Homeowners Insurance Crisis

Homeowners Insurance Crisis

The Long Awaited Update

It has been over four years without any storms and Florida insurance policy cancellations are continuing this year.  Florida’s largest private property insurance company is moving forward with an approved plan to cancel 125,000 policies on homes, condominiums, and mobile homes. While this is good news compared to the estimated 700,000 policies it was originally planning on non-renewing, this is still a significant number of Florida homeowners who are going to be scrambling to find new coverage.

Cancellations Uptick In Florida

Another large national company announced plans late last year to cancel another 60,000 policies as it continues to cut back its exposure in Florida. These policy cancellations might not be as big of an issue because the company struck a deal with another home insurance company in Florida to cover those homes. However, there is no guarantee that the policyholders who lose their coverage will be able to find a replacement. Homeowners in South Florida coastal counties such as  Dade,  Broward, and  Palm Beach will struggle to find replacement coverage. It will also be difficult for those with older Florida homes and those built with wood frame construction to find replacement coverage.  Central Florida policies exclude sinkhole coverage in several counties.
Finally, local Florida home insurance companies continue to examine the risks they currently have on their books and do selective policy cancellations. A portion of this is due to their  reinsurance agreements which limit how much risk they can assume in certain zip codes. Sometimes they make a business decision to cut back on coverage especially in the South Florida counties on the coast. Further, some of the newer Florida take-out insurance companies eventually reject policies that they’ve previously taken out of the state run insurance company after discovering risks that they don’t want to be exposed to. This might be a poorly built home or one that has not been kept in good condition.

Re-Inspections To Start Soon

If cancellations in the coming year aren’t enough to be worried about, here is another development that could cause even more policies to be dropped. Many Florida home insurance companies are moving forward with an aggressive plan to re-inspect homes that they presently cover. Some of those homes could be in poor condition and may not be adequately protected enough to prevent hurricane damage to the home. If your home is re-inspected by your present insurance company and they find a significant difference between the condition of your home and what their records show, you could join the ranks of those who have been cancelled in the coming year.

Be Careful When Choosing New Coverage

Finally, if your Florida home insurance policy is cancelled during the coming year, it is important to pay attention to the quality of the new companies you are considering. Four companies suffered financial collapse in the last year and were taken over by the state. In addition, over half of the remaining companies still open for business lost money in the last twelve months. If you lose your Florida home insurance policy this year, now is not the time to pick a new company solely on price. It has never been more important to shop around. Select the wrong company and you could be waiting a long time to be paid after the next Florida hurricane.