Not Made Of Money » Homeowner Insurance

Ways to Save on Home Insurance

Dana Joseph — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:16:26 +0000

Homeowner’s insurance is a regular expense for anyone who owns a home. This extremely important insurance coverage protects what is, for many people, your most valuable asset. But, in these trying financial times, even the most necessary expenses need to be kept to a minimum.

Saving on your home insurance is often as easy as making a phone call. Many times, there are discounts available to you that you may not be utilizing simply because you didn’t tell the insurance agent that they applied to you. Talk to your insurance agent and explore the different discounts that will entitle you to lower insurance premiums. Possible discounts may include:

New Home Discounts – Be sure to tell your agent if your home is less than ten years old.

Material Discounts – Homes made with some more durable materials like stone or bricks may enjoy lower premiums. You should also ask your agent about any discounts for damage-resistant roofs made out of materials like metal or tile.

Alarm Service Discounts – Homes that feature monitored alarm services are often eligible for special discounts.

Insured Age Discounts – Older homeowner’s may enjoy lower premiums than their younger counterparts.

Claim-Free Discounts – Homeowners who never, or rarely, file a claim are often favored with discounted premiums.

Besides taking advantage of special premium discounts, you may be able to find another way to lower your insurance premiums. If you can afford to pay a higher deductible in the event of a loss, you can raise your deductible and enjoy some significant savings. Just take care to choose a deductible amount that won’t throw your family’s finances into chaos.

Finally, carrying all of your insurance coverage through the same company will entitle you to many multi-policy discounts. For instance, having your auto insurance and homeowner’s insurance through the same carrier will entitle you to a nice discount. While shopping for insurance, be sure to mention each type of insurance you need and find a carrier who can take care of each one. And, as with all things, be sure to shop around to get the best possible price.

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Don’t Let Your Favorite Pet Break Your Budget

Dana Joseph — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:03:24 +0000

For many people having a pet is virtually the same as adding another member to your family. Like every other family member, your pet will have needs to be met that will require you to budget for its needs. Your pet will need food, medical care, and even toys to stimulate his mind.

Although you certainly don’t want to scrimp on the needs of your new family member, there’s no need to spend more than you have to spend. By getting your hands a little dirty and shopping carefully, you can provide your pet with everything he needs without creating a huge hole in your budget.

When it comes to buying pet food, you can’t beat the benefits of buying food in large quantities. Sure, the large bags of food are a little harder to heft home from the store, but you’ll enjoy a much lower price per ounce if you choose to buy the biggest bag of food available.

You would never dream of spoiling your children with too many toys and treats. Enforce the same principle with your pet. The occasional treat won’t do it any harm, but don’t get too carried away with purchasing toys and food treats. These items are expensive and having a vast quantity of them won’t do a lot to add to your pet’s quality of life.

Save money on pet grooming by taking care to maintain the efforts of professional groomers. Brush your pet’s fur daily and give it a bath if it gets into anything too messy. Learning to use nail clippers for pets is another great way to stretch the amount of time between groomer appointments.

Learning to care for routine medical needs will help eliminate unnecessary and costly trips to the veterinarian’s office. You can learn to administer simple vaccinations yourself and clean out small cuts and scrapes. However, if you feel that your pet’s illness or injury is beyond your capabilities, don’t hesitate to make that trip to the vet’s. You don’t want your frugality to compromise the safety of your pet.

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Florida Homeowner Insurance - Back In The Headlines Again

Dana Joseph — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:04:09 +0000

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that we reside in Florida. I’ve mentioned on several occasions in the past some of the problems regarding homeowner insurance rates in Florida. The insurance relief that many lawmakers had promised looks like it is vanishing in a puff of smoke - and that rates could actually climb higher.

Kevin McCarty, the Florida Insurance Commissioner, has written an opinion piece that was published today in the Bradenton Herald. He addresses what has been happening on the insurance front, including the fact that insurers are asking for rate increases, because:

While the companies did, in fact, receive savings from the Florida Legislature’s initiatives, the companies did not plan to pass this savings to the consumer as the Legislature intended. Instead the savings would be used to purchase additional reinsurance, even purchasing reinsurance from their own subsidiaries, and to shore-up their financial surplus.

