[macguy]

Can you or has anyone bought home owners insurence without the wind storm? Of course you have to own the house free and clear but in there a company that will sell such a police minus wind storm?

[jasontarazi]

I've lived in South Florida for 12 years and have NEVER heard of anyone doing that, even if they own their home free and clear. Considering the hurricane threats we have here, that would be like playing Russian Roulette. Not a very smart move.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by jasontarazi

I've lived in South Florida for 12 years and have NEVER heard of anyone doing that, even if they own their home free and clear. Considering the hurricane threats we have here, that would be like playing Russian Roulette. Not a very smart move.

Not at all, with a deductible with $8000 and an annual cost of $7200, you need $15,000 worth of damage to break even the first year. How old is your house? How much hurricane damage has it suffered in it's life time? The odds are much better that nothing will ever happen ever to the house and with the huge insurance costs it may be worth the tiny, tiny, tiny risk to some people. People like me who have been in the building business don't care about the house. There is little I can't fix. I had a neighbor who had what they said was $25,000 worth of damage to her roof from Wilma.

I saw the job, you know what I could have fixed it for if it was my house? Maybe $2000 and that would be high. I am not your basic sucker who can't even drive a nail. Half if not more of the damage to houses happens because it is not prepared. They have trees that should be trimmed that fall through the roof, no shutters and so on. I will take my chances with a well built properly prepared home. I don't need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to an insurance company for nothing.

[jasontarazi]

I totally agree with you, insurance premiums are WAY too high in Florida, but you just can't go without it here....I don't see how you can take a chance like that. What if your home was totally destroyed?? What if a Category 5 storm totally wiped out your home and you had no insurance?? You can prepare as much as you can, and you can think it will never happen to you...but what if it the impossible happened and you had no insurance at all?? I certainly wouldn't want to be in your shoes.

I live in Boca Raton and the average 3-bedroom home built in the 1980s is worth about $450k. Most premiums on homes of this value and this age are about $3500 annually with a 2% deductible ($9000). Since your premiums are apparently more than double that, I'm assuming your home is approaching $1 million in value...?? If that's the case, your risk is huge. Personally I don't think it's a good idea...not if you live in Hurricane Alley.

Besides, homeowners insurance is tax-deductible. If you are really paying $7200 annually your taxable income is $7200 lower.

Originally Posted by macguy

Not at all, with a deductible with $8000 and an annual cost of $7200, you need $15,000 worth of damage to break even the first year. How old is your house? How much hurricane damage has it suffered in it's life time? The odds are much better that nothing will ever happen ever to the house and with the huge insurance costs it may be worth the tiny, tiny, tiny risk to some people. People like me who have been in the building business don't care about the house. There is little I can't fix. I had a neighbor who had what they said was $25,000 worth of damage to her roof from Wilma.

I saw the job, you know what I could have fixed it for if it was my house? Maybe $2000 and that would be high. I am not your basic sucker who can't even drive a nail. Half if not more of the damage to houses happens because it is not prepared. They have trees that should be trimmed that fall through the roof, no shutters and so on. I will take my chances with a well built properly prepared home. I don't need to pay tens of thousands of dollars to an insurance company for nothing.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by jasontarazi

I totally agree with you, insurance premiums are WAY too high in Florida, but you just can't go without it here....I don't see how you can take a chance like that. What if your home was totally destroyed?? What if a Category 5 storm totally wiped out your home and you had no insurance?? You can prepare as much as you can, and you can think it will never happen to you...but what if it the impossible happened and you had no insurance at all?? I certainly wouldn't want to be in your shoes.

I live in Boca Raton and the average 3-bedroom home built in the 1980s is worth about $450k. Most premiums on homes of this value and this age are about $3500 annually with a 2% deductible ($9000). Since your premiums are apparently more than double that, I'm assuming your home is approaching $1 million in value...?? If that's the case, your risk is huge. Personally I don't think it's a good idea...not if you live in Hurricane Alley.

