Homeowner's Insurance

I also had Citizens/ASI after Allstate cancelled us and their policy went up significantly so I shopped - Got a quote from Frontline and also a company called Security First and I went with Security First due to lower rates. There are 4 companies that can legally write a policy in Walton County - Those 3 above and Federated and I hear good things about them! You can call Mike Hardiman at Allstate on 98 for details. Good Luck

Hi Beachgirl - just found and signed on with an insurance broker we discovered at a real estate open house in Seagrove recently. Have been with Security First for years & thought their rates were reasonable till we just discovered Term Brokers in Ft. Walton Beach. We're in South Walton, about 300 yds. from the beach and they offered us a great deal with Federated, & saved us $700/yr. over Security First. Way lower deductible, & included sink hole coverage, that we didn't have with SF. Contact Michael McDonald w/Term Brokers @ 850-864-2000. Hope this is helpful info for you.

Insurance companies avoid Florida like the plague. This is probably a huge factor in the glut of unsold housing units. Contrary to what shyster lawyers will tell you, insurance companies aren't making obscene profits. They do business in areas where there is a possibility of a profit and Florida ain't it.

hurricaine insurance co's should have there coffers stuffed full now. there hasn't been much activity in fla for 5 or more yrs. from what i hear many insurance co's seem to be dropping pre 2006 older homes as i believe they;re not hurricaine compliant

I have two properties and I use Frontline and Security First. Both cost less than Citizens.

I believe insurance companies are making unbelievable profit. There is a skyscraper in every major city that will attest to this. I believe that I read where insurance companies have more assets by far than any other industry. The problem with Florida is profit because we have more claims. Insurance has to be spread around and unless they are made to do this they won't. I admit it is a complex issue involving political idealogies but it is not unrelated to insurance companies and agents not making obscene profits and residual income.

Insurance companies avoid Florida like the plague. This is probably a huge factor in the glut of unsold housing units. Contrary to what shyster lawyers will tell you, insurance companies aren't making obscene profits. They do business in areas where there is a possibility of a profit and Florida ain't it.

I am in the process of dumping citizens. Dealing with them on payments, and recently having my home inspected, was all I could stand.

I am going with Federated--saving a lot of money. I also heard that Citizens is likely to have a significant increase, 45%, and that the Governor is trying to minimize the customer load they have--a STATE agency.

groveral how old is your house?it must be older than 2003. i think thats when the new hurricaine building codes went into effec. I've had citizen/asi combo and i've been stunned how little they;ve gone up in price. i have500k in coverage and i pay $1210 for citizens and $950 for asi which i think is incredibly cheap. citizens has only gone up $200 in 3 yrs which i'm happy with. the combo was cheaper than frontilne or security first when i was looking 3 yrs ago. i hope they don't push everyone off now. i got a letter from citizens last week and they're no longer covering carports,gazabos and many non attached structures.

I live in DeFunn and had the joy of searching for a new homeowners policy this month. Ended up going with Citizens as it was actually almost 300 cheaper than my last policy with another agency that decided to not renew me. I added it up. I have paid out almost $32,000 in the last 15 years on my little 1940's home. I filed a claim over 10 years ago for $600 due to a leaking hot water heater. That is it as far as claims ever filed. It's ridiculous.

alicia i agree with you but all it takes is one cat 5 to hit and people near the beach with 2 mil houses will have wiped out 40 yrs of payments. the risk is very great. but co's like citizens should have huge reserves now with no hurricaines for 7 yrs now

Insurance companies calculate risk and charge "premiums" based on that risk. There is no excuse for their behavior in dropping policies. They can not even justify the rates that they are charging now because they have already calculated the risk for homeowners in Florida. The reason they are dropping policies is because they can make more profit in other States. It is an industry that must be regulated for that reason so that the risk can be spread around. It is the same with healthcare but voters can not seem to figure the problem and insurance companies are taking full advantage of the politics while gouging us in the name of profit. This problem will get much worse in Florida regardless of whether or not we have a Cat 5 storm because Florida homeowners will not be able to pay a premium high enough to keep the insurance companies from dropping policies. In the very near future the cost of insurance along with property tax will increase to the point it will slow our growth. It is political suicide for politicians to tackle this issue.