In fact there are no less than 8 rate hearings scheduled with companies asking for rate increases. From the Florida Office Of Insurance Regulation web site, here are the upcoming scheduled hearings from insurance providers:

8/14 - Metropolitan Casualty Insurance Company
8/16 - Hartford Insurance Group
8/21 - IDS Property Casualty Insurance Company/Amex Assurance Company
8/21 - Capitol Preferred Insurance Company, Inc
8/23 - American Southern Home Insurance Company
8/30 - Sentry Insurance A Mutual Company
8/30 - Auto-Owners Insurance Company, Owners Insurance Company and Southern-Owners
Insurance Company
9/18 - Cincinnati Casualty Company and Cincinnati Indemnity Company

So it looks as if the saga continues with no real solution in sight.

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Florida Homeowner Insurance - Are The Rates Going Down?

Dana Joseph — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:04:16 +0000

Based on the legislation that Governor CristÂ signed, the answer is “it depends”.Â The homeowner insurance situation here in Florida is very complex, and the legislation that is going into effect isÂ as complex.Â Savings will depend on the following factors:

1.Â Who the homeowner insurance is currently with and where the property is located.Â Coastal properties who have seen their rates rise the most, will most likely see some relief, although it remains to be seen just how much.Â I do not think that majority of people are going to be seeing a 40% reduction.Â

2.Â If you reside inland and your property is not insured through Citizen’s Insurance, your rate may only drop by 7% (if at all).

On the other hand, I can foresee the situation where homeowner insurance rates are going to increase uniformly around the state for those who have private insurance (not Citizen’s) due to the fact that all Florida property owners are on the hook to pay for any deficits in Citizen’s.Â If we have another bad hurricane season, thenÂ we’ll wind up getting more assessments to pay for it.Â Assessments were already included in last year’s homeowner insurance premiums under private insurers and will be in the coming year as well.Â Even our auto insurance contains an additional 1% assessment this year for the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.Â

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Florida Homeowner Insurance - A Look At The Proposed Changes

Dana Joseph — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 10:13:10 +0000

The Florida legislature spent the better part of the weekend discussing (fighting) over changes to property insurance in the state.Â The bill will be voted on later today and will need the approval of Governor Crist, who has stated he won’t sign any bill unless it provides substantial savings.Â Here is an outline of some of the proposed changes:

Double the coverage provided insurance companies under the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.Â

This will subject all property owners in the state of Florida to massive risk ($70 billion) if the fund is wiped out in multiple years.Â

Repeal the Citizen Insurance previously approved rate hikes and freeze any increases for 1 year.Â

This will affect a decrease only to those property owners who are currently covered by Citizens.Â

Removed the requirement that Citizen’s charge more than the private market.Â

In essence, the State of Florida is getting into the insurance business.Â

All businesses in Florida unable to find commercial hurricane insurance are eligible for coverage through Citizens Property Insurance. Citizens is allowed to set minimum mitigation requirements for coverage.

So now all Florida property owners are subsidizing the hurricane insurance for any businesses in the State.Â Â

Homeowners can buy a policy without hurricane coverage, if they provide proof that their mortgage lender agrees.

I cannot see any mortage lender allowing a homeowner to “opt out” of hurricane coverage.Â

Beginning in 2008, companies that sell home insurance in other states must also offer it in Florida if they wish to do other business here.

I believe this will have the opposite of the intended effect.Â Insurance companies will pull out of the state.

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Florida Homeowner Insurance - Roundup For January 16

Dana Joseph — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:05:29 +0000

The Sun Sentinel writes that hope for Florida’s insurance woes lies in man named Ron Reagan. Looking like the government is going to be getting into the insurance business.

“I’m a conservative Republican and I believe in free enterprise and capitalism, just like President Reagan did,” Reagan said. “But [insurance costs] have gotten so out of control that we elected officials, regardless of our ideology, have to give rate relief, even if, sadly, that means more government involvement.”blockquote>

Measures discussed yesterday include making the state backed insurance company Citizen’s Property Insurance compete with private insurers.

