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Homeowner's Insurance

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B

Beach Bound

Beach Comber
Hi Everyone,
We are looking for a compeitive rate on homeowner's insurance for our new home in WaterColor. We are closing on June 5. Who are the major players in the area? What types of coverage do you recommend vs. what is not really necessary.

Thanks!
 
You may want to check out ambest.com to check out insurance company ratings. This will give you a good idea of the company's financial health.
 
Good luck. Almost every co outside citizens is a very small company and many are low balling rates to get business.Will many of these smaller co's pay the claims when the big one hits? I've had state farm in my state for 30 years so it was a shock dealing with these no name co's.
 
Hi All - looking for some help here...
I'm looking at homeowners policies today and trying to make a decision. I have quotes from Olympus Insurance Company, Bankers Insurance Co., Florida Peninsula Ins. Co., and Geovera Specialty Ins. Co. (which used to be called USF&G). Has anyone had any positive/negative experiences with any of these companies? I need to make a decision today and I'm trying to do as much research as possible. Thanks.
 
By the Bay said:
Hi All - looking for some help here...
I'm looking at homeowners policies today and trying to make a decision. I have quotes from Olympus Insurance Company, Bankers Insurance Co., Florida Peninsula Ins. Co., and Geovera Specialty Ins. Co. (which used to be called USF&G). Has anyone had any positive/negative experiences with any of these companies? I need to make a decision today and I'm trying to do as much research as possible. Thanks.
Click to expand...


Have you gotten a quote from Universal Property and Casualty? They are/were number 4 in the state last time I checked. Bankers is good but underwriting is a pain in the butt. Geovera is a surplus lines company (good but they're not backed by the states guarantee fund). Olympus is good, it's a branch of St. Johns Insurance. Haven't heard of Florida Peninsula. I'm an insurance agent here. Hope this helps. If you have anymore questions you can email me at insureitall@knology.net

Good Luck,
Casey
 
We have Florida Peninsula for wind insurance. They got a lot of press a couple of years ago because they were able to siphon a bunch of policies from Citizens (like ours) and then charged outrageously high rates in 2006-07 thanks to a loophole in the state law. Once the loophole was closed the rates went way down. We pay about a third now of what we paid at the peak. :roll:

I have absolutely no idea if they will provide decent service when/if a storm damages our home. That is the concern. I have thought about looking around but the rate is pretty good, and to be honest there is no telling which if any of these newer or smaller companies would do a decent job, and no one else is available to us other than Citizens.

When we first bought our home we had Citizens. We had damages from Ivan and it took four months -- FOUR MONTHS! -- for them to send someone out because they were so overwhelmed. We obviously had to get the repairs done before anyone from the insurance company could come out. They did pay, but it was a nightmare. The kind where you call every other day and then after months go by, have an absolute meltdown on the phone and THEN you get attention. My advice: Have your meltdown early. :D

All of the above is for wind coverage, by the way. Hazard insurance and flood are often separate for homes in SoWal. I have ASI for hazard and think it's just fine.
 
Thanks for all the help. I ended up staying with Geovera. While they are not backed by the state, they are an independent company that has been around for a long time. I read through past years financial reports and they seemed to be well capatalized and have their risk spread out among different states and types of coverage. Goodness knows if I made the right decision - I hope I never have to call in a claim to find out.
 
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Our wind policy will not be renewed through Citizens (ends Oct. 31st) and our hazard policy comes due at same time.

We would like to obtain quotes. Do you folks recommend just contacting some of the companies mentioned above or going through independent agents?

Mike Hardiman, Santa Rosa Beach (Allstate) could only set us up through Citizens back in 2003.

I get the feeling we may actually have other options?



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