Florida living

[Scuba]

Thanks to all for the good wishes! We purchased a resale home. It’s 5 years old. Definitely wanted to avoid new construction as we’ve heard nightmare stories about delays and hassles. We just had the home inspection and it was pristine.

As for why we are leaving Palm Springs, we want to be closer to DH’s family and love the FL beaches and proximity to the Caribbean. Palm Springs and the surrounding communities are beautiful and have great hiking, but warm beaches require a plane ride. Also, it’s in CA and there are many adverse consequences to that. Don’t want to get the topic closed out so I’ll stop there.

 

[MarieIG]

Very glad to hear that the house passed inspection with flying colors!

 

[Cayman]

Thanks to all for the good wishes! We purchased a resale home. It’s 5 years old. Definitely wanted to avoid new construction as we’ve heard nightmare stories about delays and hassles. We just had the home inspection and it was pristine.

As for why we are leaving Palm Springs, we want to be closer to DH’s family and love the FL beaches and proximity to the Caribbean. Palm Springs and the surrounding communities are beautiful and have great hiking, but warm beaches require a plane ride. Also, it’s in CA and there are many adverse consequences to that. Don’t want to get the topic closed out so I’ll stop there.

You will love it. Del Webb is fun, Longboat is less than 30 mins from you and 360 beach is absolutely amazing. Congrats!

 

[Affinity4Investing]

More good news on the FL insurance front:
OIR Approves Two Companies to Form as Property and Casualty Insurers in Florida Following Legislative Reforms




https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLOIR/bulletins/36c3614

 

[Koolau]

More good news on the FL insurance front:
OIR Approves Two Companies to Form as Property and Casualty Insurers in Florida Following Legislative Reforms




https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLOIR/bulletins/36c3614

I didn't read the article. I recall when Hawaii finally decided that people actually did need hurricane insurance again - kinda disappeared after Iniki.

So the gist is that there is only so much of a "pool" of insurance money available to meet claims. If it's a small disaster, that will be enough to make everyone whole. If it's another Iniki, folks would split the pool on a % basis and the insurance companies would survive while everyone affected would at least get something. Not great for anyone but much better than nothing and the insurance companies provide it at a "reasonable" cost. YMMV

 

[Fermion]

I was talking to my wife and just doing a thought experiment on how one might build something in Florida that didn't need flood or hurricane insurance. Thoughts were toward some sort of reinforced concrete structure but the roof was tricky. Maybe a concrete dome home

 

[Aerides]

I was talking to my wife and just doing a thought experiment on how one might build something in Florida that didn't need flood or hurricane insurance. Thoughts were toward some sort of reinforced concrete structure but the roof was tricky. Maybe a concrete dome home

And the doors and windows. Even impact resistant.. all bets are off in a Cat5.

 

[MichaelB]

More good news on the FL insurance front:
OIR Approves Two Companies to Form as Property and Casualty Insurers in Florida Following Legislative Reforms

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLOIR/bulletins/36c3614

Why is this good news for Florida homeowners? Insuring homes with newly formed insurers that have no auditable finances and no track record is more of a “last resort” than a good option. What Florida homeowners need is for the large established insurers to start offering policies. Until (and unless) that happens the latest measures aren’t having the effect that was expected.

 

[Fermion]

And the doors and windows. Even impact resistant.. all bets are off in a Cat5.

Steel shutters?

 

[Buckeye]

I was talking to my wife and just doing a thought experiment on how one might build something in Florida that didn't need flood or hurricane insurance. Thoughts were toward some sort of reinforced concrete structure but the roof was tricky. Maybe a concrete dome home

No shingles and no trees around you and a whole house generator!

 

[Buckeye]

Why is this good news for Florida homeowners? Insuring homes with newly formed insurers that have no auditable finances and no track record is more of a “last resort” than a good option. What Florida homeowners need is for the large established insurers to start offering policies. Until (and unless) that happens the latest measures aren’t having the effect that was expected.

