Home Insurance
 

Have just renewed with Farmers for $970 - last year it was $1,060 - so happy with that.

Have been told, however, that they won't be renewing Florida policies next year.

Nice!


What year was the home constructed?

Farmers is pulling out of Florida, so this will be the last year with them. We have Farmers as well and just renewed for the last time. By law, they have to send out a 120 day notice of non renewal before dropping you. Our agent told us the non renewal letters were sent out recently and anyone whose policy renews starting February 2024 is out of luck. Their pulling out of Florida is going to leave a huge void and most likely drive up premiums for the remaining insurance providers since it will be more difficult to diversify their overall book of business’s risk profile.

1998 - newish roof, but some original appliances (water heater, HVAC)

Lucky. Just renewed with Progressive/ASI. Last year $1,521, this year $2001

My farmers car insurance went up over 50%. And it’s a group policy through my union

Well, there seems to be one company bright enough to make some money on the Florida insurance debacle.

When I switched to State Farm this year, I was able to double my liability coverage on my home and vehicles, and add a million dollar umbrella policy on my rental (even though they don't even directly insure seasonal rentals), for less than I was paying with USAA.

I asked the agent how they are able to do this when everyone else is pulling out, from all those freakish Florida hurricanes that never happened before, and he told me it was because State Farm has never offered coverage in high-risk coastal areas, and they only sell insurance to people with excellent insurance histories, who don't steal roofs.

Doh! Why didn't anyone else think of that? I guess someone at State Farm must own a map, and discovered that The Villages is 80 miles from the ocean and not a suburb of Tampa!

I’m currently with farmers and expecting a renewal notice sometime in November.
Hope I’m offered a deal like you! 🤞

All the bad insurance now that have really raised our homes. And, they do the same for your auto. Just wait, there is almost identical to the home and auto

Farmers dropped us ..
 

Our homeowners policy was to renew in April and we received the drop notice two days ago. We had two good years of low rates (after paying $250 for qualifying inspections in 2022) so guess we came out ahead for a while.

I just had St. Farm do a quote on our home. They were 20 percent higher than our Travelers. We have a 2005 home with newer roof, and they wanted our business.

If anyone wants a quote, I’ll be happy to provide one. I’m an Allstate agent working remote. Allstate is not writing property however; we have several partners I can provide a quote from. Please feel free to call 954-437-9220 ext. 308 or email hrichardson4@allstate.com. I’ve helped several people in The Villages.

Surprised Beat USAA
 

When I checked Farmers couldn't even come close to USAA's rate. We have 2 homes, 2 autos, personal property and umbrella through them. Oh yeah, cart insurance through USAA third party insurer. Also, get premium rebates twice a year.

Did you bundle all insurance? Use an auto pay option? Two great ways to reduce overall insurance costs. Usually works with any company. Benefit is the policies work together.

Farmers sent me a letter advising they will not renew next year. Their agent now is representing other companies and told me I will need to buy some sort of inspection of the roof, HVAC, & plumbing.

I got online quotes from KIN and all were higher in price, with much less personal property coverage and much higher building replacement coverage.

It would seem to me that a mutual insurance company limiting its coverage area to the Villages, considering the good civil engineering and building standards used to construct this place, could offer appropriate coverage for much lower prices.

Never say never
 

The Villages is 80 miles from the ocean and not a suburb of Tampa!

Never say never, we are 80+ miles from the coast in NC and Hurricane Irene took our roof and several other damages to outbuildings. $28K claim for all the damages. I thought we were safe too. Maybe it's that "Bubble" thing that protects The Villages.

Homeowners Insurance comparisons
 

State Farms quoted us lower than Progressive --Problem State Farms Hurricane deductible over $6000.00 Progressive $500. We stayed with progressive even though there was a rate increase for hurricane coverage. You never know how many hurricanes will hit us and cause damage. Progressive has sinkhole coverage included.

I got my letter from Farmers last week telling us we will not be covered by them next year. Sad to get this because I feel were in the safest location in Florida from hurricanes.

Surprising that the developers haven't done this, and internet.

Insurance risk can be laid off with reinsurance, and internet cabling can be laid as the areas are being built and access auctioned off to the highest bidder amongst the usual suppliers.

I got my Farmers renewal paperwork for another year with a 20% increase ($1,000 to $1,200). Three weeks later I got the letter stating they won’t renew next year when our policy running 12-23 through 11-24 ends. Our roof will turn 15 years old in 2024, so I will have to replace it next year to get a new company willing to write me a reasonable policy. Already got quotes from multiple roofers and pool solar companies and am planning on using McGinnis Roofing and Jacks Solar.

I suppose it can happen, but I suspect it was a tornado that caused all that damage and not the Cat 1 hurricane that Irma might have been once it got to your house.

