Property Insurance going up? (Miami, Punta Gorda: sales, homeowners insurance, condo)

[RickC313]

Anybody received a notice that their homeowners incurance is going up...way up? I'm particularly interested in what people may be paying for, say, a small single family home of Sanibel. Thx

[justNancy]

Any home, even a small cottage on Sanibel Island does not represent the average home in Lee County.

[fiege1224]

Any home in Florida that was built before 1974 on the ground and in a flood zone will see there rates soar in the next 5 years.If sold it will soar right away. I would guess most people on Sanibel would be like me with no mortgage and just take the risk and go without. It doesn't make sense to pay 10,000 to 20,000 year for flood. I would just bank the money and fix my own home.

[RickC313]

Sanibel is at the top of our list for retirement in 5-6 years, but insane rates could push us elsewhere. It will be interesting to see what happens. My mother's townhouse's rates just more than doubled from a little over $3k a year to $7k, in Miami overnight.

[luvtobewarm]

I'm confused. I view property and flood as two different types of insurance, mainly because we have our home insured with one company, and then flood insurance with another. How do you people view it? From the responses above, I'm not sure exactly what people are talking about. If anyone could provide some clarification, I would appreciate it.

[fiege1224]

We are just talking about your flood insurance through FEMA. Fema is 28 billon in the whole for paying out to people that didn't have insurance and expects Florida to pay the major amount for it.

[luvtobewarm]

OK. The original post said property and homeowners insurance. I didn't think that meant flood, but I guess so. Thanks!

[hiknapster]

Flood insurance is underwritten by the feds. Insurance companies can administer a flood policy but it is a completely different animal than property insurance, ie. homeowners, tenant, condo. Once again, the company is simply the facilitator. The OP says "property insurance." That may not be what he means but we are not mind readers.

A good portion of the folks on Sanibel don't sweat high property insurance since they can afford it. Of course, if you are on a barrier island, property insurance high shouldn't come as a shock.

By the way, I'm a licensed personal lines agent. That's not a solicitation. I don't sell directly, but am a corporate agent and as such, cannot trawl for business. I only mention this to give my credentials.

[fiege1224]

Of the mult part policy the only thing that went through the roof was the fed flood. This is policy by the government fema which a lot of people include when they buy insurance for there home yearly in Florida. It has already stopped many sales in Florida on the water and others in flood areas. Even the rich are thinking twice before they will buy these old homes now. I would not pay anything more than land value on any of these older homes now and only that if you were going to knock it down and build up very high.

[luvtobewarm]

Hey thanks - I get it now. Just got bogged down in terminology. Can you tell me what the difference is in homes built prior to 1974? OUrs was built in 84, but just wondering. Also...have the rates been adjusted for CC? We just bought our home a couple months ago - when would a rate increase come through? We have Citizens although we were going to shop around. Our agent had told us we had to go through citizens, but am not sure that was true.
I found a good thread in the Punta Gorda forum. Trying to muddle my way through it.