Home insurance in Florida is out of control!

[Tracer]

I just need to vent on this. I just got my home insurance bill and boy did I get some serious sticker shock! Up $1000 from last year. That's on top of a $600 increase from the year before. And that's only for condo insurance. The building structure is insured by the condo association so I'm only insuring the interior of my unit. My bill is higher now than when I owned a house. I feel sorry for those who own houses in Florida. Many insurers actually decreased their exposure in Florida or pulled out of the state altogether. I heard Florida now has the highest rates in the country. Despite cries from everywhere, Gov. DeSantis and the Fla legislature are doing nothing about the problem!

I know Florida is an easy target for hurricanes that come across the Atlantic, but windstorm is actually the least peril I'm worried about. I live on the ground floor of a 4 story building that just got a new roof a couple of years ago. I had hurricane proof doors and windows installed shortly after I bought the condo.

I had a claim a few years ago when a pipe burst under the dishwasher and flooded the kitchen and hallway causing damage to the cabinets and floors. I worry about this sort of claim as well as fire than windstorm damage which I feel I'm fairly well protected from. I'm seriously considering self-insuring rather than paying these insane premiums.

Venting over....

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Ours is reasonable in NE Florida for our 3,200sqft home, and we are 1.5m from the beach, $1,336 a $100 increase over last year, and that is fair. I have heard Ft. Lauderdale and South Florida has been OTT.

 

[pb4uski]

+1 Just renewed. We have a 1,444sf 2/2 condo with a den under air and screened in lanai.

Our condo insurance is $990 with $1m liability coverage. New policy from State Farm. Higher than last year but we doubled the liability coverage because our umbrella may be going away (long story for later).

In addition, we pay property insurance on the structure as part of our Association fees and for the last renewal in May 2023 was $821.

So a total of $1,811 annually. That said, it is about double the homeowners insurance for our 2,400sf summer home w/2-car garage in Vermont, but still fairly reasonable.

 

[Tracer]

We are getting slammed in South Florida!

 

[Retire52]

Gainesville, FL here. Pay about $2k for 2 story 3700sqft home with USAA and $1.1k for a 1000sqft home with Coastal General both policies recently renewed. Holding steady so far; knock on wood.

 

[Zathras]

…Despite cries from everywhere, Gov. DeSantis and the Fla legislature are doing nothing about the problem! ...

Actually, they did do something and made it worse.
Regulations were put into place that limited premiums.
Of course, while this kept rates “reasonable”, some companies left the state rather that loose money.

 

[hopefullyoneday]

I'm in Texas and my insurance has gone up as well. When I asked why they stated it was to help cover all the natural disasters elsewhere in the USA. So yours could be worse but the rest of us are helping you out even though we don't live there.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

My condo policy (1,300 ft^2 townhouse) with $112K property and $300K liability is $1,382 in St Pete. Paying a premium to be with USAA but worth it as I trust them and they have deep pockets.

 

[Katsmeow]

I'm in Texas and my insurance has gone up as well. When I asked why they stated it was to help cover all the natural disasters elsewhere in the USA. So yours could be worse but the rest of us are helping you out even though we don't live there.

We just moved out of Texas. There were a lot of reasons for that. But one issue is that -- never having had a claim -- our insurance this year went up over $2000 leading to an insurance premium of almost $7000 which was almost as much as my real estate taxes. We moved out of state and now have insurance for just over $1100 per year. We don't have a pool any more so that does lower it some but still.

I don't buy the idea that premiums are high in Texas due to claims in other states. Premiums are high in Texas due to claims in Texas (which is what I was told when my premium went up over $2000 this year). Part of it is hurricane/windstorm claims. Part of it is hail damage claims. In Texas it seems like most roofs get replaced due to weather related roof claims. This is not actually the case in most other states. And the big freeze a couple of years ago resulted in big insurance claims for many.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

"Gov. DeSantis and the Fla legislature are doing nothing about the problem!"

