[Catalina36]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

Just wondering if these are a real threat. They significantly increase the premium.

Thanks

How about the house in a neighborhood inTampa, FL about 4 - 5 years ago. In the early morning with a Man sleeping in his bed. The whole house went into the sinkhole. They never tried to recover the mans body?? The sinkhole was too deep?? They just filled the sinkhole with cement. Glad I did not own a house on that block.

[HeleneGB]

We have sinkhole insurance but not flood insurance.

[Travelhunter123]

Originally Posted by donassaid

Allstate Insurance is the only one I could find that only has a $1000 deductible for sinkhole coverage. All others were 20% co-pay which can be catastrophic.

I have them too. I believe Allstate has extensive sinkhole and hurricane coverage with standard deductible on the sinkhole

[Papa_lecki]

Originally Posted by Catalina36

How about the house in a neighborhood inTampa, FL about 4 - 5 years ago. In the early morning with a Man sleeping in his bed. The whole house went into the sinkhole. They never tried to recover the mans body?? The sinkhole was too deep?? They just filled the sinkhole with cement. Glad I did not own a house on that block.

Don’t think insurance would have helped him.

[Captainpd]

Originally Posted by tophcfa

With the roof scam thing driving insurers out of the Florida market, every year that passes we are happy we can still get basic homeowners at an ever increasing cost. That’s the biggest insurance related risk facing Villages residents.

I'm missing out on this "scam". Inspection by roof company, another inspection by insurance company. Either approved or not approved. Do some roofs "slip by, probably.

[JudyLife]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

Just wondering if these are a real threat. They significantly increase the premium.

Thanks

We have sinkhole with Cabrillo, not that much extra in price on our policy. No to flood due to our location.

[GaryKoca]

I agree with the others. Sinkhole, yes. Flood insurance, no. And I don't think sinkhole insurance raises the premium by that much.

[Mushkie]

Originally Posted by bsloan1960

Just wondering if these are a real threat. They significantly increase the premium.

Thanks

Sink holes can happen anywhere- they have happened several times in The Villages. Most recently, sinks holes impacted a recreation center and golf course. A few years ago, a couple of designer homes were condemned and unlivable until MAJOR $$$$$$ repairs were made.

There are 3 types of insurance- sink hole, catastrophic ground soil collapse and flood.

Catastrophic ground cover collapse coverage is included under your existing home insurance policy- required by law.

However, your claim must meet four requirements before your insurance company will reimburse you for the loss:

1). The abrupt collapse of the ground cover;
2). A depression in the ground cover clearly visible to the naked eye;
3). Structural damage to the insured building, including the foundation; and
4). The insured structure being condemned and ordered to be vacated by the governmental agency authorized by law to issue such an order for that structure.

So you need sink hole to cover any damage that doesn’t meet all 4 criteria.

Hurricane insurance covers damage caused by winds and flood insurance covers damage caused by flooding/rain. Example- if the sewer backs up into your home due to a flooding issue damaging, flood insurance would cover that.

If you have unlimited funds and would have no problem covering anywhere from $15,000 up to well over $100,000+++, then maybe you don’t need.

I have enough funds to live a wonderful life in retirement here in The Villages but not enough to cover these large dollar items, so I have all 3 types of insurance.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

We were worried about waking up one day 50 ft or so underground and decided sink hole insurance would be a good idea

If that happened your catastrophic ground collapse coverage would kick-in and you would be covered and every policy in Florida has this coverage by law.

Also, separate sink hole insurance usually has a large deductable so you need to understand what your deductable is. Usually it's pretty large. So for example say it's $10,000 and you wake up one morning and there is a 5x5 depression in your front lawn. How much do you think the cost would be to fill it in? Then you might say well if i see a small depression how do i know if there is a huge problem under your house, well that insurance won't cover you unless there is an event.

Many of the sink hole occurances a couple of years back were catastrophic ground collapse so depending on where you live the probability may be so low that you are wasting your money. It's almost like the chances of your home getting hit by lightning.

As far as flood insurance, if you live south of 466A the storm water management system here in the Villages makes the chance of you getting a flood very low. You can look at the FEMA maps to see how much your specific home is as risk and then make the assessment. But i would get the sewer backup insurance for sure. It's not expensive.

Getting sink hole and flood insurance is dependend on you tolerance for risk as you see it.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by donassaid

Allstate Insurance is the only one I could find that only has a $1000 deductible for sinkhole coverage. All others were 20% co-pay which can be catastrophic.

How much does this coverage cost? If it's not too expensive then Allstate thinks the probably is very low.

[jrref]

Originally Posted by Catalina36

How about the house in a neighborhood inTampa, FL about 4 - 5 years ago. In the early morning with a Man sleeping in his bed. The whole house went into the sinkhole. They never tried to recover the mans body?? The sinkhole was too deep?? They just filled the sinkhole with cement. Glad I did not own a house on that block.

If he had sink hole insuranced it would have not covered this event. Catastrophic ground collapse would.

[Bilyclub]

We have sinkhole coverage, but not flood insurance. The water would have to get past the golf course homes first to get to us.

[SusanStCatherine]

We have State Farm with extra sinkhole coverage with a reasonable deductible. (Progressive also offers it but the deductible is very high. Allstate offers best rate for sinkhole. ) I believe it covers if the house itself is affected and not the grounds surrounding the house. Sinkholes occur in this area frequently.

Didn't get flood insurance. The Villages apparently has a sophisticated drainage system to avoid water flooding homes. And we're not in flood area. But my agent pretty much required the low cost coverage that covers non-flood water damage like sewer backing up.

[SusanStCatherine]

A couple of houses in St. Catherine had a depression between them that was remediated by The Villages while they still owned the properties. I think it was at a cost about $180,000 per house. I saw this on Sumter county website for permits and saw the work being done. Those houses are probably more stable than others now. But made us want to get extra sinkhole coverage anyway.

[OhioBuckeye]

Yea it’s a gamble, it might seem like it’s not worth it but you’ll be glad you have it if it happens. I don’t know but I think your odds are better if you don’t buy it. But you got to weigh the odds! Tough decision.