Cost of Home insurance vs Auto insurance (Tampa, Lakeland: new home, buying)

[Schuttzie]

Originally Posted by AugiesMom

We recently purchased a 1992 manufactured home with a new this year roof. In Clearwater, 1.5 miles from Tampa Bay. We paid 60k.
When calling brokers for quotes, we were quoted $3,600. Per year as best price.
For the first time in our lives, we are NOT going to buy home insurance.

Believe me, as California refugees "said with all seriousness", We have always paid highly for fire and earthquake in California.
This time, as we paid cash, we're taking our chances. No bank involved to insist we get insurance.
Through my many years on the planet, I've only seen about a .03% of people lose their homes due to natural disasters (if that).

If our house is blown away, we have other options.
That is simply what we chose to do. Insurance companies are in the business of making BIG bucks. Period. BIG bucks.

We are in a retirement community of mobile/manufactured homes and they insist that we have insurance otherwise we'd not have coverage either.

[sm0key]

Originally Posted by baller1234

My car insurance went from like 120 to 200 when I moved to Florida. Over a year that's a thousand dollars more. Not exactly insignificant

120 to 200 what, dollars? Per year? Per six months?

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by sm0key

120 to 200 what, dollars? Per year? Per six months?

Work the maths - they're talking about a monthly payment.

RM

[GreenhouseZ]

Originally Posted by LKJ1988

I go bare blare. I have saved enough to buy another house like a silly mouse over the years.

We dropped our coverage when we paid off our house. Same for everyone else that we know that doesn't have a mortgage.

Originally Posted by sinatras

You are not missing anything. Home insurance is CRAZY expensive here and getting more expensive every year. That is a FACT, not fake news, and is not even remotely debatable.

Sinatras is not exaggerating one bit. It sounds crazy expensive because it is.

The HOI situation in FL is on life support. The further south you go in FL, the worse and more $$$ it is. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 changed the HOI landscape, which has been getting progressively worse since. I hope we don't have a major hurricane in the near future, especially given how much property values have risen in the last couple years and the current cost of building materials, because the carriers won't be able to pay the onslaught of claims.

If you see a home in FL with a blue tarp over the roof or part of it, it's likely the homeowner is still waiting on their insurance carrier to pay for damages from a previous hurricane. Again, it sounds crazy because it is.

[Marguerite2015]

Hi - I'm curious if people who "go bare" also have no liability insurance on the property, or is it just that people drop the property damage only?

Originally Posted by sm0key

What do I do?

With insurance:

I wait months or years for a claim or litigation before anything gets done. After deductibles, lawyer fees, and actual cash value, I'll never be made whole.

Without insurance:

Put the insurance savings toward the loss. Suck it up, get a loan and start getting it fixed now.

See, when there's no such thing as insurance, the cost to recover from all our accidents and emergencies no longer includes: TV commercials, executive salaries, litigation, government regulations, fraud, etc. And your place gets restored months or years sooner.

[Marguerite2015]

You have me intrigued. Someone else posted on this thread that their manufactured/mobile home community required them to have insurance on their home. May I ask, are you in a manufactured home community? Does it allow folks who live there to go without insurance?

Originally Posted by AugiesMom

We recently purchased a 1992 manufactured home with a new this year roof. In Clearwater, 1.5 miles from Tampa Bay. We paid 60k.
When calling brokers for quotes, we were quoted $3,600. Per year as best price.
For the first time in our lives, we are NOT going to buy home insurance.

Believe me, as California refugees "said with all seriousness", We have always paid highly for fire and earthquake in California.
This time, as we paid cash, we're taking our chances. No bank involved to insist we get insurance.
Through my many years on the planet, I've only seen about a .03% of people lose their homes due to natural disasters (if that).

If our house is blown away, we have other options.
That is simply what we chose to do. Insurance companies are in the business of making BIG bucks. Period. BIG bucks.

[bentlebee]

Originally Posted by Andre D

I live in Maryland and just did some Googling to compare insurance costs.

From what I can tell, auto insurance in Florida is high (ranked #4 in US) but not much higher than Maryland (ranked #5 in US). Both have an average annual auto insurance premium of around $1900.
Does this make sense?

As regards home insurance, I found Florida to be much more expensive using a general Google search.
- For a $300k home in 2021, the annual insurance premium in Florida was around $3650.
- In Maryland, it's $1525... That makes Florida 2.4x more expensive.

When I was looking on Redfin at actual estimated homeowners insurance around the Cheval/Lutz area for expensive $1M homes with the lowest flooding risk of '1' or 'X', I found the annual premiums to be 5x more expensive than Maryland!
- For a $1M home in Maryland, the annual home insurance estimate is around $2500.
- For a $1M home in Cheval, the annual home insurance estimate is around $12,000... nearly 5x higher!

Does this make sense? I have always heard that auto insurance in Florida is expensive, but my limited research is telling me that it's home insurance that's expensive.

Are you referring to someone who filed numerous claims? I’m just trying to understand where you are getting these extreme high numbers for food zone X.

Maybe Google doesn’t like Florida. But I can tell you what Google told you is incorrect.

[wrat]

Those who choose to go without HOI what about liability ? what if your stuff damages someone else etc?

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Are you referring to someone who filed numerous claims? I’m just trying to understand where you are getting these extreme high numbers for food zone X.

Maybe Google doesn’t like Florida. But I can tell you what Google told you is incorrect.

On the more expensive homes I would agree, however, what you see on a realty website or Google can't be considered accurate, either.

That's because insurance is based not only on the property but on the homeowner's insurance rating. You could have two identical homes next to each other with significantly different homeowner's insurance premiums. You have an insurance score just like you have a credit score. This is a major influence on rates you pay, but probably more so with automotive insurance than homeowners, I'm guessing.

Also consider that the home's age and condition plays into the premiums as well. For instance, if you have a home with a roof that's 15-20 years old, it's likely that no one will insure you. An older home that's not built to recent or current codes may also have a much higher premium as well.

Private insurance rates jumped significantly in the last year as those companies who remain in the market hedge their bets and also try to recover from the two hurricanes we had last year. I saw a nearly 40% increase in premiums when my policy renewed in December on a house that's less than 20 years old with a roof that was replaced a couple years ago.

RM

[DWMachineshop]

Originally Posted by wrat

Those who choose to go without HOI what about liability ? what if your stuff damages someone else etc?

Well, if your tree falls on your neighbors stuff you are not liable. How else could 'your stuff' hurt anyone elses stuff?