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| User Info | Buying Texas, Florida or Carolina beach town real estate; entered at 2011-12-05 07:50:08 | |||
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Mo Posts: 12158 Registered: 2007-06-26 Pa. 
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I haven't been following the Florida property insurance story as closely the last few years, but here's what I remember, and I don't think the facts have changed. Citizen's is the biggest insurer in the state, covering most of the coastal market. If a major hurricane hits one of the densely populated areas - Jacksonvlle, South Florida or the Tampa Bay area, Citizen's will be wiped out. Then it would have to recapitalize, and rates would skyrocket again. The state eased the capitalization requirements for smaller companies after 2005, and a lot of them would be wiped out if a major storm hit pretty much anywhere - densely populated or not. The Catastrophe fund might cover shortfalls, but might not. I have insurance through one of the smaller companies that would be ok if we're talking more minor damage to the Tampabay Area, but a big one would probably leave me homeless without claims being paid. Then what? Every year when the insurance bill is due, I go through this....why pay a company that won't cover a total loss on my house? Would I be better off with Citizen's or worse off? So far, I've kept paying. If Citizens shrinks for the coastal market as Scott wants to do, rates will skyrocket from the private insurers willing to extend coverage there. There just aren't enough companies willing to take big risks there, and if they do, they're probably scams. And then there's the federal flood insurance program.....I have flood insurance though it's not required. The models I've seen show 6 feet of water in my house if a Cat 4 storm hit just north of Tampa Bay. Windstorm insurance would be useless in that case. All of south Tampa, downtown Tampa, downtown St Petersburg, coastal Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco, including property on the bays, and any property near the Hillsborough River would be underwater. It would be as bad as Katrina in terms of flood damage, dollar-wise, maybe worse because this is the high-value real estate. It's all another disaster waiting to happen. Last modified: 2011-12-05 07:52:26 by mo
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