Archive for November 2009

The Coming Florida Home Insurance Rate Increases – What You Can Do to Fight Them Off

After a few years of limited relief, they are back again – Florida home insurance rate increases.

At the present time, they are coming in many shapes and sizes:

So where does that leave you as a Florida home insurance consumer during these difficult economic times?  On the defensive as usual.

Here’s what you need to do to fight back against these Florida homeowners insurance rate increases:

Last but not least, check out the Florida home insurance buyers guide located at:

www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

The buyers guide helps you find, screen, and contact Florida homeowners insurance companies still writing new business in the Florida county where you live.

When you use the Florida home insurance buyers guide you find out exactly who open for business in your county, what types of home they are looking for, and you get a buyers guide rating that helps you quickly narrow the field to the best Florida home insurance companies available in your area.

Don’t take these Florida home insurance rate increases lying down.  Check out the Florida home insurance buyers guide today.

The Best Way to Find a Great Florida Home Insurance Company

As the Florida home insurance crisis continues it is becoming more difficult to find a great Florida home insurance company.

Why?

Because most of the large, national, well capitalized Florida home insurance companies have all but left the market.

What is left for you as a consumer to consider is a very limited group of about 40 Florida homeowners insurance companies to consider.

Many of these Florida insurance companies have come into existence since the 2004/2004 Florida hurricanes.  So they tend to be small, have no prior Florida hurricane processing experience, and do not have much surplus cash available to pay Florida hurricane claims.  And since they are just starting up, they haven’t had any time to diverify their risk across both Florida and into other states.

What’s the best way to find a great Florida home insurance company?

Check out the Florida home insurance buyers guide located at:

www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

The buyers guide helps you find, screen, and contact Florida home insurance companies still writing new business in your Florida county.

The guide contains only those Florida home insurance companies still writing new business in your county.  These are private Florida home insurance companies that can keep you out of Citizens Property Insurance.

The guide also helps you to screen the companies by using a buyers guide rating that helps you stack rank each company and develop a short list of companies to consider.  It also provides you with high level underwriting guidelines so that you get a good idea of which Florida home insurance companies will cover an older home or a home near the Florida coast.  The Florida home insurance buyers guide makes it easy for you to figure out exactly who is interested in covering your Florida home.  And it provides you with the information you need to contact both the Florida home insurance companies and the Florida homeowners insurance agents who represent them.

Best of all, the home insurance buyers guide saves you thousands because it allows you to get a Florida homeowners quote from every company in your county considering your type of home.

In short the buyers guide will help make sure that you don’t miss a great Florida home insurance company interested in covering your home. 

That’s a risk you can’t afford to take during these difficult times.

State Farm Florida – Leaving the State After 47% Rate Increase Rejected

After being turned down by the State of Florida for an average increase in Florida home insurance rates of 47%, State Farm Florida has decided that it will abandon the Florida home insurance market.

This is not good news as State Farm Florida covers over 700,000 homes accross the State.

And there is a great deal of concern that when private Florida home insurance companies are unable to absorb these policies, that they will end up being dumped in Citizens Property Insurance.

If you are concerned about losing your Florida home insurance with State Farm Florida, visit the Florida home insurance buyers guide located at:

www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

The buyers guide helps you find, screen, and contact Florida home insurance companies still writing new business in your county.  The guide tells you exactly who is still writing private Florida homeowners insurance in your county, what type of homes these companies are covering, and information on how to contact them.  Best of all, this service assigns a buyers guide rating to each Florida home insurance company so you end up with a clear picure of which company is a better buy for your money.

If you’ve received a Florida home insurance cancellation notice from State Farm Florida, Allstate Insurance Florida, or Nationwide Insurance Company of Florida, check out the Florida home insurance buyers guide.  You’ll end up with the most Florida home insurance quotes and save thousands.

Florida Home Insurance Quotes – The Best Way to Shop for Florida Homeowners Insurance

As the cost of living continues to go up, and the recession in our economy lingers on, its never been more important to find low cost Florida home insurance quotes.

But what’s the best way to do that?

You could simply go on line and search for Florida home insurance quote generator websites.

 Or you could contact multiple Florida homeowners insurance agents.

If you use Florida home insurance quote generator websites you could run a high risk of missing out on Florida insurance companies who want to cover your home.  Why?  Because these websites sell your information to agents and companies willing to pay for them.  What if there is a Florida home insurance company out there interested in giving you a low cost Florida property insurance quote but not interested in paying the quote generator website for the lead?  Guess what?  You might never learn about that Florida homeowners insurance company.

If you work with a Florida home insurance agent, you might also miss out on Florida home insurance companies that want to cover your home.  Why?  Because the agent you contact might not represent one of the companies who would love an opportunity to give you a Florida home insurance quote.

So what’s the best way to get the most low cost Florida homeowners insurance quotes?

