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.