin listing page we viewed that day, a sold listing, showed “1/10 Flood Factor.” On both pages the block ends with the lines “View full report” and “Provided by First Street”. We do not print either address. The Verge reported on Dec. 1, 2025, citing The New York Times, that Zillow had stopped publishing climate risk ratings on sales listings, and added that those listings were linking users to First Street’s website instead. An owner looking at a number like that has a practical question: what can be sent to First Street, and what will it change?

First Street’s FAQ, read on Oct. 31, 2026, answers “How can I adjust information on the public site?” The answer begins: “You know your property better than anyone! If you have information you think might be helpful to improve our Risk Models, please let us know by submitting a request through our contact forms.” The next sentence says this information will not change the Flood, Fire, Wind, or Heat Factor of the property but can help improve the accuracy of its models.

A second First Street article, “Changing your home’s details on First Street,” read the same day, makes the same invitation for its Flood Model and then says: “Please note that this information will not change your property’s Flood Factor, but it can help improve the accuracy of the First Street Flood Model, and the information shown on Flood Factor.” On both pages, what an owner sends meets two verbs: it “will not change” the Factor, and it can “help improve” the models.

First Street’s Disputing Property Scores page, as read Oct. 31, 2026, Central time, says: “As a rule, we do not update Factor scores based on individual requests or disputes.” After two sentences describing its scores, the page says a person who contacts customer support about a score dispute “should not expect a personalized response.” The line after that reads: “The exception to this is if you can provide a FEMA LOMA letter or BFE or if the building was constructed in the last year and does not year [sic] appear on our maps.” On our reading, “this” can point to the no-update rule or to the line just before it about a personalized response; the page does not say which.

Where the rule is quoted, and what else the page says

Florida’s attorney general sued First Street Technology, Inc. in a complaint e-filed Oct. 23, 2026, in Polk County circuit court; the complaint sets out Florida’s allegations and quotes the dispute rule in paragraph 125. The dispute page says its scores “are based on rigorous scientific analysis,” and that First Street continuously updates and refines its models. We read the page as saying two separate things: First Street updates and refines its models, and, as a rule, does not update an individual property’s Factor score on an individual request or dispute.

Where a LOMA letter shows up

Neither LOMA nor BFE is spelled out on the dispute page; we read its BFE as FEMA’s term. A LOMA is a Letter of Map Amendment, which FEMA describes as “a letter from FEMA stating that an existing structure or parcel of land — that is on naturally high ground and has not been elevated by fill — would not be inundated by the base flood.” FEMA’s glossary defines the base flood elevation, or BFE, as “the elevation of surface water resulting from a flood that has a 1% chance of equaling or exceeding that level in any given year.”

First Street’s FAQ, under “Incorrect FEMA Zone,” says: “If you believe Flood Factor has listed the incorrect FEMA flood zone for your property, please submit a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) to our help center.” It adds that the FEMA zone listed on First Street is currently an estimated zone, and that First Street can correct it once a LOMA is submitted through a help center form. In the five First Street help pages we read, as of Oct. 31, 2026, a FEMA LOMA letter or BFE appears in the dispute page’s exception sentence, and no page says what First Street does with one provided under that exception; a LOMA appears elsewhere only for FEMA zone corrections or designation updates.

What WLOS reported in July 2025

WLOS published a story on July 8, 2025, and updated it on July 11, 2025. In July 2025, WLOS reported that a First Street spokesperson told it in an email that the company would review the addresses WLOS shared, plus any FEMA letters of map amendments, elevation certificates, base flood elevation documents, and proof of new construction or updates not in public record that homeowners submitted.

In July 2025, WLOS printed a statement it attributes to First Street: “every submission is reviewed to ensure data accuracy. In the rare instance that data is found to be incorrect or if appropriate supporting documentation is provided, we take prompt action to issue a response. If not, our system directs users to the following resources to help them better understand their score.” In that July 2025 story, WLOS quoted an Asheville homeowner as saying it should be easy to point out why a score is “incorrect” and “get the information changed”. A letter that WLOS printed in July 2025, from First Street to a North Carolina homeowner, says its Customer Support team “passes additional information provided by users regarding their properties to our internal data team for further review.”

The letter says the property is in an area of “known limitation within our model where we have reduced confidence in the flood results due to geometric limitations.” It continues: “We note that we remain confident that this property does have flood risk, but the ability to measure the magnitude of the flooding (depth) is impacted by the geometric limitation in our model which is what is used to drive the Flood Factor scores.” The letter then says First Street has suppressed the property from its model, and its next sentence begins “This does not, however, indicate that” the property is free from flood risk. WLOS reported in its July 2025 update that First Street agreed to remove the extreme flood rating from that homeowner’s property. The dispute page says “As a rule”; WLOS’s July 2025 report is one dated account.

The Agentics read

On our editorial reading, not a finding about First Street or any score, the FAQ and the details article invite an owner’s information to help improve First Street’s models while saying that information will not change that property’s Factor. A record can be corrected. A model can be taught. That pair is our doctrine. Agentics puts a similar question to answer engines that recommend experts: what will they accept from you, what will that change, and where do they say so?

Where the record stops

This edition rests on five First Street help pages, read Oct. 31, 2026; none shows a page update date. It also draws on FEMA’s two pages, WLOS’s report of July 8, 2025 (updated July 11, 2025), The Verge’s report of Dec. 1, 2025, two Redfin listing pages viewed Oct. 31, 2026, the Florida complaint and three news reports on the Florida suit.

In the three news reports we read about the Florida suit, WLRN’s republication of a Florida Phoenix story, HousingWire and Insurance Journal, we found no statement from First Street about it as of Oct. 31, 2026; we did not search First Street’s own newsroom or social accounts. Agentics did not ask First Street or Zillow to comment for this edition.

We did not click “View full report” on either Redfin page, and we did not read First Street’s methodology or property pages. The Agentics read is an editorial reading, not a finding about First Street Technology, Inc., FEMA, Zillow, Redfin, WLOS or any score.