Being dropped by our home insurer.

[GreatLakes]

As climate change increases the number of bad hurricanes you'll see it harder and harder to insure in FL. An acquaintance works in commercial insurance and their company has decided they will no longer insure anything in FL at all, they are dropping the state completely. I imagine that will be more and more common as the cost to do business is just too high. Insurance only works if you don't have to keep paying out more than you take in.

 

[barkley]

It’s not completely horrible. $2332 for the year. Up from $1496. So, over a 50% increase. And, we aren’t allowed to raise our deductible over $1,000 according to our mortgage company. We would like a $2500 deductible or higher. It’s with Edison.

I can’t wait to get our house paid off and cancel our flood insurance and change our home policy.

if you can wrangle it with your mortgage company to where there's no escrow account for property taxes and insurance so that you pay them on your own you could potentially see a paid in full discount yearly. when we still had a mortgage we made arrangements with the lender to pay our own taxes and insurance-they were fine with it so long as they received verification from our insurer that showed our policy met their minimum standards (it always exceeded). learned that if we paid in full each year vs. monthly (or bi-annually as our lender did) that we qualified for a nice discount. insurance company would fire off a verification to lender upon receipt of the payment each year.

 

[Figmentv]

One of the main reasons why we left the Virgin Islands. Insurance (including wind storm) on a 2000 sf home with a field stone exterior, hurricane shutters, and flat concrete roof cost us $7,000 annually.

I feel very sorry for folks in FL. I fear with storms getting worse, the insurance situation will become even more extreme.

 

[tvguy]

not the case here. fire here last summer-no turn off of utilities by firefighters on any of the directly burning or adjacent properties. even if they had-my generac does not just supply power for a storage tank but runs the well pump which continues to provide fresh water so long as my generator is running (one 10 day run when windstorms took out regional electricity, and over 15 hours running constantly during the fire when we had large field sprinklers surrounding our home running at full force to provide a barrier).

I suspect that was an oversight. That is a huge safety issue. Next time you see a Firefighter, ask them about what the normal process is for "securing utilities" on a fire.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

if you can wrangle it with your mortgage company to where there's no escrow account for property taxes and insurance so that you pay them on your own you could potentially see a paid in full discount yearly. when we still had a mortgage we made arrangements with the lender to pay our own taxes and insurance-they were fine with it so long as they received verification from our insurer that showed our policy met their minimum standards (it always exceeded). learned that if we paid in full each year vs. monthly (or bi-annually as our lender did) that we qualified for a nice discount. insurance company would fire off a verification to lender upon receipt of the payment each year.

We have a paid in full discount on our policy and it's with an escrow account (this 2021-2022 term being $77.20 worth of a discount)

ETA: The mortgage company sends a check to the insurance company 1 time. For our property taxes the mortgage company sends the tax bill in 2 installments one in december and one in april or may can't remember

 

[EACarlson]

Interesting history as to why this is a problem. I guess roofing companies are trying to extract "repairs" out of insurance companies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/19/florida-property-insurance-special-session/​

The problem begins with unscrupulous roofers. They show up uninvited on doorsteps (one rang my doorbell last month) and offer owners a pitch: If a roof is 25 percent damaged — that’s when Florida coverage kicks in — they can wrangle you a free roof from your insurance company, even if a storm wasn’t the cause.​

​

All a homeowner needs to do is sign off on allowing contractors to collect directly from the insurance company. This allows corrupt roofers to overcharge companies for a roof that is being needlessly replaced. Roofers pocket the extra money, and homeowners get a new roof.​

​

Then, there’s runaway litigation if a claim is denied or disputed. Florida has 9 percent of the country’s property claims, but it accounts for nearly 80 percent of the nation’s property insurance lawsuits, according to the Office of Insurance Regulation.​

This has been a huge scam in the midwest for at least the last 30 years. A storm comes in with either high straight line winds or a low grade tornado and the shady roofers are right behind them. The first question they ask is who is the insurance company. Usually they would replace the small area that needed to be done and then charge the insurance company for a complete re-roof. In many cases they wouldn't do any work at all.

