The Home Insurance Guru

4/1 is the date for FEMA to discuss the 18 billion dollar issue.Our legislators in Washington  will be meeting to discuss the problems at hand. This does mean rate increases for Flood Insurance coverage soon. The meeting is tomorrow 4/1/11  so please follow me for more info. The Home Insurance Guru is also L & S Insurance & Financial services, Inc.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/03/30/192401.htm

This is not a good situation for Home Insurance in Florida as the Insurer’s all thought there were only a few counties that are Sinkhole problems and they are in the Tampa area. As far as public records go that is true, but there are more records that show far more than that and there is now a list of the top 10 in Florida.CDS Business mapping and it’s risk meter on line service have provided this info which will certainly affect Insurance in Florida.Since Sinkhole claims have tripled in the last 4  years and are now over 1.3 billion in claims paid so  rest assured this will have an impact. The OIR will have to approve the rate increases because of this and our Legislators in Tall. will certainly be discussing this issue w/  Governor Rick Scott and our new CFO as well. The property Insurance bill will have all of this info in it and will also affect Citizens Insurance and how they continue to do business. As if this is not enough, we are now only 9 weeks away from the new Hurricane season so beware!! Please call L & S Insurance for all your Insurance needs and please read the article on this in full below;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/03/30/192278.htm

It seems like the OIR does not want to be involved w/ rate increases that are 15% or less and are only concearned that the Insurance companies  are following the law and not is it a necessary rate  increase. They cannot show favoritism in any way to any one and they must make themselves actuarily sound. The rate and file issue  is all part of this and all in good time for hurricane season to start. It seems the Florida Legislators are worried more about the financial health of the Insurance carriers and not the people who need to pay the premiums. This is what our Governor Rick Scott wanted and this is what we have. I hope you all voted well, but please call us for a free quote on your Insurance and please read what is happening in Tall.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/03/24/191441.htm

2 Small compnies merging should be good for the Home Insurance community in Florida . Since this should be completed by 6/30/2011 and just in time for Hurricane season they should be financially more sound for the customer’s of these 2 carriers. This merger has already been approved by the OIR and it seems to be welcomed by the Tallahassee offials that are involved as well. Let’s hope  this process helps make them more able to write more business as capacity is always the issue for the agents like us at L & S who try to shop for you. Please call us for quotes and please enjoy the article.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/03/24/191450.htm

First Community(FCIC) is the next company doing a rate and file increase for a 23% increase on a statewide average which could mean 30-40% here in S. Florida. This company does not write to much, but they have taken a lot of people out of Citizens Insurance over the last several years. Now with this increase scheduled soon and Citizens Insurance going up as well, the people insured will most likely have little or no options. Even if they want to make a switch, they will have to pay for a new Mitigation inspection and possibly a 4 point as well and this is an expense many do not want so they are stuck w/ the increase and are happy not getting a cancellation which is worse!This will start 4/1/11  which is not much notice and only 2 months before the start of Hurricane season. Please enjoy the article below and remember to contact us at L & S Insurance for all your insurance needs and quotes;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/03/22/191079.htm

Florida is not first on the list to have this happen and it may never happen here, but it all sounds good. The real dilemma w/ this scenario is what if your home Insurance  is more than another carrier and the auto is less so is this really a good deal anyway??? This was a big issue in Florida way back before Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and has gone away over time and now it is back, but to a lesser degree. Let’s see what happens and Met Life is not writing Home Insurance in  South Florida anyway so who will it really help. Maybe our Legislators in Tall. will force all these carriers to start writing Insurance to offer more capacity and help the competition that our new Governor Rick Scott is saying will come.Please contact L & S Insurance for all your Insurance quotes and please enjoy the article about Met life as well;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/03/18/190621.htm

Equicap is a commercial company, but Seminole is for Home Insurance in Florida.The OIR in Tallahassee and the CFO office has ordered this after taking them over w/ bad financials in Late Feb 2011. Please read the article and contact your agent if you are with these carriers or call us at l & S Insurance and wewill be happy to try and help.Please read the fulla rticle below;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/03/14/190133.htm

This article does cover all the current issues affecting Florida Homeowner’s on the New Senate  Insurance bill SB408 which replaces the SB 2044 from last year. The old bill was passed by  the the Legislator’s in  Tall. and then Governor Charlie Christ Veteod even after Insurance commissioner Kevin McCarty urged him to sign it. This new bill adds a few items to it like the Citizens reform to make it the Insurance company of last resort again and to keep Public adjustors from filing claims against any Citizens policy.Our New Governor Rick  Scott has already pledged in his campaign promises to sign this bill and please feel free to read what is coming down the pike w/ Deregulation reform w/ Home Insurance in Florida. Please also remember to contact L & S Insuarnce for all your Insurance quotes and questions as we are a  Trusted choice member as well;

http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2011/03/08/massive-insurance-reform-bills-confront-florida-la

Lots to hear and rate increases are coming, but this bill will have the rates increased over 5  years and not all at once. Please read the  full article on the current status of the Flood bill w/ FEMA and National Flood. Our legislators in Washington have till 9/30 to do something so it looks like it is moving ahead so far.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/03/08/189405.htm

Senate Republican Alan  Hays and Republican State Rep Jim Boyd propose many changes in Citizens which include rate hikes at 25% /year instead of the 10% cap it now has. Also, to be able to go to Citizens, the rate must now be at least 15% cheaper than a regular company,but it could change to 25% which would make most homes  almost always ineligable. Homes that are over 500K  in coverage by 2016  and soon to be 750K all being non renewed so they can go to the private markets over the next 5  years as well. Lastly a big one would be that no public adjustors could get involved in Citizens Insurance claims. Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is a lot to handle and the public will be in an uproar. I do not yet know how the 25% rule will be enforced, but if they find a way, most will not be eligable for Citizens for 1  reason or another or would they want to be there. I also wonder what will happen to the agents of State Farm who can only write Citizens at this point in time? Thye will loose a lot of business to competitors and I do not believe the corporation State farm will be happy with this scenario in Florida. I also know the Public adjustors have a huge lobby and they will not be happy either, so this is far from done.This session will be a  big one in Tallahassee  for our Legislators and our Governor as well. Please read the following article by Julie Patel and please remember to contact us for quotes at L & S Insurance. We still reprsent about 15 carriers including Citizens to shop out all the best rates for your home.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/03/bills_filed_to_raise_citizens.html