Homeowners Insurance Advise

[Zirondelle]

Help! We're looking to buy a house in Destin close to the Gulf and found out that Citizen's insurance will cost over $10,000 a year with 2 1/2 hurricane deductible and 1000$ non-hurricane deductible. This seems outrageous! Are there any other options that anyone knows of? I'd really appreciate any help anyone out there can give me!

[wrobert]

Help! We're looking to buy a house in Destin close to the Gulf and found out that Citizen's insurance will cost over $10,000 a year with 2 1/2 hurricane deductible and 1000$ non-hurricane deductible. This seems outrageous! Are there any other options that anyone knows of? I'd really appreciate any help anyone out there can give me!

And set to go up 10% a year until actuarially sound. As for the outrageous part, without knowing if you are talking about a 400K house or a 4 million dollar house, who knows.

Does that include windstorm?

[ShallowsNole]

Help! We're looking to buy a house in Destin close to the Gulf and found out that Citizen's insurance will cost over $10,000 a year with 2 1/2 hurricane deductible and 1000$ non-hurricane deductible. This seems outrageous! Are there any other options that anyone knows of? I'd really appreciate any help anyone out there can give me!

Go a little further inland, but not so much inland that you front on the Bay.

[OnLakePowell]

Help! We're looking to buy a house in Destin close to the Gulf and found out that Citizen's insurance will cost over $10,000 a year with 2 1/2 hurricane deductible and 1000$ non-hurricane deductible. This seems outrageous! Are there any other options that anyone knows of? I'd really appreciate any help anyone out there can give me!

I am on the water in South Walton and pay $525 for windstorm...I am not with Citizen...

Try this site and start making calls...

Insurance Rates

Good luck...

[30ashopper]

Help! We're looking to buy a house in Destin close to the Gulf and found out that Citizen's insurance will cost over $10,000 a year with 2 1/2 hurricane deductible and 1000$ non-hurricane deductible. This seems outrageous! Are there any other options that anyone knows of? I'd really appreciate any help anyone out there can give me!

Pay close attention to the flood zone as well. That plays in tightly with rates. If it's close enough to be under water during a major storm, property insurance will cost you, and rightly so.

[Zirondelle]

Thanks for all the advice! The house is a foreclosure and we can get it for $375,000. It is in one of those weird pockets that is surrounded by CBRA, but is not considered CBRA. We've always wanted to live by the water but the insurance part may be the deal breaker. Sigh.

[TooFarTampa]

Pay close attention to the flood zone as well. That plays in tightly with rates. If it's close enough to be under water during a major storm, property insurance will cost you, and rightly so.

Good point. If you're not from a Florida coastal area you may not realize that the insurance is broken into three components -- hazard, windstorm, flood.

Hazard has been pretty steady. The hazard portion of the insurance for our 2,000 sf house near the gulf is about $1,000.

Flood varies widely depending on your flood zone. It can be as low as $320 or so a year up to many thousands a year. You have to understand your risk before you buy.

Does CBRA mean you can't get federal flood insurance? If so, run don't walk!! The main portion of your policy expense would be flood, and that will never change. Let it go and let the bank tear it down. I'm serious.

The windstorm portion is what has gotten really wacky since 2004. You definitely need to see if you have options outside Citizens. I always thought if you are close to the Gulf, Citizens will cover you for windstorm only and you have to get separate hazard and flood policies.

[ray]

I just went threw all this when i recently bought. i'm about 300 yards from the beach in a non flood zone. flood insurance threw the gov't is about $340 for 250k i believe. for my home i searched high and low and had hazard and windstorm( windstorm includes hurricaine with its standard 2% of home value deductable). i got many quotes from small co's that had 10-40k policy holders and it scared me. i got quotes for the combined hazard and windstorm for $1900.being my first year i don't want to screw with a hurriciane if we got one and went with citizens and a big hazard co for a total $2800 premium. if your home was built before 2003 or you live in a flood zone you're talking 8-10k min.

[30ashopper]

Thanks for all the advice! The house is a foreclosure and we can get it for $375,000. It is in one of those weird pockets that is surrounded by CBRA, but is not considered CBRA. We've always wanted to live by the water but the insurance part may be the deal breaker. Sigh.

You might find this mapping service handy when looking at properties.

Geocortex IMF Launch

On the right, enable Emergency->FEMA->Zone labels, flood lines. Zone-x usually means your rates will be the lowest.

You can also check "Hurricane Storm Surge" overlay coloring, just be sure to you're sitting down.

[Lynnie]

Good point. If you're not from a Florida coastal area you may not realize that the insurance is broken into three components -- hazard, windstorm, flood.

Hazard has been pretty steady. The hazard portion of the insurance for our 2,000 sf house near the gulf is about $1,000.

Flood varies widely depending on your flood zone. It can be as low as $320 or so a year up to many thousands a year. You have to understand your risk before you buy.

Does CBRA mean you can't get federal flood insurance? If so, run don't walk!! The main portion of your policy expense would be flood, and that will never change. Let it go and let the bank tear it down. I'm serious.

The windstorm portion is what has gotten really wacky since 2004. You definitely need to see if you have options outside Citizens. I always thought if you are close to the Gulf, Citizens will cover you for windstorm only and you have to get separate hazard and flood policies.

CBRA is a tough area to insure unless you have unlimited funds.

This text from FEMA:

In addition, the Coastal Barrier Resources Act
(CBRA) of 1982 relies on the NFIP to discourage
building in fragile coastal areas by prohibiting
the sale of flood insurance in designated CBRA
areas. While the NFIP does not prohibit property
owners from building in these areas, any Federal
financial assistance, including federally backed
flood insurance, is prohibited. However, the
CBRA does not prohibit privately financed development

or insurance

You might find this mapping service handy when looking at properties.

Geocortex IMF Launch

On the right, enable Emergency->FEMA->Zone labels, flood lines. Zone-x usually means your rates will be the lowest.

You can also check "Hurricane Storm Surge" overlay coloring, just be sure to you're sitting down.

Zone X is also optional. Max coverage limits on flood is $250K regardless of value of your home.

[Zirondelle]

Thanks for all your replies. We took ya'll's advice and called around and found some really good rates. Our house sold yesterday and our contract on this new house went through today - yeah! Doubly blessed!

[gardening1970]

Congratulations to you! Best wishes for your family in your new home.

[Zirondelle]

Congratulations to you! Best wishes for your family in your new home.

Thanks! We put our house on the market Saturday night and it sold Monday night - sooooooooooooo thankful!

[Zirondelle]

You might find this mapping service handy when looking at properties.

Geocortex IMF Launch

On the right, enable Emergency->FEMA->Zone labels, flood lines. Zone-x usually means your rates will be the lowest.

You can also check "Hurricane Storm Surge" overlay coloring, just be sure to you're sitting down.

Great site! Turns out we are zone X.

[TooFarTampa]

Congratulations to you! Best wishes for your family in your new home.

Ditto that. And Stick around!