+1. Exactly my thoughts.

 

[SunGuy]

Still stuck in Florida, been here since 2000. So ready to flee this hellscape lol.

 

[pb4uski]

Why is this good news for Florida homeowners? Insuring homes with newly formed insurers that have no auditable finances and no track record is more of a “last resort” than a good option. What Florida homeowners need is for the large established insurers to start offering policies. Until (and unless) that happens the latest measures aren’t having the effect that was expected.

I pretty much agree but FWIW the two approved are established insurers domiciled in Indiana, rated A- by A.M.Best and were approved to write business in Florida.

...Orion180 Select Insurance Company and Orion180 Insurance Company are Indiana-based property and casualty insurers and applied to operate in Florida using an expansion application. An expansion application is for use by companies in good standing in their state of domicile that wish to expand their business into a uniform state. ...

 

[Badger]

I was talking to my wife and just doing a thought experiment on how one might build something in Florida that didn't need flood or hurricane insurance. Thoughts were toward some sort of reinforced concrete structure but the roof was tricky. Maybe a concrete dome home

There are a few people doing this already. There are even a few in my area in NE Florida. Maybe not with the concrete dome but that is also a good idea. A round house with no flat walls would also give it more strength.
Back in the early 90s when Andrew flattened a good portion of south Florida I had a similar thought and wondered if a geodesic dome (Buckminster Fuller style) would be a good idea.

Cheers!

 

[pb4uski]

I was talking to my wife and just doing a thought experiment on how one might build something in Florida that didn't need flood or hurricane insurance. Thoughts were toward some sort of reinforced concrete structure but the roof was tricky. Maybe a concrete dome home

Some friends of ours build their Florida home using insulated concrete forms, so the exterior walls are reinforced poured concrete. The roof is roof joists attached to the top of the ICF walls. Pretty solid home.

 

[MichaelB]

I pretty much agree but FWIW the two approved are established insurers domiciled in Indiana, rated A- by A.M.Best and were approved to write business in Florida.

That’s a valid point. Looking at their website, they opened for business in 2017 and last year wrote $160m in premiums. So, they are probably somewhere in between what you and I wrote.

Their website does look funny. They list 6 “states we serve” and 3 more “coming soon” but no mention of Florida. https://orion180.com/about-us/

One think I think we can agree on is this will not have any impact on the Florida homeowners insurance market for now.

 

[pb4uski]

Agreed... even if they wrote $80m in Florida it would be a proverbial nit.

 

[JoeWras]

Sturdy building ideas in Florida come and go. People were shell shocked after the bad hurricanes of the 20s through 40s. A lot of post WWII houses were built like tanks, with all concrete block and even stepped Bermuda style concrete roofs. But they didn't think much about flooding.

Somewhere in the 70s and especially 80s, a lot of this was thrown out. Then came Andrew, and there was a bit of a reversal, but not enough. The 2004 season seemed to make the codes much better, we'll see.

As for domes, there are a bunch all over FL if you look. This is the most famous one. Just one thing, don't build your home on a shifting island! This is an old picture. The house is now 100% in the water off Marco Island. Ian finished it off. Wiki article.

 

[Montecfo]

Fascinating story.

Decent idea with dubious execution?

 

[Affinity4Investing]

Why is this good news for Florida homeowners? Insuring homes with newly formed insurers that have no auditable finances and no track record is more of a “last resort” than a good option. What Florida homeowners need is for the large established insurers to start offering policies. Until (and unless) that happens the latest measures aren’t having the effect that was expected.

I take your comment to be completely without merit. If nothing else, the answer to your question is in the article, specifically: " Today’s announcement marks the third and fourth property and casualty insurers approved to operate in Florida following legislative reforms designed to promote market stability. As a result of these reforms, there are additional opportunities in the market for insurers to sell insurance in the state of Florida.".