 

[goofytinkerbell]

We live in FL and received a cancellation notice today. We aren’t even due to renew until November. We do not live on the water and have a newer roof, impact windows and doors, etc. we did everything we were supposed to do.

We have never filed a claim and have been here nearly twenty years.

So sorry to hear that. I had the same thing happen where I live. No claims, but my basement did flood in 2018 and 2019. I checked my policy and it wasn't covered, so I didn't bother trying to claim. The city re-mapped me into the flood zone, my insurance company sent me a letter demanding inspections on everything from electrical to plumbing (it was all fine) but dropped me before their own deadlines came due. They were horrible to deal with, but my mortgage requires insurance so I was left scrambling.

All I can say is "good luck". It probably wasn't you anyway.

 

[xipotec]

What I can't figure out is why any insurance company would insure anyone and any price that lives along the coast in Florida. Same thing with those fire prone areas in California. Why even bother writing policies that are so risky?

Here in NC, that was a huge problem So our lovely governing body mandates the rest of the state, in non hazardous areas , would have to pay a higher premium to cover those rich vacation and investment beach houses ….

So even thou we are inland in a safe area, we have to pay for the super high risk properties that routinely get wiped out in the hurricanes.

 

[Genie+]

Have you tried Citizens? Hope you find something.


“Between 2013 and 2020, Florida’s property insurers paid out fifteen billion in Claims costs. Only 8% of that was paid to consumers, while 71% was paid to attorneys.”

Florida Supreme Court Suspends Attorney Behind Thousands of Insurer Lawsuits 2020​

Another Strems Law Firm Attorney Suspended by Florida Supreme Court May 2022​

 

[longboard55]

Even in the fire areas, fire damage is extremely rare. So we lost 20 homes in Laguna Niguel, that is 20 homes in 30 years out of 20,000 homes. They make a fortune off of fire insurance, the killer locally has always been plumbing leaks

 

[shh]

Any Floridians remember the big crisis around sinkholes, then mold a few years back? Many policies were canceled or changed with new limits/exclusions on anything mold or sinkhole related, so you were basically out of pocket for most damage.

Sinkholes were a location-specific thing vs throughout the state, but MOLD! Yikes. It was (and still is) a very scary problem as it's rarely a small job - a single infestation can run tens of thousands in mitigation/repairs, depending upon severity.

Pretty soon, I'm not sure what, if anything, Florida home insurance WILL cover. There are way more pages detailing what's not included vs what is.

 

[MillauFr]

Even in the fire areas, fire damage is extremely rare. So we lost 20 homes in Laguna Niguel, that is 20 homes in 30 years out of 20,000 homes. They make a fortune off of fire insurance, the killer locally has always been plumbing leaks

They probably said the same thing in Scripps Ranch before the entire neighborhood got wiped out in a fire. Shocking thing is they rebuilt and people were able to get fire insurance.

 

[randumb0]

I'm frustrated because this issue has been brewing for a couple years now. There were some politicians during the legislative session saying that this is a big issue that they should be focusing on but it was ignored. They even brought it up during the first special session and it was ignored again. Policies are being dropped, insurance companies are continuing to leave, and insurance rates are skyrocketing.

We have a state backed insurance option called Citizens but there are so many homeowners with Citizens now I question if Citizens would be able to pay out if there were a major hurricane

 

[randumb0]

Any Floridians remember the big crisis around sinkholes, then mold a few years back? Many policies were canceled or changed with new limits/exclusions on anything mold or sinkhole related, so you were basically out of pocket for most damage.

Sinkholes were a location-specific thing vs throughout the state, but MOLD! Yikes. It was (and still is) a very scary problem as it's rarely a small job - a single infestation can run tens of thousands in mitigation/repairs, depending upon severity.

Pretty soon, I'm not sure what, if anything, Florida home insurance WILL cover. There are way more pages detailing what's not included vs what is.

I thought my policy covered mold but perhaps I should double check