[Blueblaze]

Just to give you a comparison between real insurance and a Florida-only company, I just today got my quote for next year on my 2008 concrete patio villa rental with the original roof. No national insurance company that I am aware of will insure a rental in Florida, so I'm forced to stay with a Florida fake insurance company on the rental (which is about half the size of my home), for the liability insurance.

Last year, the State passed a law saying they can't deny coverage on a 15 year old roof that has been inspected (as mine was). So, after that law was passed, my "insurance" company added a rider that removed the roof from coverage except in the case of a named storm, and then hiked my rate 40% to $1,130.12. Before the law was passed to protect me from exactly this kind of thing, the roof had been insured for any risk at replacement value.

This year, after the State passed tort reform, they added a rider that forces me to use arbitration, and applies depreciation to the roof in the case of a named storm (which effectively removes it entirely). They added a bunch of other stuff favorable to themselves, and then hiked my rate 69% to $1,911.27, while claiming it was only a 12% rate hike. All this for a concrete house with steel studs built to hurricane standards, 60 miles from the coast in a place that has never experienced a serious hurricane, with a roof that has five years left on the warranty.

And no, I don't take the fake sinkhole coverage. I can hardly sit down after my Florida Insurance company gets through with me, as it is.

Welcome to Florida!

[Flyers999]

1900 sq ft Designer built in 2003. Insurance company is US Coastal P & C (thru TV Insurance) and my policy includes sinkhole & flood. Premium $2802.

[RICH1]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

I would suggest that you at least view a few new houses to compare what you get. In my opinion, the new houses offer a much better deal than the older ones, and everything is new and under warranty.

The ones in the Wet prairie , and near the Turnpike?

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by RICH1

The ones in the Wet prairie , and near the Turnpike?

I wouldn't buy a house where I could hear turnpike noise, but I think you can find one in the area.

[SusanStCatherine]

Originally Posted by MrChip72

They don't know about the warranty department? Any issue that I've found has been addressed within 72 hours after calling them. We're kind of picky so we've had at least 12 different contractors come out to correct stuff under the one year warranty.

Oh I know about the warranty department and they know about me. I've been trying to deal with them for over 20 months now. Major defects remain (some reported by D'Angelo). Shoddy materials and shoddy workmanship.

Just one example: They backed out of a verbal promise to fix any of our shower wall defects. It will cost us $30K to have them redone properly.

See how picky you are if you can live with this:

Wall tile defects - Google Photos

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

There are lots of new houses being built south of Sawgrass Grove. For about $400 to $500K, you can get quartz countertops, vinyl plank flooring, and a 2 and a half car garage. To me, these new houses are a way better deal than buying a 15 year old house, unless you get a really great lot and/or fantastic upgrades.

Doesn't location, location, location come into the mix? I think the location north of 466A is more prime than down south. But, that is just me. Others prefer to be more south where there isn't much traffic because there aren't many restaurants or retail down there.

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by MrChip72

I've heard more than a few people tell me they were settled on buying a 15-20 year old home between 466 and 466A until they realized the huge difference in what the homes south of 44 are like. The quality of the finishes, the generally bigger homes, and the more modern building materials and appliances make it like a different world almost.

Very recently, hubby and I toured a model home south of 44 being sold by The Villages. The countertops throughout the home were Corian. Yes, Corian. The home was on the market for nearly one million dollars. The sales rep did not have any comeback when I questioned him about the downgraded countertops in the home.

[coffeebean]

Originally Posted by SusanStCatherine

Oh I know about the warranty department and they know about me. I've been trying to deal with them for over 20 months now. Major defects remain (some reported by D'Angelo). Shoddy materials and shoddy workmanship.

Just one example: They backed out of a verbal promise to fix any of our shower wall defects. It will cost us $30K to have them redone properly.

See how picky you are if you can live with this:

Wall tile defects - Google Photos

Oh my goodness. Who did that tile work? The Villages should fire that company stat.

Did someone say the workmanship is really great on these new homes? Did I really read that?

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Doesn't location, location, location come into the mix? I think the location north of 466A is more prime than down south. But, that is just me. Others prefer to be more south where there isn't much traffic because there aren't many restaurants or retail down there.

Location is definitely a consideration. But, there are many restaurants located between Rt 466A and Rt 44 and along Rt 466A. Also, the area south of Rt 44 is getting better. My biggest concern would be to find a house that is not too close to the turnpike.

