Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Anyone got any ideas where we can find cheaper Homeowners Insurance? I have been searching the net all day for companies who will sell cheap homeowners in Florida. I came up empty. A lot of Insurance companies don't even sell products in Florida any more.

We just got hit with a $3700 homeowners assessment from Citizen. This is massive hike from last years, even though we did'nt have any hurricanes last year.

:eek: :scared:

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

I've heard stories down here of people telling insurance companies they're renting their house out, which makes the insurance cheaper.

Obviously they're not covered for loss of contents.

I'm not saying that's the best option!

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Cheap does not mean adequate. Maybe it's time to move to another state!:D


NC Penguin

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

We have a policy with Tower Hill Insurance.....$846.80.....covers everything for a 3 bedroom house. Our auto insurance is really cheap too, our insurance agent told me a lot depends on where you are located. We live in Leesburg but my friend in Tampa was quoted twice as much for a similar policy from the same insurance company.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

move location preferably state?

as you said, many companies just aren't covering the state because of the risk, so the few that do don't have to worry about competition...

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Last year Texas Select, our homeowners insurance went bust and because of all the problems in 2005 with major hurricanes on the Gulf Coast we found it impossible to find anyone to write us a new policy.

This was the one time we were glad we were over 50 as AARP came to our rescue and we actually ended up with a better policy for less money than we had been paying. The "Wind Coverage" is what bites us, the rest of it is really cheap. But then we have to have flood insurance as well and that's not cheap either

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Tower Hill/Claradon dropped us after 10 years last year citing that they were pulling out of Florida. It would appear that they lied to us.......hmmmm.

We got our next policy from www.fedusa.com They have an office here in Ft. Myers. We pay about $1500 for our 3/2 here in Ft. Myers.

Roy

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

AARP will not issue home insurance in Florida.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

We also have Tower Hill Insurance, we're AAA members and did the paperwork through them.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

It really depends where you live as to what your choices are. If you live on the waterfront, you'll be lucky to get anything other than Citizens.

We're with State Farm - again, availability is location based. If we lived just the other side of the I-75 (just 2 miles away), they wouldn't write us a policy.

Only advice is to shop all companies. Try some of the websites which get lots of people to ring and quote you, such as www.insure.com, www.netquote.com, www.insweb.com. That's what I do as a matter of course when the renewal is due. As others have mentioned, I have had favourable quotes from Tower Hill also, although last year the difference wasn't significant enough to switch from State Farm - I've heard some dropping stories about Tower Hill as mentioned by explorerman.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

We're also with State Farm -- living just north of Tampa.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

I have a 17th floor condo in Panama City and I have to have flood insurance - Idiots.

It's getting harder and harder to get insurance in FL....

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

I heard on NPR this morning the politicians in FL are meeting to discuss this issue...

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

We may have to go with the bare minimum which our mortgage company can live with. No way we can afford almost $4000 for homeowners. While we were visiting Pennsylvania and New Jersey last year we had a look at a few homes, but neither of us wants to move North because of the cold winters. I love living here in Florida, and where I want to stay. I hope the new Governor can come up with a few answers for this daylight robbery from Citizens and other Insurance companies.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Thanks for this. I just emailed them, but they don't seem to have an agent in this area. Hopefully something can be worked out. :)

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Thanks Roy, I will contact these too. $1500 is near to what we have been paying.

:)

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Oops..........I hope they don't decide to do that in Texas as well. All it needs is one big storm I guess and they all pull out. Insurance, huh, I hate it but you have to have it!:mad:

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

An ideal opportunity to start up an Insurance Company?

Seems a lot of demand.

Perhaps a Mutual?

You can count me out as a potential investor. State Farm recently got screwed in the courts following Katrina.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Thanks Dan for this too. Will be very helpful. :)

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Not sure if the banks will let us have a few million dollars in start up money. Maybe the Governor will chip in too? lol

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

You do not need to borrow money,if there are thousands and thousands of people interested then a lit bit from each will work.

After all that is now many of the current companies started, collectives - mutuals of those who shared a common need.

A State controlled Insurer of last resort also makes sense.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

more luck in winning the lotto methinks ;)

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Raleigh, Nashville and Atlanta are all nive southeastern cities...

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

$4000 is nothing, try $8000 - not that I have pay it... but my MIL keeps moaning about it... everyday.... non-stop.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Let's see........

