save money on homeowners insurance

15 years ago

No I am not selling anything :-)

I strongly urge people who have shutters to have a hurricane inspection done to save $$ on your insurance. The inspection used to be free from state of Florida but they ran out of money (in March!!) and now you have to pay an inspector. It is worth it however.

We just got a refund check fromCitizens for over $900. whoopee.

Why? Well we paid a certified inspector $125 to do a report on our home and we submitted it to our insurer. We are with State Farm but in our area only Citizens writes HO insurance.

The best thing is the savings will apply year after year and the $125 fee was a one time thing.

I heard about this from a neighbor in Naples who had a modest size house and she said she saved $1500. At the time I didn't really believe her but I am a believer now.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

julieyankfan
15 years ago
I got in with the My Safe Fla. Home program right before it ended. I couldn't figure out why my ins. said I had the old tile roof when I had a new one put on 2 yrs. ago. My AAA agent told me you had to have it inspected by a My Safe Fla home inspector. It was free and I saved $300, but how ridiculous that I had all the receipts and they wouldn't believe me that my roof was new! Another way for the state to waste money. I had to have a permit to put on the new roof, so why pay for that if Citizens won't believe you did it?
naplesgardener
Original Author
15 years ago
Julie
I'm so glad you brought up the roof issue becuase I forgot to include that in the first post. Our inspector told us that when we re-roof (and our roof is at the end of its usefulness right now) that we will get credit and a further reduction without another inspection because the permit will be on file.
I know this contradicts your AAA agent but that's what we were told.
We are putting off the new roof as long as we can since we don't have any leaks.
I am hoping there will be improvements to solar power that we can integrate into a new roof for hot water heating. Wishful thinking but the Sarasota area an hour north of us is a hotbed of solar and green businesses.
Related Discussions
Homeowner's insurance question continued
Q
Comments (11)
To mepop, Thanks for your reply. I question your observation that the depreciation is due to poor maintenance. I keep everything up the way it should be kept. ( I admit that keeping very light colored ceramic tile spotless is hard with 3 big dogs). lol But, I do the best I can. Is it normal maintenance to remove the bottom panel of the dishwasher to check for leaks? I am a 66 year old retired female and don't recall ever hearing of a homeowner checking under there. I am going to purchase a sensor that detects water leaks which is a very cheap solution to the mess I have now. The dishwasher was purchased the end of 2012 and installed by the dealer and I had them out several times at the end of 2013 before the warranty ran out although there is a 10 year warranty for major components. There is no way to know how long it has been leaking but I sent the defective part that they replaced to the insurance company for possible subrogation. The bug situation are bugs that are called sowbugs ( they gather in damp places and to me look like tiny armadillos). The way I found them was I took up the transition piece between the laminate and the ceramic tile and they were crawling around on the plastic soft floor stuff. That was when I realized I had a big problem. If all the floor was tiled, I would have no way of knowing there was a leak until the floor all fell in. I am the one who crawled around in the 3 foot crawlspace and pulled wet insulation down to find the source of the leak and I also put a big fan and a dehumidifier down there to dry it out. I talked with the insurance adjuster yesterday and they are going to change the estimate to reflect the difference of subflooring and are going to leave it open ended for additional damages as the demo proceeds. Yesterday the flooring guy was here and he said you need to get that dining room flooring up sooner rather than later because that will have black mold under there so I moved all the dining room furniture out and took up all the flooring and plastic stuff, sprayed the wet plywood down with a bleach solution and got a fan running on it. Does that sound like a person who doesn't do maintenance? I may just paint that subfloor to seal in any mold until the contractor gets here. I had no plans for redoing the bathroom; it was perfect just the way it was.
...See More
Homeowner's Insurance?
Q
Comments (21)
