Mudder, I'm curious about your home. Is it all electric or is it gas. Our home has gas and I'm unhappy with the gas line being in the attic. Obviously your home did not catch fire or if it did it wasn't a total loss. The last couple of years a few homes went up in flames after a lightning strike and were a total loss. Another question if I may, do you have lightning rods. That is a controversial subject and one that I've debated for some time. The lightning strikes in central Florida are awesome and something to behold; evidentially we have the most lighting strikes of any place in the country. Thanks and good luck with your recovery. Now back to the topic, I agree that insurance is extremely important.

Our house is all electric, I happen not to like gas, never had it in any house we've had. Just my personal choice. Lived in Tampa for 13 years, have seen lots of big lightning and heard lots of ginormous thunder, but this one took the cake ! The firemen said that it was lucky we were home, when the house is vacant it sometimes is to late by the time the neighbors are aware of anything. Sorry I can't help with any gas questions. And no, our house doesn't have any lightning rods, but we're considering it now. By the way we live in El Cortez so the house is 19 years old. We were told by neighbors that this house had another direct hit about 14 years ago in just about the same place.

Mudder, your upbeat outlook on your situation is refreshing! :coolsmiley: Hope the repairs, etc. all work out well for you with minimal hassles - - -

Bill :)

Thank you for answering my questions Mudder. I guess lightning can strick twice in the same place. I too admire your upbeat attitude and wish you the best.

Mudder:

WOW! Great attitude. I hope everything works out for you.

Chi Town have you
 

requested Wind inspection (free)....Will definitely reduce your rate!
Our Premiers insurance with Village Insurance with ALL coverage except (if our attack dog??, dachshund, should bite) was $1100.

Thanks everyone. Our three year old grandson is here visiting so it's a great distraction ! It was quite a dramatic welcome for him and his parents who came from Seattle ! Otherwise I'd be pacing the floor waiting for everything to get fixed.

Homeowner insurance
 

WOW! Just got our renewal, it went up $810. this year.

Without boring anyone ...if anyone posting on this thread understands the benefits of property/casualty insurnce iot is me. However in that same vien, I have never been anywhere wherein I have witnessed rate increases to this magnitude. I really resent that I am subsidizing homeowners all along the coast line. There is not way an insurer can justify these % of increases based the the loss experience in this area

jebartle, what is Wind inspection? I talked to the Villages Insurance today, and they told me that the state insurance commissioner gave the OK to the insurance companies to raise their rates. Evidently there was a ceiling in place that the companies said was unfair and they needed to catch up. Beware of new yearly bills is all I can say.

My agent told me that Florida insurers are either raising rates, reducing coverages, or both, or canceling policies. she claims that people will be getting hefty increases at their renewals. One of the reduction of coverages is with sinkholes

Insurance when we were renting was a little less - you cannot get replacement insurance when you are renting it out. Ours went up a little (around $800) last fall when we moved down and quit renting it out. I think it was just under $600 5 years ago when new, and has risen slightly most years, might still be under $800. 3 BR CYV.

By the way, The Villages Insurance is an agency, not the carrier. We have ASI. Most carriers limit their Florida exposure and only take a certain # of properties in Florida, even if you are not on the coast, although coastal premiums are higher. Will be waiting to see if ours has a big jump on renewal this fall. Hope not. Maybe some of you have larger premiums because of high liability coverage? as well as low deductibles?

I just took out a policy two weeks ago on a new Savannah Woodlawn Courtyard Villa in Tamarind Grove. I used Sherri Miller at Villages Insurance and requested ASI, however she said they have stopped writing policies and set me up with American Integrity. Replacement value of $160,000 with sink hole and wind storm came to $532 a year. It didn't seem too bad since I pay about that same amount in Maryland for a $265,000 home but without hurricanes or sink holes.

It appears to me that insurance commisioner kevin mccarty just rubberstamps anything the most profitable insurance companies tell him to....................what will these massive increases do to property value?Is an appointed commisioner best for the citizens, or the insurance companies?I think that he should be invited to speak at one of the Squares ,I am sure that he would be more then happy to stand at the podium and answer any quetions as to why the people in the villages should have to subsidize the people in his part of the state!!

When did these increases start? I renewed my home owners policy in April with no increase over last year.

