Posted on 01/22/2024 7:38:49 AM PST by devane617
The ongoing insurance crisis in Florida, fueled by the exodus of major insurers and the increased risk of extreme weather events, could trigger a downturn in the state's real estate market, experts told Newsweek.
Homeowners in the Sunshine State currently pay the highest insurance premiums in the country. Floridians pay private insurers an average premium of about $6,000 a year, according to the latest data from the Insurance Information Institute, or Triple I, according to Barron's and CNN Business, compared to the national average of $1,700.
Few people can self-ensure against the loss of their homes, and banks require an insurance policy to protect their collateral and provide a mortgage for a house.
The increasingly unaffordable cost of home insurance risks leaving residents uncovered, and thus unable to get a mortgage should they want to buy a new home, which could escalate to a statewide decline in the real estate sector.
"If you don't have an insurance policy, it's basically impossible to take out a mortgage," Benjamin Keys, an economist and a professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, told Newsweek.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
I live near Daytona, and have a 3000 sqft house that was completed less than 2 years ago. My insurance is $18K/year.
Yikes !
I remember being on Tortola and they were building a house nearby. It was up the hill 30 feet over the beach. They poured a slab with lots of rebar. Cinder block walls. Another floor of poured concrete with more rebar. More cinder block walls. Lastly a roof framed out of pressure treated pine lumber. The roof tiles were about 5/8” thick concrete. They said that they were rated up to 165 mph. The windows had galvanized steel hurricane shutters. They stuccoed the outside of the cinder blocks. The floors were all tile. If it got wet, you just squeegee it out and replace the furniture.
Why don't they build houses in Florida like this?
That is because they need to add an AIR TO AIR heat exchanger.
This is standard on any new construction super insulated house. However, they cost thousands. So, it is something they will skimp on if they can. As ALL builders will do.
The reasons they don’t build homes like that in Florida is because the developers have bought off the politicians.
Metal Roofs are just as durable as shingled roofs and are significantly cheaper and easier to repair.
Significantly stronger building codes are one part of the remedy to Florida’s insurance issues.
The reasons they don’t build homes like that in Florida is because the developers have bought off the politicians.
Metal Roofs are just as durable as shingled roofs and are significantly cheaper and easier to repair.
Significantly stronger building codes are one part of the remedy to Florida’s insurance issues.
I'd be moving as soon as possible.
Other states have extreme weather events. It would be interesting to find out which political party major insurance underwriters contribute to the most. I have a feeling that it would not be the party whose member currently holds the Governor’s chair.
Thank you. I get so tired of FReepers who demand the State involve itself into private enterprise concerns.
What are they suggesting? That we control the insurance industry like Obama did with health care?
“Right now, people living in the center of Florida who have very little risk of hurricane damage.”
1928. That’s all.
I used to argue that the building energy codes resulted in “sick” buildings because there was hardly any fresh air ventilation.
Insurers replaced so many roofs after Irma in SWFL due to questionable claims. Roofing companies in cahoots with lawyers got roofs for many that did not need them. Now insurers have raised the deductable on hurricane damage and they prorate roof coverage. What this is doing is forcing people to replace their roofs prematurely to keep adequate coverage on the rest of the house or in order to sell it. If you’ve ever paid to replace a tile roof you know how incredibily expensive it is and you want to get maximum life from it. I know of a condo association that is under pressure to reroof in order to get insurance and the roof tile they have is only 12 years old and looks very good.
The issue is that most of the old houses in Florida were very cheaply built. When hurricane Andrew hit Homestead Florida as a Cat5 it destroyed everything. Most of the houses were glorified double wides. However, what they did learn was that the houses that had HIP roofs did not have their roofs ripped off. The houses with the flat gable end did. This is because when the winds hit the hip roof they deflected up. So, they might have superficial damage, but the roof stayed in place.
They should have made HIP roofs as code. When the hurricane hit Mexico beach on the panhandle there was one brand new house that was left after a direct hit. It was on concrete reinforced pilings. They should have made this code, but they did not because it would make beachfront houses only affordable for the Super rich. Not the regular rich.
I think Charlie Crist did a lot of damage in the homeowner insurance sector when he was Florida Governor. And the Florida legislators went along with it.
Exactly what this guy said about his houses.
California wildfires, compared to similarly forested areas elsewhere in the country, are more destructive because of ‘green’ forest management policy. They choose not to do things shown to reduce risk and size of wildfires elsewhere. And then when huge, expensive, fires result the California judicial system jumps all over any large pile of cash it can remotely blame. When the real blame, if any, belongs to Sacramento, its green lobbyists, and their federal government allies. The only business model that makes sense then is to exit the California market.
I agree with you. I live 12 miles from the ocean, but I pay the same rate as those next to the beach. The house is over 40 yrs old and has been through about 15 hurricanes with no damage. With current technology, the insurance companies could easily determine damage risk at each individual house location, but they don’t want to price in the risk at the house level or even the zip code level.
ron didn’t cause the massive inflation of building material prices, supplies and appliances that’s a big driver in the cost of insurance ... nor did he cause the massive increase in building density in florida that raises damages from hurricanes by tens of billions of dollars ... nor did he create an entire state that’s surrounded by oceans and only a few feet above sea level and therefore prone to being destroyed by hurricanes ...
only inflation was a government-created problem, and that was induced by bidenonics printing trillions of “free” dollars ...
the remainder of high insurance costs in florida are mostly a function of geography and weather ... the only REAL solution is for folks to move somewhere else if they don’t like the high cost of living on an ocean peninsula in the gulf of mexico ...
I did some research on the house in Mexico Beach that remained standing and suffered little to no damage from a Cat 5 Hurricane, even though it was directly on the beach and was surrounded by homes that were completely destroyed.
I was thinking, no one could be that lucky there must be a reason.
,
The home not only had concrete reinforced pilings, but the pilings were much deeper than code and the house was built using a method called Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF), basically poured concrete reinforced walls surrounded by at least 2 inches of high-grade insulation and a built-in water barrier.
Here’s CNN Report on the Home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLjsDQyW5Y8
I think the solution to Florida’s Insurance issue is twofold, a multi-tiered insurance system that takes in the risk of where you live and significantly upgraded building codes, I hope we get it but I am doubtful.
“ That said, if you are stupid enough to build your “dream” home in a hurricane/flood zone, you deserve to pay through the nose.”
Big talk from someone who is too afraid to post his home state. COWARD.
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