The Home Insurance Guru

The Citizens board approved the 429% Sinkhole  increase 4-0 but wait there is more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Many Politicians are getting calls from their  rolls and now they are showing signs of temporary caring for all of us paying higher premiums. This will not affect Fort Lauderdale as much as the people in Tampa area, but we all have to help Citizens make up the 210 MIllion is Sinkhole losses. Senator Mike Fasano and Senator A Hays  among other lawmakers in Tallahassee are asking our Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty to hold public hearings on the issue. All of this will go on, but rest assured these increases are coming and soon so be ready. There are many concerns from people as to Banks requiring the coverage when it can be so unafordable, but that does not seem likely for other reasons like Catastrophic Ground Collapse coverage’s.All of this on top of the 10% increases  already scheduled and the looming surcharges and Citizens is a disaster on a good day and needs to be revamped. Good luck with that especially in the middle of hurricane season like we are, but anything is possible. Please contact  L & S Insurance for quotes on all Insurance products like Home Insurance, Auto, Business and commercial w/ Flood and even life and financial products. Please also enjoy the article   below w/ the full story;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/07/28/208341.htm

429% on a State wide average, wow, what an increase. This will not affect us much  in Fort Lauderdale and all of S. Florida. But, if you live in the Tampa area or any other major  sinkhole area, this could raise rates for many  by 2000% and could cost  thousands/year. This will certainly make the decision to have or not have sinkhole coverage will be more Interesting.The next issue will be w/ the mortgage carriers and will they require it for a new mortgage.The Vote will come today, but this seems like it is already a done deal. Please read the full article beow by Julie Patel of the Sun Sentinal and please call L & S Insurance for all of your Fort Lauderdale Home, Auto, Flood, Business and Commercial and even Life Insurance;

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/07/citizens_to_raise_sinkhole_pre.html

The  OIR has backed   All State Insurance saying  it was necessary and they were happy that All State still remains a viable carrier in Florida. The increase for those policy holder’s will be quite substantial in Fort laud, S. Florida and all of Florida, but the worst will be in S. Florida as the increases could truly mean 50% or more. This will be no differant then any other carrier and State Farm has already done this, but worse. We have seen some clients come from State Farm w/ increases that are nearly 300% form the prior year. What makes this worse is that most carriers are also re-inspecting homes for Wind mitigation Inspections and people are loosing doscounts and when that get’s compounded on top of an increase it feels even worse, consumer’s are very upset and I do not blame them. Governor Rick Scott and the Florida legislative body all seem to agreee this is what must be done and it is happening. New people buying Homes should be made aware of the increased cost since many are still trying to squeeze people in and that is a problem many times.Please remember to call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Flood business and commercial Coverage’s as well as Lfe Insurance for Fort Lauderdale and all of Florida.

thx,

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/07/22/207651.htm

The Legilators in Tallahassee  could not pass the Citizens Bill this year so far and the rate hikes have been capped at 10% still, which is way below Industry average. At this rate, Citizens will be the cheapest policy around and everyone will want it so how does this get changed without pasing the bill?? The head of Citizens Mr. Malone and  Governor Rick Scott are in favor of these things, but it has not happened so now they will try to sell the Citizens book of business to the private sector. This sounds like a good idea except we have been doing this for a while w/ Depopulation which has been and is still on going for many years just at a much smaller level still today.The problem is that 3-5 years later they are all being dropped and have to go back to citizens for lack of available products. Citizens is still growing by 40K policies / month so something has to be done. Let’s see wht the lawmakers do in the coming weeks to try and resolve the problem and we go into Hurricane season lucky so far, but it is still mid July. Let’s see how this affects all Floridians, but S Florida and Fort Lauderdale area as well. Please read the article by Julie Patel of the Sun Sentinal and please call L & S Insurance for all of your Insurance quotes for Home Insurance, Auto, Business and commercial and Life Insurance as well.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/07/privatizing_citizens_property.html

Julie Patel writes a good article here about the rate hikes and more Importantly the Re Inspections that are causeing even more rate hikes and the money that is being spent by Citizens to guarantee they get the higher rates. This is making so much money for Citizens in the long therm they are in full swing to spend  nearly 15 Million  this year to inspect hundreds of Thousands of homes. The only good news from this is that when you receive a copy of this inspection we can use it to shop out other carriers(We have about 17 or so) for you and try to get better rates in some cases.The discounts being lost are the Roof to wall attatchments which many said single wrap and are now not qualifying as well as the Hurricane shutter credit which is now much harder to qualify for. This takes time to explain to people, but most are not patient enough to listen and learn and be educated on the subject, some just want to yell and blame someone, so I reccommend they call their Legislators in Tallahhassee and call them to complain on a regular basis. Most  feel this will go no where so they feel better yelling at agents like me to vent. Please read the article by Julie Patel of the Sun Sentinal and see how Rates from Citizens Insurance are also on the rise in many ways and how this will affect Foridians and people from Fort Lauderdale. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Flood,Business and Commercial and Life Insurance quotes as well;

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/07/citizens_policyholders_premium_1.html

Here is an Article by Julie Patel whose info I post very regularly, but this one misses the boat badly! Julie is w/ the Sun Sentinal and seems so concearned about How much Citizens made this past year and not ablout what they have when a claim comes. Citizens Insurance is the only company in Florida that does not have Re-Insurance which every company is required to carry. This means that when the money runs out the people of Florida  have to pay the bill. This is why people should be with a regular carrier and this is also why Citizens rates are so competitive as well. Every company will only only pay a deductable for all major Hurricane claims, but Citizens will use up all of it’s reserves and then it will fall on the tax payer’s to cover the bill. Why do we want that bill especially since this  State of Florida is almost bankrupt and cannot afford it’s teacher’s never mind a 20 billion dollar Hurricane like Wilma, Andrew and all of the other’s inbetween. Governor Christ put this system  in place to lower  rates in Florida and has nearly put the industry in the toilet. As much as I do not want these crazy rate Hikes the cost of re-Insurance is so Important and so stupid for our Now  Governor Rick Scott  to not fix this problem. If this is not fixed, the 1.4 million people in Citizens,which grows by 40K /month ,will bury the State when the next major Hurricane  hits this year or next.  This will  cause problems for us beyond our wildest dreams and not good ones. Home Insurance in Florida and Fort Lauderdale is a very complicated issue and cannot be looked at from just one angle and I am surprised that Julie Patel would write this article, which has accurate info, but does not discuss the topic of Re Insurance and that cannot  be left out when the discussion is out there. Please read Julie’s info and please call L & S INsurance for al of your HOme, Auto, Flood, Business and commercial and Life Insurance as well for Florida and Fort lauderdale.

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/07/if_staterun_citizens_isnt_char.html

Flood Insurance thru FEMA  will be going up, but it is not going to be as much as was thought! There are caps that can be used every year and that cap was 10% max  and has only increased of late. The new cap was thought to be 28%, but will be maxed at 20% w/ the house bill. This bill will now need to be approved by the Full Senate and of course signed by the President.The 18 Billion dollar shortfall is what they are trying to resolve and look for a long term solution to the issue as well.These Increases here in S. Florida will be over $100 next year which is anther $10/month on your Escrow accounts. This will be on top of all of the Home Insurance rate Hikes we have seen already that have been 30-40% this year and should continue to increase at about  20% again next year on average. Fort Lauderdale Home Insurance will become very costly and has rates approaching where they were after Hurricane Wilma in 2006.  Please read the full article on Flood Insurance reform  getting closer and expect it all to happen soon. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Flood, Business and Commercial and Life Insurance as well in all of Florida and Fort laudedale as well.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/07/13/206129.htm