anyone else have a townhouse in the orlando area w/ skyrocketing insurance rates? (buyer)

[msmandal]

i am a native floridian of 30 years now living in lake mary. i purchased a townhome in 2002 in lake mary and it's value has doubled since then. happy about that!

the problem is we were dropped by our insurance company nationwide in sept. this year. and to make matters worse citizen's and another no name company were the only ones that would talk to us for a new quote. now our home owner's association is proposing a huge increase in our monthly rates to cover this. we may be paying up to $350-400 a month instead of $190 which we currently pay.

Anyone else having this happen to them? if not, what insurance companies are you using so that i can refer my association to them asap! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! myself and others may not be able to afford such an increase and i am really considering selling now although i know i'll have a hard time with a monthly fee like this one.

[pslOldTimer]

Sharp insurance increases, cancellations, companies leaving the state, refusals to take new policy applications are all part of the home insurance problem that is affecting the entire state.

However, if your insurance is only going up double, you may be fortunate. Insurance premiums are based on the value of everything except the land. You state your value has doubled. Would this not lead to an increase in the premium regardless of the hurricane scares?

As far as selling is concerned, it's likely that every similar property is facing a similar situation with a similar increase in fees, so a buyer is likely to be faced with the high fees no matter where in your area they go. If the fees do impact the sale, however, you should be able to compensate for that by discounting the selling price enough to offset the increase fees. You should still be able to sell at a price higher than you paid.

[msmandal]

yes i have taken all that into consideration and those are my thoughts exactly. i believe our association was also not on top of things and we were very underinsured to start with. i am hoping some people out there with have some insurance names to insure our community.

the state really need to hurry up and do something about the insurance problems in our state!

[Southside Shrek]

I don't think States are very willing, aggressive and adept at lowering the skyrocketing costs of insurance, period.