Simple.

Check out the Florida home insurance buyers guide located at:

www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

The buyers guide database helps you find, screen, and contact Florida home insurance companies still writing new business in your Florida county.

You save time because the guide gives you only those private Florida home insurance companies writing new business in your area – not a long list of Florida insurance companies that haven’t written a new policy in years.

You save money because quite frankly you decide if you want to get a Florida home insurance quote from each and every company writing new Florida home insurance business in your county.  You decide how much competition you want to create.  And when you are finished using the Florida home insurance buyers guide you have the comfort of knowing that you did your best to get multiple Florida home insurance quotes on your home.

Last but not least, the Florida homeowners insurance buyers guide gives you a simple Florida home insurance rating system that stack ranks each company against each other using the exact same criteria.  It is the only website that takes a clear position on which Florida home insurance company you should pick.

So the next time you are shopping for low cost Florida home insurance quotes, check out the Florida home insurance buyers guide.

Florida Take Out Insurance Companies – What You Need to Know

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation is Florida’s home insurance company of last resort.

That is, it is supposed to be the final option that you as a Florida homeowner would turn to for coverage if you are unable to find private Florida home insurance.

That’s good news if you can’t find a Florida home insurance company to cover your home, but can create significant problems for Citizens Insurance Florida as the dollar magnitude of the risk they are responsible for becomes too high.

Why?  Because Citizens has had difficulty charging enough premium to cover the risks that they are accepting.  That can lead to severe shortage of cash after a Florida hurricane - shortages that they have to cover by reaching out to the bond markets and/or by imposing special assessments on Florida homeowners.

So, it is good public policy to try to encourance Florida home insurance companies to take or assume policies out of Citizens Property Insurance Corporation.  This allows Citizens to send some of its risk back to the private market.

The challenge for you as a Florida homeowner on the receiving end of an offer from a Florida take out home insurance company is that there are many factors that make it difficult for you to decide whether to accept the offer:

  • The company might offer a similar or lower price than Citizens Property Insurance but over time might raise rates significantly.
  • Issues with the age of your home, roof type, construction materials, and hurricane mitigation features might trigger the need for a Florida home insurance inspection – something that might subject you to a massive rate increase.
  • The company wanting to take your Florida property insurance policy might be brand new, thinly capitalized, with no experience responding to and paying Florida hurricane claims.

So the bottom line for you when trying to evaluate whether you should accept a Florida home insurance take out offer is that you can’t do enough due dilligence on the company support your decision.  And this may also be a good time for you to see if there is another private Florida home insurance company that might give you additonal options for getting out of Citizens Insurance Florida.

If you want to see if there are other Florida home insurance companies writing new business, check out the Florida home insurance buyers guide located at:

www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

This guide helps you find, screen, and contact Florida homeowners insurance companies still writing new business in your Florida county.

When you subscribe to the guide, you will quickly find out which Florida home insurance companies are interested in covering your home.  And you will be able to find out this information without having to contact multiple Florida home insurance agents.

If you are considering a Florida home insurance company take out offer, check out the home insurance buyers guide today.

It is the best way to get the most Florida home insurance quotes on your home.

Florida Property Insurance Crisis – Why There is Little Chance the Feds Will Bail Out Florida

You haven’t heard much about it – but it is still there.

Even though we survived 2009 without a major Florida hurricane, the day of reckoning has simply been postponed.

 Why?

Because the Florida Property Insurance market continues to rest on a shaky foundation comprised of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, and newly formed Florida home insurance companies looking to grow their customer base.

While things have improved with the Florida Cat fund and Citizens, the state of Florida still has a long way to go before this system has enough cash on hand to pay claims after a major Florida hurricane.

It’s really quite simple.

If these entities don’t have enough cash to cover their share of the claims they might have to raise cash in bond markets that are still unfriendly.

That means that some Florida homeowners could be waiting a long time to get their claim paid after the next major storm.

A major Florida hurricane in 2010 still could send shockwaves through out the state if there isn’t enough cash to pay claims.

That’s why many are pushing the Federal Government in Washington to consider a National Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.

But with the billions the Feds have spent on Wall Street, stimulus packages, and possibly healthcare in the near future, there will be very few people listening in Washington as Florida continues to make a case that the Federal Treasury should backstop Florida’s underfunded property insurance system.

To learn more about the Florida Property Insurance crisis, visit the Home Insurance Buyers Guide located at:

www.homeinsurancebuyers.org

 The buyers guide helps you find, screen, and contact Florida homeowners insurance companies still writing new business and can help you save thousands.

Discovering even one additional Florida home insurance company could make the difference in helping you to save thousands during these difficult financial times.

And avoiding even one thinly capitalized Florida homeowners insurance company that might not surive the next Florida hurricane is something you have to investigate further.

Learn more at:

www.homeinsurancebuyers.org