SeaCat
Hey, my Halo is smoking
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2003
- Posts
- 15,378
Home Owners Insurance in southern Florida is a treat. To say it is expensive is to be complimentary. Hell to say it makes sense is a joke.
I live in an older Mobile Home which I have been working on. I have made some minor modifications to it, modifications that have been documented by the state.
Now you have to understand that this trailer has been in the same place since 1975, it has gone through more than a couple of hurricanes without major damage. That being said I dug my claws into it.
I crawled underneath it and inspected the anchors. Where it only had 8 anchors when I moved in it now has an even 20. I ripped open the insides of the exterior walls and inspected them. Any rotted wood was replaced. The old building standard was an 18 inch offset between wall studs. I changed this to 9 inch offset increasing the strength threefold.
Window and door frames were reinforced. Windows have been reinforced as well.
All windows and doors have shutters which are anchored through the wall studs and not through the skin.
The skin has been re-anchored. No longer is it screwed in place every 10 inches. Now it is screwed in place every six inches, with rows of screws every 12 inches. (Not like the every 48 inches.)
I now also have steel cables rated at 1800 pounds. Six of them run over my roof and are attached to 48 inch long Spade Screw Anchors.
My place is less than a mile from the Intercoastal, yet it sits more than 100 feet above sea level.
When I approached the insurance companies this year to insure my place they started laughing. When I gave them all of the documentation about the changes to my place they just shrugged. Not a single one would insure my place. When I went to the last ditch place, the state, I was informed that my premiums would be $1k a month or $12K a year. I told them to stuff it.
Earlier this month State Farm approached the State and asked for permission to increase their rates anywhere from 47% to 55% for their Home Owners Insurance Policies. They claimed they had been losing too much money. The state told them to get stiffed. They ahd payed out in 2004 and that's it. For ten years before that they had only sucked in the profits. Since 2004 they had been sucking in the profits.
Now State Farm has announced that they are pulling out of Florida with their Home Owners Insurance. The State has told them that they were allowed to, the state couldn't stop them, but that if they pulled out of the home owners market they would no longer be allowed to sell or carry any other policies. (ie. Car or Health Insurance.) State Farm is upset about this.
For myself I agree with the state. If you want to sell insurance in a state you should sell all of your insurance in that state.
Let the flames from the free market people begin.
Cat
I live in an older Mobile Home which I have been working on. I have made some minor modifications to it, modifications that have been documented by the state.
Now you have to understand that this trailer has been in the same place since 1975, it has gone through more than a couple of hurricanes without major damage. That being said I dug my claws into it.
I crawled underneath it and inspected the anchors. Where it only had 8 anchors when I moved in it now has an even 20. I ripped open the insides of the exterior walls and inspected them. Any rotted wood was replaced. The old building standard was an 18 inch offset between wall studs. I changed this to 9 inch offset increasing the strength threefold.
Window and door frames were reinforced. Windows have been reinforced as well.
All windows and doors have shutters which are anchored through the wall studs and not through the skin.
The skin has been re-anchored. No longer is it screwed in place every 10 inches. Now it is screwed in place every six inches, with rows of screws every 12 inches. (Not like the every 48 inches.)
I now also have steel cables rated at 1800 pounds. Six of them run over my roof and are attached to 48 inch long Spade Screw Anchors.
My place is less than a mile from the Intercoastal, yet it sits more than 100 feet above sea level.
When I approached the insurance companies this year to insure my place they started laughing. When I gave them all of the documentation about the changes to my place they just shrugged. Not a single one would insure my place. When I went to the last ditch place, the state, I was informed that my premiums would be $1k a month or $12K a year. I told them to stuff it.
Earlier this month State Farm approached the State and asked for permission to increase their rates anywhere from 47% to 55% for their Home Owners Insurance Policies. They claimed they had been losing too much money. The state told them to get stiffed. They ahd payed out in 2004 and that's it. For ten years before that they had only sucked in the profits. Since 2004 they had been sucking in the profits.
Now State Farm has announced that they are pulling out of Florida with their Home Owners Insurance. The State has told them that they were allowed to, the state couldn't stop them, but that if they pulled out of the home owners market they would no longer be allowed to sell or carry any other policies. (ie. Car or Health Insurance.) State Farm is upset about this.
For myself I agree with the state. If you want to sell insurance in a state you should sell all of your insurance in that state.
Let the flames from the free market people begin.
Cat