Legislators clash, irate homeowners protest on opening day of session on insurance. The Florida House and Senate are in disagreement over how much risk the Florida taxpayers will incur.

Causing the early discord was a Senate plan that would place a $20 billion ceiling on what private insurance companies would have to pay policy holders to reimburse storm losses. Remaining claims would fall to Florida taxpayers, and would be paid for through a tax hike, cuts in the state budget, or a special fund.

Basically, the insurance companies will have their losses limited in exchange for lower rates. The taxpayers will bear the brunt of any catastrophic storms.

Legislature debates taxpayer risk. Are the citizens of Florida listening to these debates? If you live in the State of Florida, under these proposed bills you will be paying for catastrophic storm damage in the state, whether you personally experience it or not. Think people are screaming now? Wait until the taxes start to rise to cover this fund. But then again, most people are looking simply for rates to go down now, and could care less what might happen in the next few years.

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Paid The Homeowner Insurance
Florida Homeowner Insurance - January Special Session
Florida Homeowner Insurance - Are The Rates Going Down?
Florida Homeowner Insurance - Back In The Headlines Again
Homeowner Insurance - Shifting The Burden To The Florida Taxpayers

Is Homeowner Insurance An Entitlement?

Dana Joseph — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:23:36 +0000

According to Mike Thomas (columnist for The Orlando Sentinel), homeowner insurance is about to become an entitlement under the homeowner insurance plan proposed by Governor Crist.

Instead of increasing rates, Citizens probably will be ordered to cut them. Whereas once the plan was to shrink Citizens Property, now the plan is to greatly expand it and let it compete with private insurers.

The state also may move to reduce rates charged by private insurers. It would do this by having taxpayers assume billions more in risk when a major hurricane hits.

All Florida property owners are already paying surcharges on their homeowner insurance bills due to the 2005 hurricanes that resulted in a $1.55 billion deficit in the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. Think that if you don’t live in Florida this won’t affect you? Better think again, because one of the proposed plans is to spread the risk even further:

Another might make them subsidize their Florida homeowner policies with policies they sell in less disaster-prone states.

That means folks living in say South Dakota will pay higher priced homeowner insurance premiums to cover the risks associated with their insurance company doing business in Florida.

In reading up what others are writing on the topic, I found a particularly useful article “What Wrecked Property Insurance” which details the reasons for the increases including the cost of reinsurance which has skyrocketed. But every Florida property owner is seeing (and will see in the future) huge increases.

We’re all paying extra charges to bail out three state insurance safety nets: Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state’s insurer of last resort; the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which offers cheaper reinsurance to Florida insurers; and the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association, which pays claims for bankrupt insurers.

From the proposals I have seen so far, they all point to the Florida property owners and taxpayers as assuming the financial risk for future hurricane claims so that the rates will go down now for everyone.

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Homeowner Insurance - Shifting The Burden To The Florida Taxpayers

Dana Joseph — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 11:50:57 +0000

In the ever changing debacle of homeowner insurance in Florida, comes yet another proposition being floated.Â Pay Now Or After The Big One?Â outlines the gamble that some legislators would like to take as a solution to the insurance crisis.Â Lawmakers are considering letting the Florida tax payers shoulder more of the burden if a catastrophic hurricane were to hit.Â This would be done via an increase in the state sales tax.Â

Rick Greene, owner of Southwest Insurance Associates of Sarasota, said reducing rates and capping exposure for carriers is a good approach, but many questions need to be answered.

The insurance industry seems to like these ideas, although for the Florida taxpayer it doesn’t sound like too good of a plan.Â If this measure is adopted, then even tourists to the State of Florida will wind up paying for damage, and I am not too certain there will be a lot of tourists if the “big one hits.”Â

It appears that lawmakers are interested in “just getting the rates to do down” rather than the long-term consequences.Â It reminds me of the person buying a home they cannot afford because they can get an interest only mortage and they can make the monthly payments.Â Sooner or later, it will catch up with you.Â Â Â

I hope that the committees working on some solutions to the property tax issue are discussing their ideas with the homeowner insurance committees.Â Both groups are touting an increase in the state sales tax as an answer to their respective problems.Â

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Florida Property Tax Woes - Town Hall Meetings Scheduled

