Homewise Insurance Watch Out (Tampa, Kathleen: for sale, home owners insurance, condo)

[Kathllleen]

Got a letter from Homewise Preferred Insurance Company saying that they are taking over our Citizen Insurance policy unless we send them a rejection notice. I didn't even hear about this in the news that the legislature was doing something sneaky. They say they are a A+ insurance company but they have only been in business for 18 months according to a lady I called at the company. They wont give you a quote but if you don't send in the go away letter they will take over your policy and you won't even know if you can get back into citizens or not. Their assets are also very low so I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. Watch out and call you agent since you must get the opt out notice to them before November 11th or you belong to them. I don't trust companies that won't tell you anything. My agent doesn't even know much about these letters except they have the right to take us over if we don't send in the rejection notice. We are rejecting them and sending it certified letter so they can't say they didn't get it.

Kathleen

[gregs]

In another post about insurance, I referenced that I had received a letter from HomeWise Preferred. The letter was dated 10/10/2007 and indicated that HomeWise would assume my policy, assume responsibility for the any claims after 11/15/2007. My Citizens policy had a renewal date of 11/01/2007 I assumed that HomeWise was providing coverage as of 11/01/2007 if they were responsible for claims as of 11/15/2007.

I called my agent to explain that I did not received a renewal from HomeWise. They were not aware of the letter received from HomeWise. The agent said I would have to stay with Citizens. I called HomeWise and they said, I would not get a policy from them until 2008 renewal. I explained that their letter was decieving, why would a company send a letter prior to my current renewal date? Again, this is just an example of the insurance rip off. I pay over $3,300 per year, non flood zone, coverage amount equal to $172,800. I cannot wait to put up the for sale sign and get out of here.

[daniellefort]

Well a note on that Royal Palm. We signed up for the 4 month payment plan. Got our second bill in the mail and have to pay the remaining balance in full. We didn't bother calling them about it since we had the money already aside but i can't help but wonder if you don't pay in full, will they use that for a reason to drop you even though you initially signed up for the 4 payment plan? I have very little trust in home owners insurance companies here in FL lately.

[deckardc]

Originally Posted by Kathllleen

...They say they are a A+ insurance company but they have only been in business for 18 months according to a lady I called at the company... Their assets are also very low so I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole...

This is the case with most of the private insurers operating in the state of FL right now. The big boys like State Farm, Nationwide, and Allstate are getting out of the homeowner's business down here. Most of the private insurers are new companies with very few assets who are trying to fill the gap left by the big companies. The new companies see it as an opportunity to grow their business without competition from the heavy hitters.

It is a dangerous situation. Most of the small companies have so little in reserve that if a big storm hits and they have a large volume of claims, they won't be able to cover the payouts. You are paying for insurance that you may never receive the benefit of. Actually, thanks to the big boys setting up pup companies, even those who still have coverage by a large insurer probably won't be able to collect all of their coverage either. The only other alternative is to pay obscene rates with Citizen's and pray that they can manage a big disaster too. They haven't really been put to the test yet. They didn't become a major insurer until after the 2004-05 hurricane seasons.

This insurance crisis is part of what is destroying this state.

[TampaKaren]

There are several companies involved. Below is a news brief we received on October 30 from the Florida Association of Realtors:

CITIZENS PROPERTY INSURANCE

The state Office of Insurance Regulation has given four Florida-based companies the OK to take 173,000 home insurance policies out of Citizens Property Insurance Corp, now the state’s largest home insurer. Thousands of homeowners – most in South Florida – will start receiving notices of the offers Nov. 7.

Read the full story:

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/n4-103007.cfm

I hope this helps explain things a little bit! And I hope it's okay to post the link.

[TampaKaren]

For anyone shopping for Florida Homeowner's Insurance, please check into this website:

Compare Homeowner's Insurance Rates

Good luck!

[M3 Enthusiast]

I have American Strategic (they are based in St.Pete). They seem to be a very affordable insurance company for my condo here in Tampa. Anyone on here looking for homeowners insurance should give them a shot Terrific customer service I might add)

[TampaKaren]

Originally Posted by TampaKaren

For anyone shopping for Florida Homeowner's Insurance, please check into this website:

Compare Homeowner's Insurance Rates

Good luck!

Maybe I should add that the website above is sponsored by Florida lawmakers (Gov. Charlie Christ and Insurance Commissioner, Kevin McCarty) as a starting point for home owner's insurance. I'm not endorsing any of them, just trying to help.

[tampaguy03]

I received a letter from Florida Penninsula Insurance, stating the same, called my agent who INSISTED that it would be in my best interest to not send the letter in, and have Floida Penninsula Insurance Company take over any claims I may have from Nov 15th to August 2008 when my homeowners is up for renewal. My agent excalimed that if Florida Penninsula is not cheaper, they would shop aorund for me at that time.

[thatstar2007]

Ive been reading all the comments about switching from Citizens to HomeWise or any other carrier. First If you have Citizens its possible that you could not receive insurance from any other company. Citizens is not rated and is a state insurance. They have sent out over 50,000 letters to try and get there current customers placed elsewere, that should tell you that they have to much risk and if something were to happen were claims need to be paid, you will waiting a very long time. And also be aware of your agents who try and keep you with Citizens there rates are very high, and that's more money at renewal in your agents pocket and less in yours. And as far as the rumor about Citizens not taking you back for 3 yrs that's not true, think about it, the state placed them there for a reason, for people wo can't get insurance.