In the 1970's several large insurers bolted against the state of New Jersey because the state had unlimited No Fault coverage and would not grant premium increases. So the large insurers State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate, etc. told the State that they would stop writing auto. So the State told the insurers if you won't write auto you won't write anything. Some of these companies pulled out and left a capacity gap which the state tried to plug with a JUA which went broke. Sound familiar hint, Citizen Property. So NJ made peace with the insurers and after better than 10 years they came back to the State. It appears the large insurers told the state of Florida they would pull out and the rest is extraordianry increases.

For those of you who have not received your renewals yet...be prepared for future sticker shock

We just switched from SF to ASI via AAA in May. We have been with SF for 30 some years and when we become frogs next year we will change insurance for everything else to AAA. why continue to support an insurance company with ur other insurance needs when u don't or can't use them for ur homeowners insurance? You lose ur multi coverage discount then. We were going to pay $1600 for a 1800sqf patio villa down to $850.

Article in Orlando Sentinal on sinkhole insurance today..

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...0,358515.story

Is this bologna? Is TV in what they call a high risk area? I had heard of a few issues but not many for an area as large as TV.
Thanks.
JJ

I saw this article and called my agent ... he tells me that there is a huge problem with fraudulent claims, currently in the area west of I75 in the Tampa area, BUT he has seen ads for "sinkhole adjusters" in TV and predicts it will only be a matter of time ... FWIW ... maybe the new legislation will slow the fraudulent claims ...

Here is an online map of sink holes in Fl. Go to the county you live in then check on the zoomify version for a closer look.

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/maps/gal...oles/index.php

2008 maps
 

Wonder what current map looks like?

Home owners insurance rates
 

Anyone want to weigh in on currant rates and coverages.

Current homeowners' insurance rates as of Feb, 2012: Dwelling coverage is for $290,000 (excludes land value). Includes $500 deductible for sinkholes and hurricanes. Cost is around $1,050.

Anyone use AARP (Hartford)??
 

I use AARP for auto and H/O in CT. Has anyone got coverage with them down here?

Who do you have insurance with?

Our HO insurance is with Security First Insurance. We purchased it from AllState near Walmart on 466. You can get a quote from Elaine Fissette at (352) 753-4340.

Unfortunately that's what happens when you lose alot of large insurance carriers to compete with. Supply and demand. I guess the most important thing is that insurance to cover a loss is available, and they are solvent enough to pay the claim.

Thanks for info. I did call them, but Elaine was busy so I talked to Mike. He said that all of their companies don't write policies covering the minor sinkhole, only the catastrophe sinkhole.

So, I have called the Villages Insurance who want me to go with Ark Royal, which is a sister company to ASI. The agent said that ASI stopped writing policies in this area over a year ago.

Has anybody dealt with Ark Royal?

What is a minor sinkhole?

There are two types of Sinkhole coverage and you really need to know what you have in your policy. All Florida policies will have catastropic ground cover collapse coverage with the typical deductible at what ever your all perils deductible is for your policy. Most are written at either $500 or $1000 deductible. This insurance kicks in when your house is ordered to be vacated by government authority and at the point of being condemed. Alot of people assume this type of coverage to be "sinkhole insurance" but its all in the definitional terms.

The Issue before us that is causing the high insurance rate increases deals with 'Sinkhole loss" which is defined as the gradual movement of earth supporting your property(or sinkhole activity) and typically idenitifed with cracks in the wallls or foundations, or doors and windows cannot open properly. This is the so called "Minor" sinkhole loss but believe me if you need repairs for this type of damage it is very expensive. This type of damage does not get the front page newspaper reports and your house is not typicaly ordered to be vacated by a government authority.

Do not confuse Catastropic Ground Cover Collapse as being sinkhole insurance that covers gradual movement of earth supporting your property. They are totaly different in what they cover and their cost and deductibles. To make many policies affordable for sinkhole coverage that includes "gradual earth movement" companies are starting to impose a 10% deductible on such coverage. For a home valued at $300,000 and insured for $250,000 (no land), your deductible (OR YOUR OUT OF POCKET EXPENSE) would be $25,000 before the insurance company would start paying. This makes the hurricane deductible at 2% seem like a bargain.

Our annual bill just came in. Raised the hurricane coverage. all in all 10% increase

I agree with you Russ!! I'd rather we could stick to the question or statements, WITHOUT bringing politics into the fore front!! Keep up the good work. Hopefully we can get back to Property Insurance, and find out if we can get a higher deductable on Sinkhole Insurance to bring premium down?? :bigbow: