Tampa Homeowners Insurance Question (Spring Hill: lease, home owners insurance, how much)

[No.44]

Hello all,

I'm having a bit of trouble with Homeowners Insurance in Tampa and I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on how to handle it....

First off - I just bought a house in city limits. Due to the age of the home (the original section built in 1940, with a major addition in 2003) apparently I can only get Citizens to insure the home.

So according to Citizens replacement cost calculator, the replacement cost is around $205K. This is a pretty high premium, but insures the home at around $100/sq ft. I believe that is about the going rate of construction (which will go up if there is ever any "disaster" in the area.

The appraisal of the home came up at about $140K. That is a much lower premium, however, only insures the home at around $70/sq. ft. I feel that this is very much underinsuring the property.

However, Citizens will not insure the property for any number in between...
This seems strange, but now I'm stuck between paying too much in my opinion, or not enough.

Of course, in this case I am going to err on the side of overinsuring, however, before I make this fairly expensive investment (which equates to about a $700 difference in yearly premium) I would like to see if anyone has any alternatives for me. I'm pretty new to the whole insurance thing anyway, so I'm wondering if there's like supplemental insurance or maybe companies other that Citizens that will insure older properties?

Does anyone have a take on this? Please let me know at your convenience. Thank you all so much for your time!

-44

[rapscallion2009]

Hei No.44...you've really raised a good question here...hopefully someone knowledgeable can give an answer...I recently purchased a house and was quoted one thing, which seemed a little low, but I was happy to get the cheap premium, 'cuz I'm on a tight budget...then three weeks later I got a letter in the mail from the insurance company telling me they reevaluated the cost to rebuild my home and increased the premium by $580...it was quite a shock when you're on a tight budget to get an unexpected request for $580, but at the same time, I want to be sure that I'm appropriately covered...I don't really think my house would cost as much to rebuild as they are suggesting, but there isn't really any way to find out without paying a contractor to do an extensive inspection and construction estimate...I really hate that insurance companies have home-owners at their mercy...anyway...good luck...here's to hoping you get a good answer that can benefit the forum members...

...wishing the best...JPR...

[Spring Hillian]

Keep in mind that after a disaster the costs of building materials and labor skyrockets.
The insurance companies have to take that into consideration when they figure a re-build cost.

[djdelite]

yes i hear a lot about high cost insurance all the time down here...Do u think if I was to rent someone's home they would make me responsible to tackle those insurance cost or would they automatially attack that themselves?

[No.44]

If you rented a house chances are that the insurance would be built into the rent. You would not have to find insurance for yourself, but you need to double check that on any lease you sign.

Its also advisable to get renter's insurance (very cheap) to cover your contents if you are in a high risk area - which in FL is mostly anywhere during hurricane season or in a flood zone.







So nobody has any other alternatives for me regarding the initial question?

-44

[HughMcs]

No. 44,
If you don't mind me asking just how much are you paying for insurance at $100 per sq. ft and how much did it cost to purchase the home. My wife and I are looking to buy a retirement home in the Tampa area but don't want to put a bid on a home only to find out the insurance is too expensive. Did your policy include sinkhole insurance?

[housingcrashsurvivor]

I've got a property on high ground and away from the beaches with two houses on it adding up to about 2k sq ft. The total $2700 in annual insurance premiums (homeowner's with wind but no flood) with separate policies for each structure is 16% less than what I pay for just one house nearer the beach in south Florida. So though I'm certain I could rebuild for significantly less than what the insurance company insists I be insured for, based upon what I pay in south Florida, Tampa insurance seems pretty reasonable to me, the result of having gotten used to getting ripped off, the price for peace of mind.

[Leigh_and_Anthony]

We own a house in South Tampa (in a flood zone). We paid $180,000 for our house (1300 square feet) 1 1/2 years ago. We have Citizens insurance and pay $500 a year for flood insurance and less than $200 a month for home owners insurance.

[melannewis]

Hey. I am an insurance agent in Collier County. I understand exactly what you are talking about. The comment that Spring Hillian made is a very valid point. When determining replacement cost the insurance company does need to factor in for a catastrophe and the additional costs for higher demand on supplies and labor. A good example in Collier County is when hurricane Charlie came through. Prior to Charlie an average screen enclosure would cost approximately $13,000. After Charlie the costs for an average screen enclosure skyrocketed to $30,000. When the company determines the replacement cost of your property they take basic information about your property (such as square footage, number and type of bathrooms, type of flooring, etc...) and through a computer estimation program determine the estimated replacement cost of your home. When you purchased this policy your agent should have asked you information regarding your flooring, bathrooms etc... to help ensure that the replacement cost estimate was done correctly. If your agent did not do this, I would request that they redo the estimator with you to check the replacement value of your home. This typically takes about 15 minutes over the phone. If the agent refuses to do this with you I would contact another office to get quotes and be sure to tell them that you want to do a replacement cost estimator prior to getting quotes. The replacement cost estimators are only as good as the information that is put in the system and can vary by tens of thousands of dollars with different variations/combinations of information. I believe more than likely that the Replacement Cost that you have is fairly close to what is should be if not maybe a little low (based on a living area of about 2000 sq ft). I hope this helps!!