I have to disagree with you. In atlanta we have major hailstorm claims for last 3 yrs. eliee it or not i'm not paying much more for my beach house ins. if your not in a flood area or right by the beach the ins is not that bad. also my property taxes hae een cut in 1/2 the last 4 yrs. i commend walton county was atlanta who has cut rates based on comps were atlanta has hardly dropped rates even though values have dropped 40%

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I just wanted to let you know I got quotes from ASI/Citizens, Federated, Frontline and Security First. Federated was the cheapest (FWIW, they don't offer water backup coverage), followed by Frontline, Security First, and ASI/Citizens, in that order. I went with Frontline because my agent recommend them and has a positive history with them, although perhaps I should've just gone with the cheapest! Hope this helps other shoppers.

I started with Security First last summer b/c it was cheaper than Citizens. But with the renewal period coming due next week, the premium went up almost $1000! I heard this happened to all Security First policy holders. I'm now shopping for new insurance, and agent. Anyone else have similar issues or advice?

This is tangential, but relevant. I remember that after the bad hurricane season in 2005, Citizens became the insurance company of last resort. I think this meant that if no one else would insure you, the State of Florida required Citizens to do so. Is that still the case?

I bring this up because if a company is the last resort and if there is a hurricane in your area, claims for damage will take forever because there would be so many people in line. I'd rather pay more and not have to wait months for repairs to start.

Or am I misinformed? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

BTW on our new house we went with Frontline because that's what the person at the mortgage company recommended and they were competitive in price with another company we were looking at. I joked with them and said, "We don't have fleas." LOL. Why a mortgage? When you can get such a low interest rate on a mortgage loan, you're crazy not to do that. It's like free money!

We have Florida Peninsula homeowner's policy. I have not seen that name listed here yet.

Beach runner you won't be laughing in a few yrs. I don't think people understand whats going on and how you'll be affected going forward. gov rick perry signed a bill 2 months ago essentially authorizing citizens to start liquidating there whole homeowners book of business. Basically citizens will be selling all there business to private insurers who'll somewhat match there way below mkt rates the first yr. Citizens is even throwing in cash up front to intice companies to buy the business. I believe citizens paid a company called heritige $50 million to buy a block of 50k policies. citizens has about 1.4 million policies or 27% of the mk. i've had citizens 5 yrs and what i loved is i never got over a 10% per yr increase. But citizens has been vastly under charging for rate increases and thus would be wiped out in a major hurriciane as there reserves are about 1/10th of what they should be. also citizens was one of the few insurers who insured a ton of beach front property affordably.So what does all this mean for you and me? It means the biggest insurer will be gone in a few yrs and all these tiny co's like frontline and security first will have no competition and raise premiums 50-100% min for yrs to come as there reserves are minscule for a hurricaine as they're prices were kep down by citizens. when i looked a few yrs ago its horrifying how small these co's are like security first and st johns and the rest. most had like 40k policyholders.state farm has over 15 mil. if theres a hurricaine will these co's pay?People paying 3-5k now for insurance now could be paying 10k or more in 3-5 yrs.and forget it if you live right on the beach. its going to be cost prohibitive to have a beach house going forward

The big companies like State Farm haven't insured beach-close properties for years, at least since we built our first home in South Walton in 2002.

I have to disagree with you. In atlanta we have major hailstorm claims for last 3 yrs. eliee it or not i'm not paying much more for my beach house ins. if your not in a flood area or right by the beach the ins is not that bad. also my property taxes hae een cut in 1/2 the last 4 yrs. i commend walton county was atlanta who has cut rates based on comps were atlanta has hardly dropped rates even though values have dropped 40%

There are two problems with insurance "casino's".

1. They calculate risk and charge a premium based on that risk so profit is no problem. However because they are a mega corporation (morality is equal to profit) they want more and more and a lot is never enough.

2. Since they have become so large and not just nationally but globally they do not need the higher risk from Florida. Therefore they just simply drop those living relatively close to the coast or any large body of water.

In my opinion, in the very near future we will not have access to wind coverage insurance. I believe that we will all have to self insure our properties. Then if we are lucky we may actually be able to retire one day...