Fla home insurance cost about to go up?

Yep, all Florida homeowners are about to pay even more and we all will need to subsidize Citizens. I seem to recall a Citizens fee in the past on our non Citizens homeowners policy.

 

I read recently, too, that anyone who has to use Citizens (which included me, because apparent no other companies will write in this county) will have to buy FEMA flood insurance whether they are in a flood hazard area or not ... I can't wrap my head around that one, unless it's just an attempt the make Citizens less desirable or subsidize FEMA.

 

Yep, you read correctly. I dont have Citizens but not sure how I feel about the flood insurance requirement. It does seem a little big brotherish which is odd coming from Tally these days.

 

Yeah ... I'm in an X zone, which means there is a greater than 99.8% chance my house would never flood, so unless some other company will start writing here, I'll have to buy insurance that I know I'll never use...

 

Inflation + huge jump in home replacement costs (ie home value) = insurance rates will skyrocket regardless of what policies the state takes. Its too cheap right now to cover your $500k home that was 300k in 2018-19.

Keep in mind for homeowners, your property taxes will gradually increase for the same reason, although it will probably be spread out over the next few years.

 

Be careful in assuming that property not in a FEMA flood zone will not flood. Working for a municipality and having been the supervisor of our floodplain manager, I have heard many instances of folks flooding and not having flood insurance because “we aren’t in a flood zone”. You need to analyze your circumstances very carefully before foregoing flood insurance. You might be gambling when you shouldn’t. For instance, I live on a small lake that drains to the bay. My FEMA flood zone A elevation is 9’ and my FFE is 11’, but I am not willing to gamble that a 11.1’ flood surge will never hit my property. Flood insurance that used to cost me $250 a year now is $750, but the peace of mind is well worth it.

 

So the way I understand it if you have a Citizens Policy and your home is worth $600k or more than you are required to have flood insurance regardless of where you live starting with April 2023 new business or renewals. Then in 2024 its for anyone with a $500k or more home and then again in 2025 $400k or more and so on and so on....

The reason they are doing this is because they are encouraging people to go to other companies, so yes your citizens policy may be $1k less than say Tower Hill but once you add in the flood requirement (flood zone X is close to $1,200) that Tower Hill policy is actually cheaper.

Heres the rub...the Citizens policy is still a better policy because citizens will give you full water coverage (think leaky pipe) up to your dwelling amount where Tower Hill will limit that same coverage to $10k which is a joke.

 

My understanding is that citizens also started limiting (non-weather, i.e. burst pipe) water coverage to $10k back in 2018. Not sure if prior policyholders were grandfathered in with the old policy language.

 

Meanwhile my house didn't come close to flooding during Ian and I'm mandated for flood insurance. We are in volusia and had heavy rain for the entire duration of its landfall. Several areas nearby not in flood zones flooded but we didn't have water within 40 to 50 feet of the house. Gr8g8r advised me of how to obtain a LOMR to try to get rid of the mandate but we haven't as of yet.

 

Citizens will cover the full water claim as long as you use one of their approved vendors. If you choose not to you will get the limited coverage of $10k

 

Just got our notice. 72% increase and the reduced water coverage ($10K)

 

Renewing mine now.

 

Also, we have always bought the separate FEMA Flood coverage because it was so inexpensive compared to value, even though we are not in a historical flood zone and don't have to purchase it. But that doubled. Have to decide on that as well

 

Could be worse.
California is estimating an annual 9.6 billion dollar loss from earthquakes alone. Imagine the costs if they actually charge that in earthquake insurance.

Projected losses from a major California earthquake soar. What's behind seismic inflation?

 

I don't know how much that is historic and how much of that is very recent. I do know that Dr Lucy Jones has been making the case since the recent earthquakes in southern Turkiye that the building codes there are similar to Los Angeles, and it's not really ready for a major earthquake in terms of property damage. The codes are meant to try to ensure people can survive but not to save the property. This has been a pet cause of hers for years.

That said, it's not something that is only going to get worse due to changing climate, as is the Florida coastlines

 

I just moved into flood zone X and a 3 year old home appraised at 560K. I have insurance through Tower Hill at $1,587 per year. I don’t think it’s that much for insurance.

 

Very low. Wow