I lived in Oklahoma for 25 years and had two tornadoes go over my house, one of which removed half my roof. The other one was the remnants of the Oklahoma City Cat-5 that you can read about on-line to this day. It was barely a Cat-1 by the time it crossed the 80 miles to Tulsa.

I lived in Cypress, TX (NW suburb of Houston) for 20 years -- 80 miles from the ocean. During that time I had THREE cat-5 hurricanes go over my house -- even the eye, in the case of Rita. Total Damage? One rotted privacy fence post broke off and had to be replaced.

Why so little damage? Because a Cat-5 hurricane is barely a Cat-1 by the time it crosses 80 miles.

My Tulsa insurance was 20% less than my Cypress, TX insurance. Meanwhile, my Villages insurance, even with State Farm, is TWICE the cost of Cypress, and this little town in Florida has experienced exactly ONE little topical storm in its entire history, which people will call a "hurricane" because that's what it was when it hit the coast.

If ANY insurance company had any sense at all, they would insure The Villages at a lower rate than Tulsa, and quit writing policies in Tampa. They would clean up.

Would the state ins commission let them do that, (only sell ins to "safe" areas)?

Mine with Farmers went UP a hundred bucks or so.

Florida is the world wide leader in litigated claims on a % basis by far. Hopefully this will end soon. Legislators did make it a loss less worthwhile to hire a lawyer to handle an insurance claim.

Tornado 2007 The Villages.This picture does not show the hundreds of vehicles that were demolished. I helped with the clean up effort and the rebuilding of homes. It can happen again, at anytime. The Villages is in a prime corridor.

Also, there have been plenty of homes that have been destroyed by lightening strikes and sink holes. No matter how strong you build homes, Mother Nature can rip them to shreds. The Villages has seen her wrath.

Tornado in Oklahoma City, where the cost of insurance is a fraction of the Villages.
1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado - Wikipedia

This was the damage from the cat-5 that hit Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999. This devastation was a swath a mile wide that continued all the way up the 80 miles of I-44 to Tulsa, gradually losing steam until it passed over my house. The storm produced over 70 documented separate tornados. The cat5 damage continued for 45 miles, from Amber through OKC. A total of 8,132 homes, 1,041 apartments, 260 businesses, eleven public buildings, and seven churches were destroyed -- as in leveled.

We were huddled in a closet when the debris started to hit the house, and we heard the sound of the "locomotive", but had no damage. My next door neighbor lost a bunch of shingles -- sorta like those houses in your picture with the tarps on their roofs, who pay four times as much for insurance, even adjusting for inflation, as I paid in Tulsa.

https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/TWC...3_1999_okc_png

I was here when the tornado hit. For a few days, there was quite a bit of chaos. Then Villagers pitched in to help remove the immense rubble. People tend to focus on hurricanes. They forget about the sinkholes, lightening, and our location for tornados. Insurance rates in the Villages will never go down. We had many natural disasters strike our area. It is not as safe as some people tout. In fact, quite the opposite.

Lightning and sinkholes and one tornado in 20 years, Oh My!

Give me a break! I lived my whole life in tornado alley -- except for the 15 years I spent in hurricane-and-flood-alley Houston. This place is as safe as it gets on planet Earth. Compared to Oklahoma and Texas, it's like living your life in bubble wrap.

Here, we all live in houses built to hurricane standards, designed to withstand 110mph winds, in a place that's never had a hurricane. Half of us live in concrete bunkers with steel studs, for crying out loud!

The topic is insurance and the question is why do we pay four times what I used to pay to insure a frame house in Tulsa, which was not built to any wind mitigation standard at all. I guarantee, the reason has got nothing to do with hurricane risk. It's due to lawyer risk and roof scam risk and lousy government risk and toothless insurance commission risk -- but mostly it's just crooked insurance company risk.

Did you see the picture posted? That was AFTER the cleanup and only one area that was destroyed. I witnessed the destruction with my own eyes. The homes DID NOT withstand the winds. And the cars? Can't even begin to describe. I also saw homes that sunk into sinkholes and a burning house caused by lightening. Read in the news about many more. If you haven't witnessed the destruction here, you really should not correct those who have. The rise in insurance here will continue in part due to the many natural disasters our community has experienced. The roof scam here? Well, that's another story!

Reread the topic. It is about Farmers leaving Florida. Would you continue to insure a state that has been consumed by natural disasters? I believe your Tulsa story is off the topic. So sorry that it happened, but the topic is about Florida.

I hope your home here remains as safe as you believe. For those of us who have lived here for 20+ years, we KNOW that may not be the case. I pray Mother Nature is finished with our community. It is not pleasant to watch neighbors losing their homes.

. Had the same thing with The Hartford. Under $1K to $1.5K

. That's quite remarkable considering all the other data points posted here and in other threads. Did you confirm all your coverages were the same and they didn't change to 6 month billing? :D

At least my taxes went DOWN $100. LOL, That was a surprise.

