Required insurance: Hurricane?
 

My old co-worker told me he is hesitant about considering a move to Florida due to the higher property taxes and he heard expensive hurricane insurance was required.

I can vouch that property taxes are higher than what he pays now, but not higher than what he used to pay in a bluer state. I cannot speak to hurricane insurance specifically, is it required? If so is it generally expensive (more than $100/month) with realistic deductible ($5K to $10K)?

it's only required if you have a mortgage and a stipulation made by the lender

I would have been way ahead of the game if I had self-insured during the 27 years we've owned either a second or primary home in Florida

it all depends on the level of risk you are willing to take...

IMHO, regardless of where you live, the cost of living pretty much levels out to be close to the same amount, all things considered

It depends if you live in coastal communities with mortgage you are required to have WIND AND STORM DAMAGE policy the deductible may be as low as $500 BUT if it's a declared named storm deductible is 2% of the value of the home.
Also in coastal areas if you have a mortgage FLOOD INSURANCE premiums are assessed at the elevation of your home/dwelling on flood estimate levels.
My home in the Villages has $1000 deductible if damage is caused by a named storm my deductible will be 2% no other policy is required, unless you feel you may need FLOOD INSURANCE. my elevation above sea level is 75 feet the closest body of water is 20 feet what are the odds if I lived on Evan Prairie I might consider it.

The deductible is higher than your regular homeowners insurance.
Suggest that he consider the savings on state income tax as an offset to the higher real estate taxes and insurance.

No state income tax, and lower property taxes compared to what we paid in the northeast...... the extra for insurance is still a win for us. Your mileage may vary.

Oh wait, do you mean in a NORTHERN state? :ohdear: Anyway, our taxes for a whole year here are like it was 2 months up north and that includes the bond and for us the COL is substantially less. And no hurricane or flood insurance was required.

If you want low insurance premiums stay away from the coast. In Palm Beach County insurance is 4X higher than in Sumter County. As others have said deductibles are a % of the home value. Chances of having a hurricane claim in Sumter County are very low.

People are people. Gossip is gossip. As to hurricane insurance, I would call an insurance company. If, you are not in Florida where ever you are assuming you have home insurance they can discuss it with you.

We've been in the Villages for 10 years and got hit with only ONE hurricane. Our home suffered no damage.

Insurance is you paying a company to accept part or all the risk. The cost of course due to competition will be according to the risk. Assuming you own the property no mortgage, you can SELF INSURE-you cover all damages to your property and damage you might cause to others..

well if you are talking TN, that's just because he's stuck at the old tax rate like most of them. So while it will go up it's really not as bad as he thinks.

The hurricane crap - this is center state it's not required by any lender. now if he wants to live coastal well... heck we didn't even have it required over there either. To be more specific is that there isn't a special add on for it, it comes in your coverage under natural disaster. We've been through 4 hurricanes on the coast and honestly never had a claim or damage, although if we did it would have been covered.

I'd be more concerned with wind mitigation items that make sense because not all of them are worth the spend to get the savings.

Hey while you're at it just for s*** and grins ask him why he isn't worried about alligators, snakes, vultures, etc LOL

Coming from the west coast, it’s much cheaper here. Because of the forest fires, insurance was getting crazy expensive. In TV, you don’t really need anything except your normal home policy, which covers hurricane damage and sink holes. Although, we are not in a flood zone, we took a policy out just because it was so darn cheap we might as well.

self insure?

lawyers
 

and higher because or morgan & the lawyer billboards convincing people to sue for millions for every little thing

Don't forget to add the cost of a new roof every 10 years, whether you need it or not.
Ocala Post - Florida insurance companies dropping policies for 10-year-old roofs regardless of manufacturer recommendations

Big business rules in Florida so I would not presume that having coverage, particularly for sinkholes, covers much. A few years ago coverage was reduced, to benefit the insurance companies.

Remember the surf side building collapse? Another example of insurance companies getting their way in removing the inspection guidelines. Beware.

Over 100% of our total cost of living (outside of home purchase cost) in Florida is paid from the income tax we no longer pay in our northern blue state. Property taxes are about the same and insurance is about the same.

The one difference with insurance is that we have to keep jumping from one no-name company to the next. We have not been able to get home insurance from a name company either at all or only with a horrendous premium.

Ohiobuckeye
 

Don’t know where you live but we moved to Texas & property taxes here are a heck of lot more here than In TV. But it seems like we are a lot further ahead money wise here, with all other expenses. No property taxes in Florida were the same as we paid in Ohio. I’ll take Oh. or FL. anytime over TX.

He enjoys his TN costs now, but quickly recalls the craziness of costs in his more native CA (No, not "up north").

Thank you for your insight and experience. I appreciate the input.
As for the gators, vultures, etc... well let's just say he spent his career well armed and isn't worried about scavengers or predators regardless of how many legs they have.

peoples trust
 

peoples trust 15+ years .. still cheapest

Hurricane Insurance etc. - sinkhole
 

We moved from VA and generally found that property tax and all insurances were more expensive BUT remember there is no FL income tax nor personal property tax. In VA, for example, we had to pay personal property tax on vehicles and boats which in our case was over $2k per year.

I know that the HO insurance company I had before broke out a line item for hurricane AND sinkhole (Don't forget the sinkhole risk) but my current HO covers both for $1,227 per year which I felt is on par for what I paid in VA.

Remember that there is a separate deductible for hurricane and for sinkhole based on the dwelling liability overage you have in the policy. These can vary by carrier. Mine is 2% for Hurricane and 10% for sinkhole.

Hope this is helpful.

We moved from SoCal where we did have earthquake insurance when the Northridge earthquake hit in 1994. Insurance paid $ 300,000 to put the house back together. So here in TV we sleep better knowing we are insured for wind, water and sink holes.

A lot of the talk about high insurance rates and taxes is based on where in Florida you look at. For us, our taxes and insurance are much lower than in Illinois and Atlanta, GA. Also remember, NO state income tax.

We lived in a rural area up north in a home comparable in size to ours here in TV. Our property taxes here in FL are slightly less than one-quarter of what they were up north! Even if we add a year's worth of amenity fees, total cost is still under half of what they were up north. Homeowners' insurance is comparable, certainly not particularly higher. You need to consider WHERE in Florida; that can make a difference, in some cases a huge difference.