Dana Joseph — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 18:29:37 +0000

I’ve written in the past about the Florida homeowners insurance problems, and now another financial issue facing homeowners is going to be addressed.Â Florida legislators have announced that they will conduct a series of Town Hall meetings to hear ideas on the current property tax problems.Â

Some ideas currently making the rounds include the increase of the $25,000 homestead exemption along with the portability of the property tax cap (which caps property tax increases to 3% in a given year).Â Guess who is opposing these?Â Local city and county governments, whose budgets have soared in recent years with the increase of property taxes.Â But Florida legislators are clearly interested in changing Florida’sÂ reliance on property taxes.Â These include a state income tax (which reportedly is off the table), or a dramatic cut in property taxes with an increase in utility fees.Â Â I’ve even read some suggestions of making a state wide sales tax.Â These meetings ought to be very interesting and most likely, well attended.Â

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Paid The Homeowner Insurance

Dana Joseph — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 11:31:04 +0000

We paid the homeowner insurance bill.Â I’ve written a lot about the increase in homeowner insurance rates for those who live in Florida.Â A special legislative session is scheduled in January in an attempt to find some solutions.Â This insurance crisis is pitting Floridians against each other;Â those in South Florida and coastal areas are wanting to decrease their insurance premiums by spreading the costs toÂ all Floridians.Â We do not live in South Florida or a coastal area, but we did have to pay a $20 fee (tax) to Citizen’s Insurance which was included in our homeowner insurance bill.Â Â However, if some would have their way, we will be paying a lot bigger fee next year to Citizen’s.Â Â In fact, there is a move by some to have the homeowner insurance costs subsidized at the federal level, meaning that all US homeowners will help to defray the costs.Â Â Looks like there are going to be some really nasty fights coming up in January.Â People that would advocate making the “State of Florida” provide the insurance need to remember where the State of Florida gets its money.Â The money comes from the citizens of the State through taxes and if the State of Florida has to provide the insurance, then the taxes are going to rise throughout the State to cover the costs.Â If you live in the State of Florida, you are going to be paying one way or another.Â

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Homeowner Insurance - Florida Rates - Not A Lot Of Options

Dana Joseph — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 14:39:38 +0000

I’ve written extensively about the homeowner’s insurance problem here in Florida.Â Our insurance is due for renewal soon, and we’ve been getting price quotes from a variety of companies.Â

After reviewing the quotes, we’ve decided to stay with our current provider, even though our rate has jumped nearly 40%.Â We do not live on either of the coasts of Florida, are not in a flood zone, and our home is relatively new and was built to meet all the hurricane standards.Â

We’ve been trying to educate ourselves as to what is underlying the current trend in escalating insurance costs, and some of the probable fallout.Â

First, the policy we have chosen insures our home for its replacement value, and since construction costs have increased, then the amount required to replace our home has increased as well.Â This is an expected cost of living increase.

Second, we are paying a 5% fee that was leveled to all homeowner insurance policies to help the Citizen’s Insurance Company stay afloat.Â Citizen’s was started as an “insurer of last resort” so that properties who could not obtain insurance because of their perceived risks (waterfront properties, etc.) would be able to obtain insurance.

Third, insurance companies are in the business of making money, and as such, the last couple of years was devastating to many of the insurance companies who suffered bankruptcy and have left the state.Â Many new companies just do not want to do business in the state, since their profit margins are not large enough to justify the risk involved.

Fourth, the insurance industry is based on speculative models, and those models all suggest future increased hurricane activity.Â Couple that with the massive amount of building that has occurred inÂ high-risk coastal areas, and the amount of risk to the insurance industry is high.Â

Fifth, Citizen’s Insurance is going to be getting more and more of the business that nobody else will insure.Â Citizen’s is run by the State of Florida.Â If you are a Floridian, you need to know that all Floridians are going to be paying extra to help fund Citizen’s.Â There has even been a push to have federal dollars thrown the way of Citizen’s.Â I do not like having to pay for people’s insurance who live in high risk areas (like Key West) so I am sure that people living in other states would not take too kindly to this as well.

