Dan725

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?

scrubbedexpat097

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.

Dan725

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

NC Penguin

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


NC Penguin

kingfisher241049

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.

scrubbedexpat099

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.

Ray

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.

scrubbedexpat099

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.

kingfisher241049

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.

scrubbedexpat099

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.