Plenty of ppl have complained about the exodus of insurers, premium hikes, etc. Reforms were needed and some have been implemented. Whether of little benefit to the masses or not, there should be some benefit to someone with more insurers entering the market.



Orion180 obviously has a history and insures in multiple neighboring states.



Any progress is still progress.

 

[MichaelB]

I take your comment to be completely without merit. If nothing else, the answer to your question is in the article, specifically: " Today’s announcement marks the third and fourth property and casualty insurers approved to operate in Florida following legislative reforms designed to promote market stability. As a result of these reforms, there are additional opportunities in the market for insurers to sell insurance in the state of Florida.".


Plenty of ppl have complained about the exodus of insurers, premium hikes, etc. Reforms were needed and some have been implemented. Whether of little benefit to the masses or not, there should be some benefit to someone with more insurers entering the market.



Orion180 obviously has a history and insures in multiple neighboring states.



Any progress is still progress.

A couple of points, some already made in this thread that you may have missed.

The link is to a press release by the Florida regulatory agency promoting its own reforms. The insurers involved don’t have the state of Florida listed on their website as upcoming locations and the total scope of their business appears to be less than the number of policies one insurer (Farmers) is abandoning.

There were new insurers prior to the recent legislative initiatives. The number of new insurers approved or awarded licenses is not meaningful. What matters to homeowners is actual policies available now in large quantity, and there’s no indication that is happening. There is no mention of policy offerings in the linked announcement. No new policies are yet being written.

The problem in Florida is twofold, large financially solid insurers continue to reduce their policy offerings and the new insurers into the market are not financially solid and do not have the business scope, depth or breadth to backfill and replace. The lack of viable options for Florida homeowners is still getting worse.

“Any progress is still progress”. It’s not clear this is progress. It’s an announcement, but I think Florida homeowners will consider progress being made when there are enough good new policy options to offset the policy options being removed.

I do believe the announcement has some merit, as does your post.

 

[Scuba]

The home we are buying in FL is not in a flood zone, nor is it in a hurricane evacuation zone. It’s 23 miles from the coast and not near any major inland waterways other than neighborhood retention ponds. It was built 5 years ago so is compliant with the most current code. It has hurricane impact windows and doors, a tile roof, and all the other attributes insurers like to see.

The good news is the premium we were quoted from two different brokers is $2,500-$3,000 per year. The bad news is that none of the major carriers are willing to write a policy in our area so we have to go with someone I’ve never heard of. I looked up reviews but that isn’t very helpful because all the insurers have horrible reviews online.

The insurer that has been recommended is called Southern Oak. Anyone have any experience with them?

 

[pb4uski]

I take your comment to be completely without merit. If nothing else, the answer to your question is in the article, specifically: " Today’s announcement marks the third and fourth property and casualty insurers approved to operate in Florida following legislative reforms designed to promote market stability. As a result of these reforms, there are additional opportunities in the market for insurers to sell insurance in the state of Florida.".


Plenty of ppl have complained about the exodus of insurers, premium hikes, etc. Reforms were needed and some have been implemented. Whether of little benefit to the masses or not, there should be some benefit to someone with more insurers entering the market.



Orion180 obviously has a history and insures in multiple neighboring states.



Any progress is still progress.

The problem is that in comparison to the hole that needs to be filled all of the recent announcements are grains of sand and the new entrants don't have enough capital to write enough business to make a difference.

In order to write P&C insurance you need capital, and few companies knowledgeable about the risks want to put their capital to work writing insurance in Florida. In fact, the bigger companies that are knowledgeable about the risks of writing P&C insurance are scaling back or fleeing Florida.

 

[Koolau]

Fascinating story.

Decent idea with dubious execution?

What is it realtors say? "Location, location, location."

 

[CountryGal]

Hey Scuba

I have been following this entire thread. It has been an interesting and informative thread. Thank you for sharing and best wishes with your new home!