The Home Insurance Guru

Good news for people in Citizens who get depopulated into another carrier. Most people are in Citizen’s because there is no choice. Some people are there, because the agent they used have no companies to write with. Other’s are there by choice which is a mistake. With this depopulation from Citizens, those 23K people will be guaranteed the same price or lower. They will get better coverage’s and not be in Citizens. This is good news if a Hurricane hits and the florida Cat fund comes into play.They will also get to keep the agent they are with unless they request a change. This is always a good suggestion if you are in Citizens, but please read the full article below.

This  Process is 120 ays and began on 12/14/2009 after  they lost their rating from DemoTech. This loss of a rating will affect mortgage companies since a  non A rated carrier  is not acceptable by them.We do not know when the mortgage companies will eventually figure this out. As if the Insurance issues are not bad enough already, now this happens and just after State Farm announnced it was going to drop 125K  people.  Their are several solutions for this problem including another company buying out Magnolia, but time will tell.Insuring your home w/ Magnolia is not safe currently, but Citizens will not accept them unless it qualifies under their normal guidelines which most will not. Please read the full story below or contact us at L & S Insurance for more info.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2009/12/28/106249.htm

Florida  laws are not so clear cut, but this is what you should be aware of. There are dozens of Home Insurance companies writing Home Insurance and Windstorm policies, the question is, how many does your agent have access to. Some agents only have Citizens(Like State Farm agents), and other’s have access to maybe 15-20 carriers. The more companies your agent has access to, the better the shopping will be for you. A licensed agent in Florida only has to give you what they have access to and then if they tell you that this is the best available they are not lying!!!  Even though they are likely aware that this is not the best, because they do not have other markets  so they do not have to tell you to shop elsewhere legally. I don’t know about you, but this does not seem to be helpful to the customers who are not aware of this. Home Insurance companies inFlorida do not want to appoint hundred’s and thousands of agents, they want a  handful that will give them enough business. This makes it hard for the agency that does not do a lot of Home Insurance business. If you think about it, this makes sense that you would want an agency and an agent that does a lot of Home Insurance and are very experienced. Those agents are also always able to help you with Flood Insurance, Car Insurance and Life Insurance products as well. Here at L & S Insurance, we have 17 compenies or more that we can quote your home Insurance with. These are all admitted carriers that are all backed by the State of  Florida and give us the most potential to help you save money. Obviously, wind Mitigation Inspections are a tremendous way to save money when they are done by a properly licensed inspector which we can help you find as well. Please call us to see if we can save you money on any home located anywhere in Florida.

Thanks,

Lee S. Gorodetsky,President

L & S Insurance & Financial Services, Inc.

954-351-2250/1888-244-7400 x-209

Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty ordered the following 4 companies to be shut down today because they are not licensed to sell Insurance in Florida. The  4 companies are ;National Automative services, Inc;Warrenty Financial, Inc.(Also known as Warrenty Fnancial O.R.G.inc.);Warrenty Services and Warrenty USA. Please read the full story below and remember L & S Insurance for all your  Home Insurance needs.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2009/12/22/106163.htm

Deregulation of Insurance could be a  disaster and it could also fix our Insurance problem? If it works, which is unlikely,deregulation could bring back the larger carriers(Allstate, State Farm,Nationwide and many other’s) that have left Florida for more profitable ventures. The prices they charge would be higher in many areas, but competition would be the benefit and lot’s of options to choose from. Currently, most people do not even know how many companies there are and what kind of shopping they can do. The agents they  deal with tell them what Insurance companies they have available to them and not necesarily that are available  in the industry to avoid losing business, so they are not typically well informed. Citizens Insurance is so popular because most agents cannot get appointed with all the carriers that are currently writing business here in Florida.  The process in Florida is so bad that this problem is not likely to get fixed so deregulation in my opinion, is not a good idea. Please read the full story below and remember to call L & S Insurance so you can shop with all 17 of our companies!