The bottom line?Â If you are considering moving to Florida you need to understand that the homeowner insurance rates are going nowhere but up.Â This is going to significantly affect everybody in the state.Â Why did we choose to stick with the insurance company we currently have?Â Because the only other quotes we could get were from companies we have never heard of before, and we need to have confidence that in the event of damage, we would actually see money from our insurance policy.Â

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Florida Homeowner Insurance - January Special Session

Dana Joseph — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:48:14 +0000

I have been writing about the current situation in Florida with rising homeowner insurance costs.Â Governor elect Charlie Crist and the legislature will be having a special session in January to address some of the issues with the insurance rates and come up with some solutions to help with the problem.Â One of the problems is that insurance companies are leaving the state.Â We’ve found that some of the insurance companies we have contacted for rate quotes are not doing business in Florida, and this has affected our ability to shop around for the best rate.Â We will watch and see what solutions are proposed from this special session.Â The bottom line is that all Floridians are going to pay in some form.

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Paid The Property Taxes Bill - Got The Early Discount

Dana Joseph — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 14:37:45 +0000

As I mentioned during last week’s regular paying the bills, our property tax bill was coming due. We pay our property taxes and homeowner insurance ourselves, rather than allowing the mortage company to collect it in escrow throughout the year. We did this for several reasons. First, the mortage company seemed to have difficulty paying the homeowner insurance on a timely basis. We would get letters from the insurance company that it had not been paid. Second, the mortage company would not calculate the escrow amounts correctly and would always estimate on the “high” end. When we refinanced the mortage a few years ago, we set it up so that the mortgage company would not collect the escrows.

Now several of the lenders we were considering did not want to do this. After all, collecting escrow money amounts to a lot of money for the mortgage business and some just were not willing. So, we found a lender who would give us a very low rate and at the same time would allow us to pay our own property taxes and insurance.

We estimate the property taxes and insurance and come up with a total dollar amount. We divide that amount by 12 to figure a monthly dollar amount that we need to set aside, taking into account when the bills will actually come due. For us, that is the end of November and the end of December, respectively.Â If we pay our property taxes by November 30, we pay the lowest amount in taxes. The amount increases incrementally per month after that.

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Florida Homeowner’s Insurance - Another Round Of Increases?

Dana Joseph — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 10:44:38 +0000

I see whereÂ Citizen’s Property InsuranceÂ is talking about yet another proposed increase in insurance.Â This time theyÂ have requested another rate hike on top of the almost 26-percent rate hike expected to take place Jan. 1, 2007.Â Â The cost of homeowner insurance in South Florida is frustrating homeowners and causing some to leave the state.Â Florida legislators are going to be meeting and coming up with propositions for insurance reform.Â

According to The South Florida Business Journal, the insurance reform committee created by Gov. Jeb Bush has recommended 50 measures to help with the spiraling insurance costs.Â I looked over the recommendations, but the bottom line is that the State is going to try to pick up some of the slack, which really just translates into “all Floridians”.Â

Our homeowner insurance has also increased and we do not live in South Florida nor do we own waterfront property.Â Currently, we are getting quotes from other providers, as our insurance is up for renewal and we are trying to see if we can get better rates elsewhere.Â We do not pay our property taxes and insurance through escrow with our mortgage company.Â Instead, we save the money ourselves through the year, and then pay the bills ourselves when they come due.Â We did this because we had trouble with our mortgage company calculating the escrow amounts properly and many times they did not pay the property tax bill at the earliest date where we could receive a discount.Â Another benefit of paying these bills ourselves is that it keeps us very aware of what our property taxes are as well as what the insurance rates and coverage are for our home.Â

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Central Florida Real Estate :: Not Moving As Quickly

Dana Joseph — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 16:03:37 +0000

I’ve been writing lately about the homeowners insurance rates in Florida.Â We watch the home sales in our neighborhood, and things have definitely slowed down.Â Houses are still moving, albeit not nearly as fast as they used to be.Â We also see a lot of the “Assist To Sell” signs, with more homeowners trying to save some money.Â Today The Housing Bubble blog mentions an Orlando Sentinel article that states, “there is a lot of real estate out there in Orlando.”Â There is definitely a surplus of homes in our neighborhood.Â

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