House Insurance...Anyone Skipping It? (Naples: 2014, renting, HOA)

[motordavid]

SFH, seasonal, no mort, gated golf community, nearly zip crime: a bit tired of the annual increases/cost of homeowner's insurance.

I shopped hard after Wilma, (and after our first year company cancelled us for the usual 'we don't write in FL anymore' reason), and found an agent/friend who found a company that wrote for ~$1400 the first year.

Every year the premium ratchets up: for 2013-2014, (July to July), the premium is now $2600+.

I realize it is not outrageous, and I won't miss lunch because of the cost, but it inflates annually like Zimbabwe dollars.

I carry reasonable deductibles, and 'enough coverage' that my western NC house Umbrella also covers our Naples house. Other than that liability umbrella, I am wondering why I have house insurance.
Anyone else doing the arith and evaluation exercise, or any opins/comments?
BR, mD

[TheYogi]

I feel your frustration. While we're not going without, we basically have just catastrophic damage coverage at this point as we have a very high deductible (15k) and don't cover any of the contents of the house. This took our premium down to 1600 a year.

[blueherons]

One of my parents homes in South Carolina that is actually on the water in Murrells Inlet, is not covered by homeowners. The house was almost completely destroyed by hurricane Hugo (just under 50%) so we jacked the house up, repaired it, and we've never carried homeowners on it.

We've saved tens of thousands of dollars and probably close to hundreds of thousands in the 24 years since we've repaired it.

In this particular situation, its the land that is valuable and the home, while not worthless, isn't worth much. It's an old renovated 1950s ranch home.

[tmozer]

Although the structures are covered by the HOA insurance, we do not carry any other insurance on our condo in Naples and Murrells Inlet SC. We do on the NJ condo only because it is required by the mortgage. I hate insurance......

[motordavid]

Thanks for the replies.
Really in a conundrum whether to keep it insured again this year.

As our joint is a ~5+ month situ, I can justify the annual running costs as the are less than renting a decent SFH on a golf course for 5 months. Plus the house is mort free and part of the portfolio, if you will. And, I understand that costs 'creep up' over time. But FL house ins is pricey and overpriced, imo.

Our mtn house is ~3200 sq ft, with basement and 3 car garage on 3.3 acres, and we pay ~$2000 Gs a year. I realize we are at ~5,000 ft elevation here, but not without severe storms, etc. and a helluva lot more house by comparo.

tomozer: ours is a Single Fam Home, so no HOA covering anything other than common grounds liability and directors insurance, and our annual budget.

I wish there was an answer other than 'pick yes or no', and roll the dice.
BR, mD

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by tmozer

Although the structures are covered by the HOA insurance, we do not carry any other insurance on our condo in Naples and Murrells Inlet SC. We do on the NJ condo only because it is required by the mortgage. I hate insurance......

Where are y'all in the Inlet? We are almost at Waccamaw on the creek.

[tmozer]

Originally Posted by blueherons

Where are y'all in the Inlet? We are almost at Waccamaw on the creek.

Park West off Tournament Blvd.

[motordavid]

Just an update: talked to a CS at the underwriter, St.John's, and while pleasant she was of little solace.

Talked to my FL house ins agent, (actually the office mgr), and she was very helpful. We are fiddling with deductible(s), raising the 'hurricane deductible', and I am going to get a wind mitigation inspection. Dunno how or why this aspect didn't come up on the JukeBox before.

As the house was built 7-2005, and has the 'certified' garage door, metal shutters up on all the windows, and a pricey roll down certified lanai shutter, I suspect it will 'pass'. Neither the underwriter or agent could tell me if that 'certification' will knock off 50Cts, $50 or, $500 bucks, but it will at least be wind mitigation cert'd.

I have got them down to ~$2Gs...better but still pricey if one compares my two houses in size, structure, etc. I will update after the wind mit insp and final price.
BR, mD

[wjj]

Cert saved me only about $200 per year. Not a big savings. Be sure every opening is covered or there will be no discount at all. I had to cover an entire steel door (pool bath entry in back) because it has a small window. Covering the window was not good enough and would have trashed the entire discount.

Florida insurance for homes and autos is obscene compared to up north. I am told it is because fraud is rampant in FL and so all of us honest people pay for it.

[BigMunch]

Have you tried keeping the Homeowner's insurance , but dropping the Hurricane coverage? That's what adds all the money and increased costs. It might be worth it just to cover the "Everything but a Hurricane " senario.

P.S, I am thinking about dropping mine down when the House is paid off in the next year or 2