Home owners insurance (Jacksonville: appointed, how much, house)

[lmh182]

Can anyone tell me what kind of problems I would have with getting home owners insurance in Jacksonville? I've read a little about it here, but some of the information seems a little old. Apparently a lot of the bigger companies arent insuring there anymore? And rates tend to go up even if the storm seasons in recent years havent been that bad?

If a storm does come through, do the rates usually go up to completely unaffordable costs? (I've heard of some Floridians whose insurance has more than doubled after a large storm, even if their home, or homes in their neighborhood werent damaged.)

I was also wondering if anyone could give me a ball park range of what I would be looking at spending annually for a policy if I bought a home for around 180K.

Any info would be great.
Thanks!

[hlauburn]

This is just generally speaking, but we just moved to FL and we were pleasantly surprised with the insurance situation. We didn't have any issues finding a company - Allstate was writing new policies, but we ended up going with Tower Hill, which seems to be big here. We lived outside New Orleans during and after Katrina and saw our rates skyrocket after the storm. Our last house was 2 hours from the coast, and our premium here is still much less.

As for an estimate, I think it depends on a lot of factors other than the cost of the house...sq footage, age of house, pool, type of construction. We pay under $600 a year though.

[Robyn55]

I agree with hlauburn that the cost of insurance will depend a lot on house specific factors (and not simply the price you pay for the house).

You will probably be able to get insurance from some insurance company (as a last resort you can go to Citizens - the state pool). But a lot of the companies in the state today are very questionable in terms of financial strength. For example - Tower Hill was downgraded last year by AM Best from B to D - and then asked AM Best to withdraw its ratings from public view:

Florida's Tower Hill Insurance Downgraded by A.M. Best; Tower Hill Responds

It's hard to know when insurance rates will go up - or by how much. The cost of reinsurance is a big factor in the cost - and claims aren't the only factor in the cost of reinsurance. Also - we'll have to see if we get a new insurance commissioner under our new governor (the current insurance commissioner has been around for quite a while - he was appointed by Governor Chiles - who was the Governor before Crist). Robyn

[Latrice_Solorio]

The Hartford is a good company. Brightway Insurance sells The Hartford’s home and car insurance or you could try the Cabel Insurance Group.

[Robyn55]

Are you sure Hartford is selling new policies? It's the carrier for AARP homeowners' insurance - and this is the message you get when you try to get a Hartford quote from AARP:

Thank You

Thank you for your interest in the AARP Home Insurance Program from The Hartford. Unfortunately, we are not accepting applications for homeowners insurance in Florida.
If you are currently insured, please consider staying with your present company. If your policy is not being renewed, you should consider contacting a local carrier.

FWIW - the last thing the Hartford did in Florida was drop over 25,000 insureds (leaving its total at less than 50,000). Robyn