[Gigi3000]

Originally Posted by Laker14

We bought 2 years ago (close to 2 1/2 years now) in Poinciana. House was built in 2006. There was nothing actually failing with the roof, but we were hearing stories about the difficulty insuring roofs of that age. We had it inspected twice by reputable (not insurance scammers) roofing companies and both said "it's OK now, but within a few years it's going to need replacing"...
Our insurance is with Allstate. Not the cheapest, but I've had them for years up north and I more or less trust them.
Our decision was to go ahead and have a new roof done after one year. I don't know if my insurance would have been a problem or not, but I'm a snowbird and I didn't want to hear about a problem while I was up north.
Also, prices were going up weekly it seemed, so I figured if I did it "now" (one year ago) I might not need to do it again in my lifetime. I might be wrong about that.

We bought where we did because we wanted the location, more or less equally positioned between LSL and Brownwood. For some reason we seem to favor LSL over Brownwood. After 2 1/2 years we are delighted with our choice.

Did your HOI go down with Allstate after the new roof was added?

[justjim]

There are other threads on TOTV regarding homeowners insurance. Our homeowners is through Villages Insurance. Frankly, I believe they do a good job of trying to find the best for your dollars but their “hands are tied “ with the high cost of all homeowners insurance in the State of Florida. Risks are high as noted in another thread but Sumter and Lake (for what it’s worth) are supposedly not as large a risk for claims as some other counties in Florida. Of course, that doesn’t help much when your premium more than doubles or your insurance company cancels you when you have never filed a claim. Needless to say, there are a lot of unhappy Floridians.

[Nucky]

Originally Posted by MandoMan

Do you mean in the Sumter County part of The Villages, or Sumter County outside The Villages, which is often much cheaper but not part of a lifestyle visit? I moved here three years ago and bought a 22 year old home in The Villages in excellent shape (original owners, and he was a retired contractor who did his own home repairs. There was no bond, which saved me over $1000 a year. My agent recommended that for insurance, I contact Jessica Pendry in Sarasota (Phone: (941) 400-8104
Email: jessica@sarasotainsgroup.com) who would find me the best rates for what I want. It was much less than what you are figuring, but about that after I added flood and hurricane insurance. Much less than Allstate, which is among the highest. The house had a one year old roof and one year old HVAC system and passed the Hurricane Mitigation Inspection, which saved me about $500 a year. I sold it recently and moved to a much smaller and cheaper 11 year old courtyard villa. Before selling it, though, I installed a new high quality water heater, though the other one worked, and wall to wall luxury vinyl planking. That saved the new owners a bundle. The carpet I had when I lived there was original.

So, in my new bargain of a house, I had the low quality original carpet replaced with the best luxury vinyl planking—$14,000. I’ve just had the HVAC replaced by a high-end, high SEER system for $10,500. It has a 12 year warranty. The hater heater was already almost new. Fixing up the irrigation system cost $1,600. Garage door repairs and improvements cost $600. (Fortunately, the previous owner lowered the price $35,000 the morning I made my offer out of the blue, and that paid for all the repairs.) These are the sort of things you might need to deal with if you buy a 20 year old house. But 20 years old is NOT old for a house. Most houses in The Villages are well built and well kept up well, partially due to our deed restrictions. Just assume that maintenance work is needed on occasion in all houses, everywhere. A house with a nearly new roof with architectural grade shingles may save you quite a bit of money or make it easier to get insurance.

Another thing: in my first house, just north of 466, and my second house, just north of 466A, I’ve never seen a mosquito, and I rarely see any bugs. When I’ve visited friends who live in new houses in the swamps south of 44, there seem to be a lot more bugs, and having a birdcage helps a lot. Where I live, it isn’t really necessary, due to spraying. I don’t think The Villages is allowed to spray the swamps, as birds and bats and little animals depend on eating them.

Spraying has begun. It's much better than several months ago. I got on a list where they warn you when the Mosquito Treatment will happen so you can adjust your schedule if you wish.

[Aces4]

Originally Posted by coffeebean

Very recently, hubby and I toured a model home south of 44 being sold by The Villages. The countertops throughout the home were Corian. Yes, Corian. The home was on the market for nearly one million dollars. The sales rep did not have any comeback when I questioned him about the downgraded countertops in the home.

That’s a down grade in your mind only, granite is a downgrade in my mind and I’ll take a well planned/ correct color coordinated Corian any day.

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by Gigi3000

Did your HOI go down with Allstate after the new roof was added?

no it did not. I did not expect it to. I was just hoping they wouldn't drop me.

[Bilyclub]

Originally Posted by SusanStCatherine

Oh I know about the warranty department and they know about me. I've been trying to deal with them for over 20 months now. Major defects remain (some reported by D'Angelo). Shoddy materials and shoddy workmanship.

Just one example: They backed out of a verbal promise to fix any of our shower wall defects. It will cost us $30K to have them redone properly.

See how picky you are if you can live with this:

Wall tile defects - Google Photos

You would hope the contractor who did that job was fired.