Hurricane Risk = High:scared:

Tornado Risk = Fair:(

Wildfire Risk = Fair:(

Sorry, FL is not a good investment area for Insurance Companies. You would lose your ass in the first event.

Jim.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

I think State Farm do there's through Citizens?

I think my wife called state farm because we have Auto Insurance through them, and they said they do homeowners through Citizens.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

In 2002, the Florida Legislature passed a law that combined the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association (FRPCJUA) and the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA). This resulted in the creation of Citizens Property insurance Corporation (Citizens), which more efficiently and effectively provides insurance to, and serves the needs of, homeowners in high-risk areas and others who cannot find coverage in the open, private insurance market.

So they did do it, and you can get reasonable quotes from them.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

I think they're who we're with. Our insurance literally doubled from last year, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it. I am paying about $200 more than last year, and I do think it is through Citizen.

The guv said that they were going to do something about that and property tax which is driving thousands out of the state and keeping many potential snowbirds away.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Income Tax could party replace Property Tax, or Sales Tax or a bit of both but somebody pays.

Insurance Premiums, well they could make the Hurricanes apply for a permit before landing I suppsoe.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Our property tax has been increasing by unreasonable amounts the last four or so years.

Was speaking to someone today. His tax is 1500. The same cookie cutter was sold opposite him, and their taxes are 2700. He bought a couple of years ago.

It is reaching a critical stage where many folk are leaving the state because they can't afford to upgrade their homes due to the property taxes running out of control and was on the ballot this past guv election.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Not exclusively they don't - only for the locations they see as higher risk, as I mentioned. Others are stand alone State Farm policies. Are you close to the water? On a flood plain?

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Living on a flood plain shouldn't make any difference to your homeowners insurance should it? You have to have seperate Flood Insurance for that and your home owners wont pay out at all if you flood anyway.

I think mostly it is if you are closer to the coast line because of the wind damage from storms. Thats why a lot of companies in Texas wouldn't cover us because of the wind clause in the policy and the distance we are from the coast.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Yes, but generally it goes hand in hand in a lot of Florida (and other) cities which are right on the coast and are low lying. For instance, the majority of St Petersburg and Tampa are in a flood zone, given that they are at low elevations and near the numerous inlets, etc

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

You do know that there are Southern states north of Florida that don't have severe winters...:zzz:


NC Penguin

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Well it looks like we have to explore those. Insurance companies are not writing policies for homes built before 1997 we have been told. Our home was built in 1982. Because we live in Pasco County, getting insurance is also a problem. Other counties are much more likely to be hit by hurricanes than ours is, but Insurance companies seem to hate Pasco for some reason.

Its up to Charlie Crist to find a way out of this, otherwise the only people living in Florida will be snowbirds, retirees, the rich, and a few million alligators.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

To repeat:

In 2002, the Florida Legislature passed a law that combined the Florida Residential Property and Casualty Joint Underwriting Association (FRPCJUA) and the Florida Windstorm Underwriting Association (FWUA). This resulted in the creation of Citizens Property insurance Corporation (Citizens), which more efficiently and effectively provides insurance to, and serves the needs of, homeowners in high-risk areas and others who cannot find coverage in the open, private insurance market.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Its nothing to do with hurricanes ...
Pasco county reidents were paid out $42 million in claims by Citizens Insurance last year .... on just over 400 claims

How is this possible? You take one step out of Pasco County and the rate drops more than 100%. The answer, in a word, is sinkholes.

Citizens Insurance claims that of the $95,000,000.00 paid out in claims for sinkholes throughout the entire state in 2005, two-thirds of that amount was spent on claims in Pasco County.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

Akin to Subsidence in the UK by the sound of it.

http://www.citizensfla.com/press/pr.asp?file=09_29_06

So they are responding by reducing non catstophe cover. And that will bring significant premium reductions, the logical response.

I did find one article that suggested there was no particular geological reason for such issues in this particular area, that it was relatively low risk, but that there were a lot of Legal firms specialising in this area and aspect.

God bless the American legal system.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

I thought Hernando County was the sinkhole capital of Florida? I have heard of a few sinkholes in Hernando, and indeed my wife's brother lives in Hernando, just across the border from Pasco in Spring Hill. He is more worried about sinkholes their than anything else.

Re: Florida Homeowners Insurance.
 

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/18/St...__All_or.shtml

Interesting and very topical.

And a good reinforcement of why most people despise Politicians.