Posted on 11/25/2023 7:51:02 AM PST by devane617
Soaring home insurance premiums in Florida are putting residents under unbearable financial pressure, with many telling Newsweek that they are considering leaving the state or moving somewhere cheaper within Florida.
The state has currently the most expensive home insurance premiums in the country, according to a recent report by the Insurance Information Institute. Residents are currently paying on average more than $4,200 per year compared to the national average of $1,700, according to data from Triple I.
While this is due in part to the increased risk of devastating weather events like hurricanes, other factors—including an excess of litigation and the dropping out of major insurers from the state—have contributed to the surge in premiums in recent years, for which Governor Ron DeSantis is being blamed.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
It’s called HURRICANES.
Bye.
In my scan of the article, I did not see any mention of the rampant inflation caused by the Biden administration and the over the top government spending.
One would have to work hard to blame DeSantis on this one.
50 years ago, houses were not routinely built on the water. You choose to live there, you should pay through the nose.
We have relatives that owned and ran an AirBNB in Florida - outside of the Everglades.
They told us their new insurance rates priced them out of the state - they ended up selling the business and moving to upstate Pennsylvania. They were extremely angry about the rise in price, said it was exponential to the point where they could not maintain their business.
Homeowner's insurance in Texas hasn't spiked upward as much as in Florida, but auto insurance policies here are increasing more as a result of more uninsured motorists, plus replacement costs.
Guess what, Governors can’t magically make insurance cheaper. It costs more than ever to rebuild due to the new codes, cost of materials and labor, etc.
In the 20s Florida was booming, then came the 1926 Miami hurricane, the State went into a depression for years.
All it will take is for one big one to hit the Miami area, and history will repeat. They got “lucky” in 1992 with Andrew, in that most of the damage was in the relatively unpopulated areas south of downtown Miami.
cost like hell to live here no question.
Florida will quickly cease to be a destination with recent increases in cost of living that seem to have no ceiling. Even if HO Ins premiums were cut by 25% it would still be the biggest expense with home ownership.
I think more and more there will not a safe insurance haven. Underwriters will start (or have started) using “climate change” as an excuse raise rates even in regions not usually beset by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, and other natural disasters. They will also raise rates for older housing stock much sooner than in years past. If your house is built under a previous code expect to be told you need a new roof and new windows and doors.
I also believe FEMA will be doing a major revision for NFIP which will move land that was once regarded as outside of the special flood hazard area as being part of the flood plain. That will mean more expense for home owners.
Here in Florida we were promised the new post Andrew building codes would mean lower premiums. HA!
Another hilarious error in the article is that it referred to Social Security recipients as “fixed income”—ignoring the annual cost of living increases mandated by Congress.
We can debate whether those are adequate or not—but it is factually incorrect to state that retirees are “fixed income”.
And let’s not forget the role fraud plays in rising premiums.
Need to build back from the water and quit building rectangular houses.
I was in a bunker during super typhoon Pamela on Guam.
There were two sets of blast doors anchored to the three foot thick concrete.
The pressure changes were ripping the doors out by the casings from the concrete. We drilled holes through, fished coat hanger wire through, then up to cables to anchor the doors to the floor. This was in the FAA radar building, so the floor panels came up to get at wiring.
The building was shaking and the wind noise was so great we had to yell at one another to be heard.
We were in teletype communication with technicians in the radar dome on Mount Rota, the most exposed point on the Island. The geodesic dome was built of 1/8th inch fiberglass. It was quiet in there with no evidence of a storm going on. The brick building next to the dome was destroyed.
The thing to be in is Buckminster Fuller's invention, not a bunker during high winds.
BTW, the anemometer blew off the roof at around 200 MPH.
If there are any dumpsters in the area, and cars, trucks, etc., chain them together.
Dumpsters were rolling around destroying stuff, cars and 18 wheeler flatbeds and other trailers blown around and flipped over, metal buildings completely gone to the concrete pad.
Me neither. If it costs 50% more to fix your house, the insurance company is not responsible for the increase, bidenomics is.
Homeowner insurance has increased dramatically all over the nation. Since property in certain parts of Florida is now so sought after, perhaps tripling in value, an increase in insurance premiums is not unusual.
If it is truly a cash crunch for those on fixed income, taking advantage of the recent boon in property values, selling and moving could also be a blessing.
EC
If a hurricane like Michael that hit my hood in 2018 were to make landfall in any large populated area of Florida then it is lights out. Every insurer in the state would fold and leave.
Everyone who has a job has a fixed income.
My neighbor—a civil service worker—told me that at the base he works that the anemometer in the control tower stopped working at over 200+mph...the red tick mark marking high wind for the day was pegged at the top.
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