This is untrue. Completely.

Just a little bit of research yields the reasons for the premium increases - but those in FL, I find, already understand this. There are no revelations to share here, but in case anyone has been off-grid: Just a few random samples of reasons why premiums have skyrocketed and also what has been done to help right the situation

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2022/01/03/647706.htm

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2023/05/10/720234.htm

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/26/1208590263/florida-homeowners-insurance-soaring-expensive

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local...5000-policies-from-citizens-insurance/3147724

It is also true that premiums are being affected by losses in other states that really have nothing to do with yourself. I've personally been told this multiple times over multiple years, while shopping at various insurers. It only makes sense - although it's not fun to be subjected to it.

IIRC, there have been 3 major storms in the past 2 yrs that smacked FL, causing major catastrophe losses. The most recent was just a few months ago. Many of the insurers are still posting huge losses. Check-out some of their SEC quarterly filings. They're not just making it up as they go along.

Multiple companies have recently been approved to begin writing policies in FL. That's a positive.

The environment didn't get like this overnight. It is going to take some time to resolve - or at least get much better.

IMO, the serious increase in crime nationwide - also plays a bigger factor into premium increases than many talk about.

 

[Karloff]

SE FL home. Our insurance with All State went up $1K as well, so I cancelled it and found a company that matched the premium from last year. About $2600/year. But I had never heard of this company before, so I am a bit worried. Edison. FL-based company. It was either that or a significantly higher premium. Geico wanted $6K a year.

Our house is brand new construction, with impact windows, built to the latest code, etc. So we save a lot compared to the average 20/30-year old house in the exact same area, which would pay about... $11K for the same coverage! INSANITY!

So, new construction makes sense in that case. But we are also stuck with $12K/year in property taxes.

We "own" our home (does anybody really own a house in this country? I am beginning to realize that we do not after all...). There is no mortgage. And yet this place costs us about $2200 a month between taxes (the biggest hit by far), HOA fees and insurances. Madness. We are seriously considering selling in the next 5-7 years and retiring abroad in our early 50's, where a bigger house with lots of land would cost us about $300/month instead, and where $3K/month would buy us a comfortable life.

 

[dm]

Ours went from $5,000 to $7500 for our homeowners, flood went up the max of 18%. We had around $40,000 of damage during Ian, our first claim in 10 years.

Taxes are around $7,500, thank goodness for the homestead exemption’s.

I can see where it will come to a point that wind insurance may not be worth it. The lot I’m sitting on is probably worth more than the house.

 

[braumeister]

MOD NOTE:

If members want any hope at all of keeping this thread open, then the politics will have to be cut out. Completely. Now.

 

[stedmakr]

I live in a 2500 SF home in Gainesville Florida. Our homeowners insurance is $3385 from USAA. This is a $850 increase over last year. We have never filed a claim against our home owners policy. I'm happy to be able to keep insurance with a reputable company.

 

[Affinity4Investing]

The Insurance Information Institute has some additional information specifically about the FL insurance markets, as well as other geographic areas, etc.

https://www.iii.org/article/triple-i-issues-briefs

One of the FL specific papers singled out inflation/cost of replacement - as the #1 reason for premium increases YoY. Another paper focused on costs of litigation "one-way attorney fees" and fraudulent claims.

The attorney fees issue has been remedied via legislation.

The FL government addressed and eliminated that problem, which will undeniably help the situation: i.e.,

https://www.clausen.com/florida-eli...statute-in-bid-to-stabilize-insurance-market/

 

[teej1985]

FL is a place that has very expensive insurance. That's just the reality of life.

 

[FlaMariner]

, Gov. DeSantis and the Fla legislature are doing nothing about the problem! >:

That's not true....Here is a little bit of good news based on what the governor is doing.....
https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-gets-good-news-floridas-insurance-crisis-1822840

 

[Alan]

Thanks for the interesting discussion.