I am willing to take the risk of property damage. No mortgage - no bank telling me what to do. I am not willing to risk liability of someone suing me for whatever hangnail is the next money making scheme. Has anyone out there in TV been able to insure their home for liability only ?

Citizens Property Insurance
 

Some TOTVers feel this topic has been discussed here too often, but I thank the OP for once again “bringing it to the table,” because it’s not going away. This is a Florida problem. According to the last 2020 census 97.1% of Floridians live “on the coastline.” Having different rates for different localities isn’t going to save us. We are in this together. We need billions of dollars to repair the damage done by last season’s hurricanes, not to mention hurricanes in the future. How many billions? Some articles say $109 billion, some $40 billion, but whatever it is, it is so high that the government has to get involved. I know Florida experienced an 11-year hurricane drought back in the 1994-2005, but apparently, we can’t depend on that happening again, anytime soon.

Here my solution, which we already have in place, sort of:

Insurance company’s homeowners' insurance no longer will cover wind or flood damage. Your homeowner's insurance will cover everything else, i.e., fire, liability, theft, etc. This would cut your insurance bill by a lot, say from $3,000 per year to $1,200 per year. The government would cover the wind/flood damage. They already have a fund for covering residential units that ins. companies won’t insure; it’s called Citizens Property Insurance which is a nonprofit company run by the Florida state government. Citizens is an "insurer of last resort." It only insures properties that private companies won't cover or won't provide affordable insurance for.

Citizens Property Insurance will be funded by an increase in your property taxes, which would increase by 1% of your home’s value.

Here’s the formula. There are 7,302,947 residential housing units in Florida. The average cost of a house in Florida is $377,000. Multiply 377k x 0.01 x 7,302,947 = $27.5 billion.

Of course, there could be some allowances made for the poor like disqualify those whose homes are worth less than $100k. So, they would get this insurance for free, but not entirely.

Not done yet, we will still need to adjust the claims, which should be your insurance company (I believe this is how Citizens Property Insurance does it, or do they hire their own adjusters?) . You would have to buy “regular” homeowners insure from a legitimate insurance company which must cover the basics like fire, theft, liability, etc. Then you would automatically be covered by Citizens Property Insurance for the wind/flood.

Don't like it? Well, what's your alternative? And not "the ins. companies and the government should get together and work something out." We want details.

Wait, what?!? 1% per year? That would roughly double the current real estate tax.....

Interesting post.

We are going to have to pay high insurance premiums or move out of the state or come up with an innovative idea to pay for hurricane damages.

97% live on the coastline??? What is the definition of coastline?? I saw that it was about 75%.

Florida

Well it sounded good even if somebody made it up.

Rebuilding and replacement costs went up 55% between 2019 and 2022. And reinsurance has gone up between 30% and 40% after years of losses in the industry.

Why it's becoming harder and more expensive to get homeowners insurance | CNN Business

I believe that what the insurance industry really wants is the ability to require mandatory mediation for claims without letting policy holders go to court. Lawsuits in court cost insurance companies billions of dollars. Lawyers advertise on billboards and television that they can get you big money for your pain and suffering, so people sign up. Sometimes insurance companies fight the suit, but often they decide that it’s cheaper to settle, even for a lot of money. With the roof replacements, what happened is that lawyers threatened to sue if the replacement wasn’t covered, and insurance companies decided replacing the roof might cost $15,000, and fighting in court might cost the company $25,000 and take a year per case. They did what was cheaper and just raised our prices. A mediator might deny most of those roof claims.

Of course, lawyers in Florida have a lot of lobbyists talking to legislators, who know where their bread is buttered. The result is that they get to keep suing insurance companies, a few people get jackpots, and the rest of us pay more and more to insurance companies. Chances are (wild guess), if you weren’t allowed to sue insurance companies, your insurance would drop by a third.

Also, the cost to insurance companies for hurricanes is spread nationwide. It’s not just Florida insurance companies. And then the insurance companies also buy into re-insurance pools that are nationwide and help them cover the cost.

If the Ins. companies paid for all the damages without the help of their clients they would go broke , no way they could fork out millions maybe billions & stay in business, yes I’m one of these stiffs that’s getting higher rates. Ins. companies are big scams on the tax payers!

38 years in Insurance Claims…. The largest cost to insurance companies is law suites many of which are unwarranted. We need tort reform! Second the HO policies in FL need to have limitations on things like roofing… it should not be replacement cost it needs to be actual cash value ACV where your roof is depreciated based on age and condition. It may come to placing maximum limits on policies in order to keep costs down and companies willing to sell insurance here in FL. The National Flood policy placed limits on the amount you can collect many years ago.

I tried to find something online about many claims are filed, how many are denied, how many end up in suit, how many go to trial, and how many end up with verdicts for plaintiffs and how many end with the insurance company winning. I couldn’t find any information.

Anyone here have any idea what the numbers are? If the cases go to trial and the insurance companies constantly lose, they probably should settle.

And do they usually lose in court but win in arbitration or mediation?

You know I know someone in TV that their Ins. company wouldn’t renew their Ins. Policy until she had a new roof put on her house & a new Water Heater. I’m thinking why didn’t they tell them the yr. before or a few yrs. before they spent lots of money for they’re Ins. To me that’s a rip off! This is how Ins. companies stay in business, they’re other clients are paying for other peoples damage if I’m wrong tell me or explain it to me!

By that may we assume you mean the 47% that pay no tax?????

Jimmy One Note is back.....

Whatever is done, it should not be to protect the insurance companies. The only reason there are so many law suits is because insurance companies are oriented to first deny the claim then they delay the claim. They do so so that the policyholder, strapped for cash to conduct the necessary repairs will take anything to get their life back in order.

Insurance companies love to pass the blame off to the plaintiff's bar, when, instead the blame falls plainly on the insurance companies. Moreover, insurance, originally created to share the risk of harm over a lot of policyholders now make a good chunk of their money by investing the premiums paid by policyholders in the markets. If you think this is not true, why not read Berkshire Hathway's annual report? That is Warren Buffett's company. Pay attention to how GEICO, a BH subsidiary, makes money.

As to roof repair, if the insurance company wrote policies to cover roof repair or replacement, then they should have to pay for roof repair or replacement. We, as citizens, should not protect the insurance companies from their own folly.

As to premiums, I think I would rather pay $3k per year to cover my $400 K house from catastrophes. And, if the insurance companies find they need to boost the premium, with the assent of state regulators, then that is what insurance is all about. As a home owner, I simply have to make a decision...hmmm...400k versus 3 or 4K.