The Home Insurance Guru

The 9/30 date for Flood reorganization and rate hikes to make up the 19 billion shortfall before this storm now shows that everyone should have flood coverage and the rates need to be increased. We will see rate hikes here in Fort Lauderdale and all of Florida and they should start 1/1/2012 at about 20% average. The bill has already passed the house and now it will go to the Senate after the Labor day break and then to the president to sign off on. This will be an easy bill to pass and no one can say it will hurt them as a  20% hike will only be about $100/year for most. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Insurance quotes for Home, Auto, Flood, Business and Commercial and life Insurance as well. Please enjoy the full article below from Properto 360.com;

http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2011/08/29/industry-hopes-irene-causes-nfip-reauthorization-u

It looks like Hurricane Irene will be the reason(s) the Insurance companies will use to raise rates again. Just the threat of a major cat 3-4 hurricane is proving that there is not enough money to  pay the bill if one hits the US again and we will all have to pay more.This is not fair to Floridians and especially S. Florida and Fort lauderdale as well. We have already paid the highest rates in the country for Home Insurance and it is keeping people away from Florida as the costs are so high compared to anyone else. With our New Governor Rick Scott and all of our Legislators in Tall. being the best friends the Insurance companies in Florida have ever seen and with all of the new Citizens rate hikes, this seems like it will just be inevitable as opposed to being possible.  I hope this does not make people move away from Florida or S. Florida and Fort lauderdale as we need people moving in and new jobs are tough to find as it is already. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Insurance needs for Home, Car, Auto, Flood, business and Commercial and even Life Insurance as well. Please read the full article below and see what you think;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/08/23/211924.htm#

Please track the storm here at the Home Insurance Guru site! We may get lucky here in S. Florida and Fort Lauderdale as this may pass to our East and affect the bahamas and possibly Northern Florida and perhaps Jacksonville. Please call us for insurance binder’s(Home and Auto as well) by Tuesday or expect us to be shut down this week for new business.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at4.shtml?5-daynl#contents

They want to be independent, but they also want the big company name and now they want both! Allstate agents( Including all subsidiaries like Castle Key) want everything and  let’s see how far they go. I am an independent  agent and  L & S is my agency. I do not have the big company affiliation, my marketing expenses are mine and my decision only. No company advertises to call L & S Insurance in Fort lauderdale for a quote, I do all of that w/ my marketing efforts. Local Allstate agents do not have to do that as it is part of the Franchise fee they pay so why should they have both, I guess I would love both, but I have the hand I dealt my self and I  am pleased where we have come to this point. All the best to them, but I think they will soon realize that w/ Union dues and Union Strikes when the Union is not happy it  could hurt them as well.  Please be mindful of hurricane season now as we are in the peak  season and the storm activity will pick up. Please call L & S for all of your independent  Home, Auto, Flood, Business, Commercial and even Life Insurance.Please enjoy the article below;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2011/08/18/211529.htm

9/15/2011  is the date and it will be in Tampa at the Convention Center and not in Tall. this time. Since Tampa and it’s 3  counties(Hillsboro, Pasco and Pinellas) in the area are all very much affected this is a good place to have the meetings. Senator Mike Fasano is very outspoken that this increase cannnot be handled by the consumer’s, but the fact that claims for sinkhole are 10 times what is coming in does not help the situation. All of this is occuring during hurricane season when Home Insurance is the most dificult to shop for and of couse the Citizens Rate hike suggested on top of all of this is now a 25% state wide average increase(No one is talking about this change????). The 25% is what will affect Fort lauderdale  and S. Florida the most as that could mean as much as 40% or more on the 1/1/2012  renewals.Several groups will be holding public protests and the more that show up, the better the chance of having this huge increase spread out over several years instead of all at once. Please call us at  L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Business and Commercial coverage’s as well as Flood and Life Insurance. PLease read the article and ask other’s to visit my Blog page for more info and quotes;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/08/16/211259.htm#

We have the SinkHole issue going on w/ the 429%average rate hike which is huge for the Tampa area, but will not affect Fort lauderdale and S. Florida as much.Senator M. Fasano is having his rally today even though he has no real say in the matter, but he seems to want to be in the news. Senator Fasano is talking to Governor Rick Scott, Our CFO and the OIR to try to get the point across that our Florida economy cannot handle the  huge rate hike all at one time and it should be phased in! Now of course comes the  normal Citizens  rate increase which should be 25%, but State Law currently only allows a max 10% and this must also be deadly with as Homeowners struggle w/ all the new Insurance rate hikes and lack of Jobs in our Florida Economy. Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Insurance quotes including Auto, Commercial and business, Flood and Life Insurance as well.Please enjoy the article below from the Florida Insurance Journal;

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/08/08/209802.htm

Please see if you can help this increase in premiums from being so quick and so harsh!! Please call Lee at L & S INsurance for all of your Home, Auto, Business and Commercial, Flood and Life Insurance products for Fort Laud and all of Florida.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2011/08/05/209569.htm

Please track the remnants of Tropical Storm Emily as it moves away from S. Florida and Fort lauderdale.

Please call L & S Insurance for all of your Home, Auto, Business and Commercial, Flood and Life Insurance products as wel,

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo/gtwo_atl_sub.shtml?area1#contents

The storm shhould be over Haiti  and coming our way by Friday and when The NHC  posts watches and warnings for anywhere in Florida, we are shut down for business. If you need coverage early next week or sooner, you had best make your decisions by tomorrow or wait!! Hurricane season is never easy once it picks up and Emily is the first storm to head our way. If you need Home Insurance in Fort Lauderdale or anywhere in Florida do it today. The shutdown is lifted after the  warnings are lifted plus 24  hours. This is assuming that another storm does not develope and cause more issues and this does happen frequently during Hurricane season so be prepared. Please call L & S Inurance for any quote for Home, Flood, Auto, Business and commercial as well as Life Insurance.Below is the tracker for Tropical Storm Emily;

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at5.shtml?5-daynl#contents

CFO Jeff Atwater and Insurance Commissioner kevin McCarty have been addressing all of the committee  Legislators on this new proposed rate hikes and have asked for a slower implementation. The cost is so great for so many,and in Fort Lauderdale and S. Florida the increase is about 13-21% and the  cost will only be about $300 or $400/year. In The Tampa area the cost could be thousands where it is now hundreds!!  Who can afford this and how will this affect the mortgage business in Florida and Fort Lauderdale. We are in Hurricane season now and rates are already up and there is a Citizens Surcharge looming as well. There will be a rally on 8/16 led by Senator M. Fasano  for all wanting to lobby against the hike or how it will be implemented. And so the Insurance worries in Florida for Home Insurance and Hurricane coverages as well as  Flood and Auto are all up in the air as Tallahassee all try to fgure out the crunching of numbers. Please read the full story below  by Julie patel and the Sun Sentinal and please call L & S Insurance for all of your Insurance needs;

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/business/realestate/housekeys/blog/2011/08/could_citizens_massive_rate_hi.html