North Port/Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda for Home Owners Insurance (Homestead: real estate, mortgage)

[vextc05]

Hey all!
We are re-locating to this area here in a few months hopefully! We currently reside in Wisconsin and time to leave!!! We love this area due to size (we want a smaller city) and seems to be safest areas in florida (we have a 17 month old so safety is important)! But we are curious...currently we pay only 500-600 a yr for our home and obviously Florida is more susceptible to hurricanes so we are expecting to pay more. But how much is it around these areas? And is flooding insurance neccessary? If so how much more is that for the year? Thanks in advance and excited for this new adventure!

[logybogy]

I surely hope you have done your research and found suitable employment if you are a young family that needs income.

Charlotte County is predominately a retirement area with a service sector economy targeted at these retirees. Jobs are dominated by real estate, construction, medical, retail, and food service.

There are more diverse job opportunities in the bigger cities south in ft. Myers and north in tampa/st. Pete.

[vextc05]

Originally Posted by logybogy

I surely hope you have done your research and found suitable employment if you are a young family that needs income.

Charlotte County is predominately a retirement area with a service sector economy targeted at these retirees. Jobs are dominated by real estate, construction, medical, retail, and food service.

There are more diverse job opportunities in the bigger cities south in ft. Myers and north in tampa/st. Pete.

I am in the cell phone industry..seems as if there are a ton of companies down there

[FLKitties]

There are just too many variables to help cost that for you but you can probably expect at least double what you're currently paying for standard coverage w/o flood insurance on a newer home. Not all properties require flood insurance, but if you happen to select a property in a flood zone your mortgage lender will require you to carry flood insurance. Insurance costs vary widely because of home age & wind mitigation factors so your best bet would be to select your ideal property and then speak with an insurance agent in the area to get a true idea of what you can expect to pay.

[Harbor Hopper]

If you use the search function, you'll see dozens of threads on this subject. Also, flood insurance is only a requirement if you purchase a home in a FEMA designated flood zone and have a mortgage (the lender requires it). Just because it's in a flood zone doesn't mean it has ever flooded. It's where FEMA draws the magical lines. It's gov't, they know what's best lol

[Psychoma]

In addition to the above mentioned FEMA flood map info that drive insurance requirements, you may want to also look at separate official hurricane storm surge maps (surge is like a higher high tide) in looking for a property: US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has an interactive map to see possible max water heights for each category of storm (1 through 5). These are just ‘in general’ as each storm is a little different and portray if the surge max height came at peak high tide. Should an actual storm approach, the NHC releases specific storm surge maps for that storm.

https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Ma...935fad&entry=1
**NOTE: you’ll need to change categories to see each one, on pc thats tabs near top of page, on mobile swipe along bottom of screen or tap second set of lines just above map for menu links.

Reminders:
-Only three Category 5’s are known to have struck the US (FL Keys 1935 “Labor Day Hurricane”, Mississippi 1969 “Camile”, Homestead FL 1992 “Andrew”)
-After Andrew building codes in FL changed over the years so you’ll see a difference in insurance based on pre or post Andrew age homes and/or storm mitigation upgrades/improvements.
-The Northeast corner of the eye/center of a hurricane typically has the highest surge, and steadily less further from that point.
-Surge maps only depict rise of water from incoming ocean, bays, inlets, rivers, etc. and don’t account for rainfall flooding.
-Each storm is different...didn’t flood in one doesn’t mean safe from all (so consult map above!) as size, movement speed, angle of approach, shape of land, tide level, etc all play a role in height.

[wpc691]

If you’re not planning on a canal-, harbor- or riverfront home, just avoid the flood zones altogether (why be in a flood zone if you’re not on the water?) Out of the flood zones, but below some elevation number (25ft?), flood insurance may still be a good idea, and should only be a couple of hundred bucks. If you are planning on a waterfront home, you have a lot of research to do, it’s complicated. As mentioned, there are dozens of threads on the topic with a lot of good info to get you started. On the other topic mentioned, do your research on jobs and pay - jobs here frequently pay less than the same job up North. Best of luck. PS: there’s a Culver’s in Port Charlotte

[vextc05]

Sooo can someone give me an idea what they pay yearly for home owners? Just want a ball park figure. We are looking at a 1300-1500 sq ft home

[Satsuma]

Originally Posted by vextc05

Sooo can someone give me an idea what they pay yearly for home owners? Just want a ball park figure. We are looking at a 1300-1500 sq ft home

I think we pay about $800-900/year with Towerhill for a 1650 sq ft home built in 2006. The house is not in the flood plain and doesn't have a pool. We actually thought that was pretty reasonable compared to Montana where hail storms have driven up the cost of insurance.

[vextc05]

Originally Posted by Satsuma

I think we pay about $800-900/year with Towerhill for a 1650 sq ft home built in 2006. The house is not in the flood plain and doesn't have a pool. We actually thought that was pretty reasonable compared to Montana where hail storms have driven up the cost of insurance.

Awesome! I was thinking it would coat us like 1500-2000 a yr