A new report ranks Florida as the most expensive state in the nation for home insurance, a dubious distinction that is straining homeowners’ budgets and increasingly threatening the state’s economy.
The average premium for a typical homeowners policy is $1,933 in Florida, according to the latest data released this week by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
The rest of the story…
I see folks who are losing their homes due to increases every week. There is nothing lower than insurance company scum. Well I guess people who harm others or animals are worse. The sad thing is what the insurance companies are doing is legal, WTF…
How are insurance companies screwing FL residents?
I don’t know myself.
I would like to know why we get hit so hard and the surrounding states are not.
It’s not a capitalist market. The state has refused to open the door to allow open competition in the insurance industry. This keeps rates high.
Sounds about right for Florida.
That’s not quite the story I heard. The big players pulled out on their own to avoid exposure. Florida just couldn’t do anything about it except create Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.
Does anyone know the actual claims paid vs. premiums collected for Florida?
I think a big part of the problem is all policies have to be written on replacement cost. So take a home that you bought for 50k and have to insure it for 150k. That is just one way the state has screwed up the industry.
That’s the way I heard it too…same as Flood insurance I believe.
Now the state is creating smaller ins. companies (through subsidies) as a get rich quick scheme I believe. Once a disaster hits will see how well they fare.
Let’s see…
Give you a rate tied to your mortgage.
Next, send a letter saying you don’t have a sticker on your front door saying it is rated, even though the home was permitted in 2003, so your wind mit credits are gone.Rate increase.
Next, because your home was plumbed with PEX, dropped coverage. Due to your mortgage clause, forced-placed insurance is implemented…at triple the cost of your original insurance. And all of this occurred in the six months since your purchased your home.
I have a client now who got dropped for having aluminum wiring.Force placed insurance. He has been in the home for 20 years.
Micheal, buy a house in Florida, especially South Florida and try to get insurance. It is quite a game they are playing. Luckily, where I am moving to, my insurance is less than the average. 
Do you think the insurance companies should be forced to charge less than the real cost of coverage?
Since the companies appear to have very low reserves, where do you imagine the money to pay claims will come from when the next wide spread disaster strikes?
If there is fraud and abuse that’s another matter.
You do have a state regulator, right?
Maybe FL has become over built and the risks of major losses to high causing the large increases in premiums.
I wouldn’t like it either but insurance companies must make a profit to survive.
Mitigation efforts need to continue and perhaps more competition is in order.
I have a sneaking suspicion that government is a major cause of the increased premiums.
They almost always are when they mandate and restrict.
The insurance cost is based on the replacement cost of the structure. It is why the wind mits and 4-points are a big scam. Worse case scenario, in a major hurricane for instances, the home blows away. What was the coverage based on again?
Mitigation really isn’t a factor, it is just another way to create jobs, that never materialized, and make money, at the expense of the homeowner.
Wander down to the Keys and find one of those old, old houses. Build a new home next to it. In a major storm, which home would you stay in?
Virtually every home in Dade, Broward, and Monroe counties, built in the last 100 years, could withstand a cat 3 storm. Somehow, the powers that be, couldn’t fathom, that a storm might drift north on occasion. All of Florida should have always been considered a high wind velocity zone.
These are the same clowns that are rebuilding the roads down here…one lane at a time!
I understand.
BUT
If the premiums are higher than some think they should be, where does the excess money go?
They are not holding high reserves of cash according to the information provided.
If there is corruption it needs to be prosecuted.
I dislike insurance too but when ever there is a major event in this region rates tend to go up.
This was from last year, so the numbers are even more skewed.
I am pretty sure on my recent insurance bill, there was a portion to “Citizens Fund” or something like it. My insurance company is Peoples Trust and I am still paying Citizens!
I don’t know how large a reserve they should have but that it is not building in even with higher premiums makes one go hmmmmm.
Sounds to me like more choices are badly needed. More policy choices and more insurance companies and that is all controlled by the state government.
It is true that home insurance in Florida is most expensive among the nation. There are many developers like Albanese builders say that it is due to its geographic location which make it susceptible for severe problems such as hurricanes, tropical storms etc.