what is better ? Citizens homeowners insurance or Universal property&casualty insurance ? (mortgage)

[heydade]

I have my eye on a home and got two quotes..one from state farm and the other from universal property and casualty.

State farm (CITIZENS IS THE INSURANCE THOUGH) : 2,500

Universal Property and Casualty : 1,950


Which is better ??

[sunrico90]

Originally Posted by heydade

I have my eye on a home and got two quotes..one from state farm and the other from universal property and casualty.

State farm (CITIZENS IS THE INSURANCE THOUGH) : 2,500

Universal Property and Casualty : 1,950


Which is better ??

Check with St Johns Insurance, they have better rates. I had Universal and the quote with St Johns was $600.00 cheaper...

What are the deductibles, house value, and type of house...

[heydade]

thats funny...this is not the 1st time I hear of St.Johns...but I called them a few months ago when I was looking for a home back then as well and they told me they no longer write policies in South Florida

[SouthAfrica75]

Give Florida Peninsula Insurance a try....

I originally signed up with Citizens through State Farm and after a year it was automatically transferred from Citizens to Florida Peninsula and I still have the same great rate as before.....

www.floridapeninsula.com

[vpcats]

There are a few companies that do insure in Florida, however, only if the house is 20 yrs old or less. That leaves a lot of other homeowners stuck with Citizens or a couple of other very expensive carriers.

It used to be that if you got Citizens initially (because it's the only one that would insure you in your location or whatever), they could transfer you to another company later on and you had no say in the matter. That has changed. If you have Citizens now and they end up wanting to transfer your coverage you can refuse and they have to keep you if that's what you want.

I went through that and for three years my rates kept climbing all the way up to $6489 (around there). When renewal time came up for an even higher amount, I switched to Citizens for $2400. Let's see what I get come renewal time again in November.

Oh by the way...I was banking on no hurricanes and no need for claims this year. I believe Citizens still has open claims from Katrina and Wilma so they wouldn't be the best choice when it comes time to get them to respond/pay a claim.

[lionfish1221]

I keep hearing Citizens is not the way to go since they have alot of claims and not enough money to pay. Does anyone have any experience with other carriers that they like? I'm in north florida and State Farm just advised I was not being renewed. I got quotes from a several other carriers and they were lower than Citizens. I don't think we can determine if a company will stay in business for the long haul, so it's a guessing game each year.

[tankev]

I am also in the process of purchasing homeowners insurance.
State Farm quoted me using Home Wise.
An independent insurance Company, All Lines, quoted me using Universal. Universal came out $500.00 cheaper with better coverage. If you want to use State Farm, ask about Home Wise. I was never offered Citizens. I also have no idea which one would be better.

[cats_pawn]

you need to indicate square footage, age of your home, deductable, coverage amount,contents coverage at replacment cost or depreciated cost,
for anyone to be able to understand whether you received a good quote or not.

Most mortgage companies require insurance & insurance companies now insist you insure home for the cost to rebuild it. (if your home is paid in full & you have no mortgage , then maybe your insurance can be for lower amounts)

I assume since you only mentioned homeowners insurance , you have a seperate wind policy ? (I would be amazed if the policy quote is for both, unless it was built within the last 4-5 years, and is very small home)

shop and compare used to have a list of insurance companies that are writing in FL but I just went there and when I clicked on the link to "compare" , there is no longer a list of companies there.

Compare Homeowner's Insurance Rates

I would not buy a policy from STATE FARM OR ALSTATE because why would you want either if those companies to make any money off you when they refuse to insure florida homes?
You can get a insured through Citizens by almost any insurance agent - why keep putting money in the pockets of companies that won't support Florida?
[sorry, but I don't support business's that don't support me]

I have been insured by Citizens for more than 8 years; I have had no problems with claims payouts. [I had to file for Hurricane Wilma]

If you look through the website (link above) or Office of Insurance Regulation
you might be able to locate a list of companies that are writing.