FL second home insurance

[Joylush]

For anyone who has a vacation home/2nd home in Florida: can you tell me where to get property insurance, and how expensive it is? Our local agent said you can’t get insurance on a second home because it’s not occupied half the year which doesn’t seem right. I am asking for a relative with a second home in Florida they inherited.

 

[pb4uski]

For anyone who has a vacation home/2nd home in Florida: can you tell me where to get property insurance, and how expensive it is? Our local agent said you can’t get insurance on a second home because it’s not occupied half the year which doesn’t seem right. I am asking for a relative with a second home in Florida they inherited.

First, fire your local agent because they are stoopid. Does s/he really think that hundreds of thousands of people who own second homes in Florida are going without insurance?

Any insurance agent can help you. I use AAA Insurance. The do ask that you arrange to have someone check on the place occasionally while you are gone... which most people have done anyway.

 

[Cayman]

I can't comment on your situation, but I do know that the Florida insurance landscape is changing, yet again. In a number of counties (and perhaps statewide) State Farm, Allstate and several other major insurers have stopped writing policies on single family homes built before 2002. They've completely suspended writing homeowner policies. Even if you live there full time, even if your roof is new - they aren't writing homeowner policies on single family homes built 2001 and earlier. Citizens may be an option. Keep checking with reputable agents in the area you want to live - good luck!!

 

[Slowgowing]

I have a family member who has a 2nd home in FL, built prior to 2002, and the only insurance company that would provide coverage is Citizens - at least according to the family member.

 

[Dash man]

I have a FI beach condo insured by USAA. However I had to get Windstorm coverage through Citizens.

 

[Aerides]

We live in S. Fla and have to rebid our insurance every 2-5 years depending on the provider. Sometimes we get dropped, sometimes we get a 50% increase. No one can give you an estimate here as it's going to depend on your specific property, location, and provider. Things like date of last roof, whether the home has windstorm protection, are all factors, and most any provider will require an inspection (which you pay for) before a firm quote.

 

[JP.mpls]

Joylush,
I'm fairly new at this game, having to buy insurance for a second home in Florida.

My insurance company cancelled me after two years, they wanted to reduce their exposure in SWFL.

My insurance person/broker told me she would get me new insurance. The new policy was $500/year higher of course, but I went along with this. At the last minute they didn't want to insure me, because a fourteen year old permit for the roof replacement never got a final inspection signed off. Silliness.

They offered me a third policy that was $2200/year higher.

I ended up jumping through hoops to get the old roofing permit finalized, and finally got the +500/year policy.

What a hassle. I was considering being self insured, but it didn't come to that.

Sorry for the rambling story. Good luck with your insurance issue, I don't think you are alone.

JP

 

[Time2]

My Florida primary home insurance premium has doubled in the last 4 years after the 2018 Hurricane Michael. Then just this month, my insurance company went out of business.
All their clients were absorbed by another company. After the Hurricane I got a little over $80k to repair my home and replace a few items. The company treated me well, apparently to well!

 

[Joylush]

I have multiple homes in Florida so I know how bad and expensive it is to keep and maintain home insurance. But I don’t have a second home there. My second home is in Georgia and obtaining insurance was easy.
My elderly former MIL has a second home in FL. Her youngest son who was looking after her affairs apparently didn’t bother to renew her policies on her primary or second homes. The siblings recently discovered this and want to get insurance back in place. They reached out to my daughter for help because she is in Florida. She reached out to our insurance agent who told her they would have a lot of trouble getting insurance on a vacant home. Turns out my daughter told the agent the house was vacant last year because Grandma didn’t visit it last year due to Covid.

So I need her to clarify things with the agent and explain it’s a second home and not typically a 100% vacant property. It’s sounding like Citizens is going to be their only option. Home insurance in Florida is a disaster so I’m not surprised. I was just curious if there was something I didn’t know being as I don’t personally have second home insurance in Florida.

 

[pb4uski]

When we bought insurance on our Florida condo that we snowbird to (even though we are Florida residents) the insurance company wanted us to have someone check in on the place once a month while we are away and we agreed to do that.

 

[Bamaman]

Those with properties along the Gulf Coast in South Alabama also pay the price for a hurricane every 10 years.

I'm 400 miles north of the Gulf, and we too have difficulties getting homeowners insurance--unless you take all insurance including cars to that agency. Premiums often go by loss ratios state by state.

 

[teej1985]

See this Bogleheads thread. Florida is it's own animal when it comes to insurance.

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=369359&hilit=florida

USAA and Progressive are the only large insurers that operate their national homeowners companies in Florida. There are also a few smaller national insurers, such as Amica. These companies are very picky about what houses they will accept, and they have a combined market share of about 10%.

Other homes in Florida are insured by single-state companies or insurers that specialize in hurricanes. State Farm Florida is a single-state subsidiary that is not in the State Farm pool, so it is not backed by State Farm's national reserves.

 

[Sunset]

I understand everyone's insurance is different, but could some folks state as a percentage of the home value.

Example a 400K home insurance of 4K is 1%

Also are there high deductibles first.



Here in safe IL, our home insurance is 0.6 % of value with deductible of $1,500