Besides, homeowners insurance is tax-deductible. If you are really paying $7200 annually your taxable income is $7200 lower.

So what, I would build another house or sell off the land, the land doesn't blow away. Those $450,000 houses you talking about I could stick back up for under two. If you like odds, the actual odds are so far out of whack it is ridiculous. Take a house with a replacement values of $150,000 not counting the land just the house, that is paying say $5,000. a year.

The insurance company is giving 30 to 1 on the money the house won't blow away in any given year. When in reality the odds of the house blowing away completely is probable in the many thousands if not the millions to one. Why do you think they make record profits every year? They make Las Vegas look like amateurs.

[jasontarazi]

You're right, the replacement cost on a $450,000 property is about $200,000 in this area, and the land is worth another $250,000. $5,000 annual premium on that property sounds very high though. It's more like $3,500 - still too high in my opinion.

If you have that kind of cash and can afford to rebuild out of your own pocket in the event that your house is totally destroyed...or if you can afford to take a $200,000 loss on the structure...then more power to you. Most people aren't that wealthy.

Most of South Florida would be completely wiped out (and flooded out) by a Category 5 hurricane - even the newer homes built after Andrew with the new building codes. Even with a weak Category 2 (Wilma), many high-rise office buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale had multiple floors completely blown out. Cat 5 storms can happen anywhere, and the probability of storms of such magnitude happening in the coming years is greater now than it usually is.

No lender anywhere in the country will finance you unless you purchase insurance - not just in FL. But if you are lucky enough to own your home free and clear, and you choose to go without insurance knowing the threats of strong storms...you are setting yourself up for a major crisis. I hope it doesn't happen, and it probably won't - but the reality is, it can.

Originally Posted by macguy

So what, I would build another house or sell off the land, the land doesn't blow away. Those $450,000 houses you talking about I could stick back up for under two. If you like odds, the actual odds are so far out of whack it is ridiculous. Take a house with a replacement values of $150,000 not counting the land just the house, that is paying say $5,000. a year.

The insurance company is giving 30 to 1 on the money the house won't blow away in any given year. When in reality the odds of the house blowing away completely is probable in the many thousands if not the millions to one. Why do you think they make record profits every year? They make Las Vegas look like amateurs.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by jasontarazi

You're right, the replacement cost on a $450,000 property is about $200,000 in this area, and the land is worth another $250,000. $5,000 annual premium on that property sounds very high though. It's more like $3,500 - still too high in my opinion.

If you have that kind of cash and can afford to rebuild out of your own pocket in the event that your house is totally destroyed...or if you can afford to take a $200,000 loss on the structure...then more power to you. Most people aren't that wealthy.

Most of South Florida would be completely wiped out (and flooded out) by a Category 5 hurricane - even the newer homes built after Andrew with the new building codes. Even with a weak Category 2 (Wilma), many high-rise office buildings in downtown Fort Lauderdale had multiple floors completely blown out. Cat 5 storms can happen anywhere, and the probability of storms of such magnitude happening in the coming years is greater now than it usually is.

No lender anywhere in the country will finance you unless you purchase insurance - not just in FL. But if you are lucky enough to own your home free and clear, and you choose to go without insurance knowing the threats of strong storms...you are setting yourself up for a major crisis. I hope it doesn't happen, and it probably won't - but the reality is, it can.

The odds are greater when you leave your house tomorrow you will never return and will be killed. Are you never driving a car again or leaving your house frightened of all these things that will never happen? Insurance companies count on it. The trick is to make people afraid and then figure out how to make money off it. I live just minutes from Down town Fort Lauderdale and that is not true. They had structural failures that should never have happened.

Windows fell right out of their frames while buildings right next door didn't have a single broken window or any damage what so ever. It was really only two buildings, the court house and the I think it is the school board building across the street. I am sure the law suit are flying. People have to do what they think is best for them. For me, after 55 years of living in South Florida I don't lay awake at night worrying about hurricanes. If it happens so be it.