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091220/BREAKINGNEWS/312200001/1006/NEWS01/Our+views++Kill+Legislature+s+bill+to+deregulate+insurance+rates

Is this good news or bad? Well, the good news for the State of Florida is that State Farm will stay. For the 15% or 125K people that will get dropped, they will be in sticker shock looking for new coverage. This on top of the fact that finding companies for all of them will be dificult at best. If you are lucky enough to not get dropped, what will your policy cost now when this process is complete?  Well, first you have the loss of all discounts already started by State Farm which amounts  to a 27% increase. The 15% state wide average will amount to nearly 30% in South Florida and that 27% has cost some up to 70% to their policies as well. State farm will still also try to reduce the amount of discount being given for mitigation discounts as well. If all 3 areas affect your home, your increase could amount to 50-100% or more!!!! The real sad news is that this is the good news.If you get dropped you will have to find new coverages with the other Florida based companies. The prices should be very competitive and likely to be much cheaper, but will they have the ability to take on another 125,000 homes with the capacity requirements? State Farm agents will do their best to put you in  Citizens Insurance, but this is the worst choice of all. Please contact my ofice for all the reasons why! Please read the full story below;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2009/12/16/106027.htm

Luis Lobo from Pembroke Pines was told his renewal would be 70% higher because they removed all of his discounts this year. He still has Mitigation discounts, but this kind of increase is dificult at best!!!  State Farm staying or leaving is a rough scenario no  matter what happens. If they stay prices will rise 40-60% on top of the removed discounts increase. If they leave, hundreds of thousands will  end up in Citizens Insurance which is not where they belong and this will hurt everyone.  I think we all hope they stay and can work out a deal as this Insurance market in Florida is dificult at best and no one wnats to see this scenario get worse than it already is. Price increases are already happening, no one likes it and it will continue to get worse. This is not something that will help the troubled economy of Florida  to start to recover. In fact it will make it much worse. Please read the full story here;

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-state-farm01213-20091210,0,4134355.story

They used Unlicensed Insurance agents to sell policies they knew nothing about! This Home Insurance company is also required to rewrite every policy w/ guidelines to be followed by the DFS and Alex Sink’s office. This fine is one of the largest ever by the Department of Financial Services. The clients will get revised rates on the renewal of the policy and because they went there for a price savings, many will shop for better quotes and do it the right way this time we hope. Please read the full article here; Thanks for not putting them into Citizens Insurance.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2009/12/09/105842.htm

This is not easy to do, but somehow, one of the newer and small Insurance companies of Florida,Magnolia, has lost it’s A rating w/ the Ohio Based rating agency Demotech? Magnolia Insurance Company  had received an A rating in October, but the lack of the new financial plan promised and  the 3rd qtr financials not being delivered caused this sudden action by Demotech. This will cause a service problem as non A rated companies are not accepted by Mortgage companies in Florida. Hopefully this problem will be resolved soon before the mortgage companies find out. Please read the full article below.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2009/12/07/105778.htm

Another delay in the process of  The State Farm exit from Florida or not and what will happen to it’s Policy holder’s! It is tough being on hold with a machine at a mortgage company, but this delay has been a joke at best. This is the 3rd delay by the Judge as the nearest deadline  was due on 12/17 and no resolutions have been arrived at. It does seem that State Farm wants to now stay if they get the rate Increases they want. But that is the problem because the increases they want, Gov. Christ is so against. Insurance  Commissioner K. McCarty is in tight w/ the Gov. and it seems like that this will be a dificult issue to leap over hence the 3rd delay we now have. At least no one is playing Hard ball and they are trying to make a resolution that makes sense for both parties and the people of Florida who have State Farm and want to keep it. One thing does seem to be likely for State Farm is that they will be the highest priced company when this is complete and you will have to pay to have their  name. I do not think that is worth much in Florida, but that is one agents opinion. Please read the full article below;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2009/12/02/105666.htm