Did YOU see the picture I posted? That was what a REAL tornado does, in a place where Farmers still services -- at rates 1/4 of what you pay in Florida.

Farmers didn't pull out of Oklahoma after an F5 tornado ripped an 45 mile swath of Oklahoma to the ground -- and then ripped the roofs off countless other homes in ANOTHER 80 mile swath. So why would Farmers leave The Villages -- where the worst disaster that has ever happened was that neighborhood in your picture, where a few people lost some shingles? Good lord, you could take that picture in Oklahoma every other week, every single spring!

You seriously think it's "off topic" for me to point out the LIES these insurance companies are telling you about why they're leaving? Wow, I guess I didn't realize this was supposed to be a pity party for poor little Farmers Insurance, who couldn't make a go of it gouging Villagers so they could sell insurance at a discount to beach dwellers!

How is your tornado in Tulsa REAL and the one in the Villages FAKE? Again, were you here to see the devastation? That picture is ONLY ONE AREA that was hit. It was taken AFTER the clean up and well into rebuilding. You lived in Oklahoma for years, when have you seen a TAME tornado? Or irrelevant lightening strikes that burn down homes, or measly little sinkholes that sink homes into the ground?

Farmers is leaving Florida in part due to many natural disasters throughout Florida NOT ONLY ON THE COASTS. Litigation may also be part of the reason. The examples about the Villages disasters were just EXAMPLES. Take into account these disasters are occurring THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE STATE it is easy to understand why insurance companies are leaving. Florida is not Oklahoma. You can't compare the two.

Is Oklahoma the lightening capital? No, that would be Florida! Does Oklahoma have massive areas throughout the state where sinkholes occur? Does it get destroyed by hurricanes year after year? Waterspouts? Does Oklahoma have those? Unamed storms that flood communities? Sea walls breaking because of too much water? Rivers that flood? Forests that burn because of drought? I can go on....

No
 

Call the Department of Insurance and get the answer.

If you have never weathered a Florida storm, you probably have seen the mass destruction on the news. Old and new homes destroyed. Large commercial buildings turned into rubble. Mother Nature does not pick and choose. The Villages is NOT a safe haven. If a strong storm strikes, there will be mass destruction. Count on it! This happened in 2007 when a powerful tornado came through the Villages and Lady Lake. It was the second worst tornado in Florida history. The tornado spurred smaller tornadoes. In the end, nearly 1300 Villages homes were destroyed. Some worse than others. Thousands of homes in Lady Lake and Deland were also carnaged. This happened when the Villages population was small. Can you imagine the destruction that could occur today?

It can happen anywhere! The cost to rebuild can approach $1 billion or more. This cost includes vehicles and the contents of the homes. There could possibly be relocation, lost wages, hospitalization, and more.

Sadly, my property tax went UP by $250.

Get Ready to pay 2500….and more

Top 10 states for lightning:
U.S. top states by total lightning count 2021 | Statista
#1: TEXAS
#2: Florida
#3: OKLAHOMA

Sinkholes in Oklahoma:
5 Sinkholes In Oklahoma That Will Leave You Terrified

Waterspouts? Seriously? A cat-1 tornado over the ocean? Seriously? WHO CARES!

Your Villages tornado is only fake compared to a typical Oklahoma tornado. I have personally witnessed countless areas of total devastation like in my picture. Pictures like yours of houses with missing shingles don't even make the news in Tulsa.

Hurricanes only cause massive damage on the coast -- which is totally irrelevant to the Villages. My entire point is that the Villages is not at risk from hurricanes. WE ARE NOT TAMPA.

Floods? Would you like to see some pictures of the '86 Tulsa flood? '84? Would you like to know why there hasn't been such a flood in Tulsa in 30 years? Because they implemented the EXACT SAME FLOOD CONTROL MEASURES THAT THE VILLAGES HAS ALWAYS HAD. Would you like to see some pics of my Houston home during Harvey -- outside of any flood zone whatsoever -- with flood water lapping the foundations of my house and barn, while we were stranded for a week until the roads became passable? I spent the next few weeks helping neighbors clean up, who also didn't live in a flood zone but weren't so lucky.

The point is, real disasters happen everywhere, and a lot more often in Oklahoma, Texas, and Tampa than the Villages. The point of this thread is, WHY IS INSURANCE IN THE VILLAGES 4 TIMES THE COST OF OTHER STATES AND WHY IS FARMERS BAILING OUT?

I guarantee it has NOTHING to do with the weather!

If you believe the Villages is safe and there is NO REASON to raise insurance rates, why don't you open an insurance company? You can charge Oklahoma rates to every client. Let's see how that works out for you.

BTW: You might want to check which state has the most claims yearly before opening your Cheap Rates Insurance Company. Florida wins for Lightening. Hurricane Claims- Florida wins AGAIN. Sinkholes-Who would of guessed? It's Florida! Flooding? Claims vary year to year, but Florida is always in the top 5.