The Home Insurance Guru

19 named storms, 12 became Hurricanes and 5  were cat 3 or better. Wow, we did not even get hit here in S. Florida, but our prices are still on the rise!!  You have seen it happen and it will continue, but prices will continue to increase significantly and people are still being non renewed by their companies including State Farm, Federated, Home Wise,Sunshine State, Olympus and many other’s! We  now look to Citizens Insurance and will it change to become the Insurance company of last resort. That means higher prices and since deregulation will pass over the next legislative session in Tallahassee, prices will head North and Citizens rate increases  are a must for this to work! We will see how our New Governor R. Scott and his Insurance commissioner Choice will handle things this session after getting started in January. In the meantime, please call this office for quotes or do it through the blog page and please enjoy the end of Hurricane season article;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2010/11/29/115234.htm#ixzz16luG1P5h

The State’s 7th largest Home Insurance Company will be raising rates between 3-20%   soon! The hearings with the Florida OIR are ongoing now and will most likely be approved as all carriers are doing the same. This is a trend that started late last year and hit a peak in mid year 2010  and now is still an ongoing process for all carriers at some point. Even Citizens Insurance will increase 1/1/11 significantly and how will the people of Florida afford it?? At L & S, we will help you shop to all available carriers and compare all coverage’s to determine what you need and can afford. Please contact  us for a quote on this blog page or call. Please read the article on The Florida Peninsula rate hike soon to come.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2010/11/16/114905.htm

I found this independent getting information on Insurance from his friends and neighbors. As much as this information cannot be verified, it is most likely true. The real problem is that it will not be getting better w/ our new  Governor and CFO who plan to deregulate the whole deal. Please call L & S to truly shop for your Insurance rates w/ many carriers and not just Citizens. Please call or go get a quote on the Blog  page.

http://salonta.info/florida-home-owners-insurance-rip-off/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Everyone is trying to make money where they can, but taking a commission from the Master Condo Insurance policy when you control where that business is placed (your inhouse Insurance agency) sounds like collusion to me?? This could also be rebating, twisting or even Churning depending on how it is viewed. The office of Insurance regulation in Tall. as well as our Legislators  will be reviewing this info as it makes a lot of money for a lot of  large management companies and the people who live in the association  bear that expense so the Managemnet company  can make  larger  commissions from the sale of hundreds of policies statewide. With  rates as bad as they are and getting worse every day, this type of activity needs to stop and perhaps some legal action is necesary to prevent more issues from occuring. Please read the full article from Julie Patel of the Sun Sentinal and please look to my Blog page for any type of insurance quote. www. homeinsuranceguru.com

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-condo-insurance-commissions-20101112,0,5382188.story

Just waht we needed more reasons for Home Insurance to go up! Deregultion of Insurance will cause  higher prices and Our legislators in Tall. will soon vote to pass the HR   bill to make this happen, but this will simply compound the problem. Please read the full article below and be sure to contact L & S Insuranmce for a quote on this blog page!

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2010/11/12/114838.htm

A lot of people have Wind only policies W/ Citizens  and have the Home Insurance with another carrier. Sometimes this is the best scenario and sometimes the best scenario is to combine the policies w/ Citizens for  the best priced policy. At L & S Insurance, we already went through  this process 12-24 months ago so our clients have already been handled, but if any of our clients get dropped, we will have to rewrite them and now it will most likely  cost  a lot more and there will not be much we can do for them. How can the State of Florida do this to the people they are trying to help! This is more proof that our Insurance system is backwards  and in need of great repair!! Our Legislators in Tall. as well as our New Governor Rick  Scott  will need to jump in and get their hands dirty w/ Insurance very quickly! Soon Insurance will be deregulated and then  watch prices increase!!!  Please contact this office by phone or on the blog page for quotes and enjoy the article from the SunShine news agency!

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/state-property-insurers-drop-wind-only-policies-some-areas

This article about Home Insurance is a  very valid point for consumer’s. Cost of rebuilding is not the same as  resale or new construction prices, but sometimes coverage’s can be lowered. As an agency L & S Insurance has done this customer Service  for it’s clients upon reviewing their coverage’s for renewal or if they have been non renewed as well. Companies  like Home Wise, Olympus, Federated National, HCI, Southern Oak  and many other’s are non renewing policies and raising prices as well.Don’t forget StateFarm cancelling 125K  homes as well as all the other major carriers including Allstate. When we shop for our clients, we first shop for  apples to apples comparisson’s. Once we determine the best company  for a client by price and coverage’s we also do a RCE(Replacement Cost Estimator) to determine the correct amount of coverage. This is not an appraisal, but it is fairly accurate and can be used to determine the correct cost to rebuild. it does seem here in S. Florida that  using about $125/sq foot under air is a good approximate, but each home by age and location is very differant. If your agency is not doing this for you then give us a call to do a complete shop rate request for you. With our 15 carriers of which 9 are currently writing new business here in S. Florida, we have the ability to shop well for any client. Please read the full  article by Julie Patel and what does happen quite commonly;

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-insurance-replacement-costs-20101105,0,5232703.story

Rick Scott and Senator Atwater are now the governor and CFO respectfully! Insurance wise this means that deregulation which passed last year and was vetoed by Governor Christ last year, will likely be resubmitted for approval and will be signed this year. Our legislators in Tall will be in charge of what will be Insurance deregulation and much higher prices for the next several years to come.  Also, Citizens Insurance will be restructured so that it is one again the Insurance of last resort so the prices will be raised 20-5-% after this all happens in the spring. Floridins beware of higherprices for insurance and you all voted for it!!!!!  Now let’s see how the real issues begin when people can’t aford to pay the new higher prices s they are not able to afford what they are paying now. Please read the full article below;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2010/11/03/114558.htm