We shopped for insurance a year or so ago, and based on a similar thread like this, I got quotes from Amica, Anpac, AAA (the auto club), and USAA. Since we got married, we had been using Erie for our home and USAA for auto (oddly, it was cheaper that way, even with the discount you get for putting everything with one company), then about 5 years ago, Erie jacked up their homeowner rates statewide, so we moved everything over to AmEx through Costco - going through Costco got us a discount over the regular Amex rates and it was a significant savings (close to four digits) over the Erie/USAA combo. We were happy with the Costco coverage but decided to shop around a year ago because they cheesed me off when they started charging a $3/mo convenience fee to charge my premium to my credit card (it had been free for years and they didn't tell me they were going to start charging the fee - it just showed up one day). I didn't really expect to find anything cheaper since the Costco rates had thoroughly trounced everyone else when I went with them, and they hadn't really gone up that much. Anyhow, to make a long story short, Amica seemed to have good coverage, but there rates were MUCH higher than the Costco insurance. USAA was a bit higher than the Costco and AAA was right about even. We ended up going with Anpac (American Nattional Property and Casualty). They were a company that was recommended on the thread just like this one from someone who had filed a claim and been happy with the service. They have a local agent, their rates were fantastic (we saved almost $1K/year for the exact same coverage when we switched over from the Costco plan). Plus they have this thing where if you go claim free for 3 years, you start getting a percentage of your premium refunded to you at the end of each year. We're into our 2nd year now, so in another year and a half, we should start getting rebate checks from the insurance company - it's a significant percentage too -- something like 20%. I don't know how they're doing it since their premiums are already lower than all the competitors I checked. But I'm not going to complain, LOL! I (knock on wood) haven't needed to file a claim so I don't know how that will be, but the agent is very responsive and I have no reason to think the company would give me a hard time. We do have fairly high deductibles since we figure it would take a lot to get us to file a claim that would ruin our claim-free streak and cut off our rebate checks, LOL! Oh - for reference, we are in southeast PA - not a lot of significant weather stuff here, but we do get snow/ice/hail storms. We're in a fairly crime-free rural area and haven't filed a claim on either auto or home (other than a windshield chip or two) in about 10 years.
...See More
Shopping for homeowners/auto insurance (agent or no?)
Q
Comments (21)
Having a local agent is very beneficial when it comes to processing claims either against you by another, or one of your own. I've turned down several offers because there was no local agent; Claims would have been processed remotely and the claims adjuster would have been an unknown under contract (at lowest cost) to the company. I would have been saddled with expediting the whole affair and making many phone calls and dealing with no answers and leaving messages on answering machines and hoping I was home when a call-back arrived. I was in the situation one time when a car rolled back out of a driveway and smashed my door. It was a simple, uncontested claim. However, the car was driven by a wife of a serviceman and he had insurnace through a company that catered to men in the military. There was no local agent. The uninjuried party merely gave me a phone number and company name and did nothing more. It fell upon me to make the phone calls and co-ordinate the process if I wanted them to pay for the repair. And then, there was always wheedling to pare down the repair award. They wanted me to run around and get 3 estimates and then mail in the paper work. I balked unless they were willing to pay me for taking time off from work. I told them that if I did not get satisifaction within 2 days, I would file a complaint with the police. A claim adjuster contacted me rightg away, but he wanted me to chase him all over town. I refused and told him when and where he could find the car. I needed to keep using for my job. He came to my driveway and inspected the damage. That was the first real person-to-person contact I had with that company. The repair was made. In my opion, its worth a few dollars more to have an agent in your corner.
...See More
28 Tips To Save Money
Q
Comments (5)
On #s 15 & 16, I think it's important to point out that often the alternative to refi and the like is simply pay down the principle! Especially if you're early in the mortgage, every nickel you pay toward the principle means the balance of the loan's interest on that nickel goes into your pocket. Ol' Joyful, I'll need some of your expertise here, but could you figure a rough calculation of an average type house loan, average refi costs applied to the current loan and how that would compare in the end? I think it'd be interesting. Also, said before, but often people think they "need" a new car and don't consider if they put some money into the old one, it'd save in the long run. Remember, new cars have higher insurance and license costs so there's more than the initial price to consider. I would take a bit of issue too with the convenience store avoidance. You could actually save money if wise. Often, convenience stores sell eggs, milk, bread etc at very low prices, often far less than the markets. Plus it's not a special trip, saves time plus there can be (tho not guaranteed - it's up to you) fewer impulse buys. The longer you're in the grocery store, stats say you'll spend more. Again, it's how savvy you are, but be careful. #18 (Shudder) Buyer's Brokers are seldom a good thing. Let's face facts, no real estate agent/realtor or the like works FOR the buyer! Who pays them? The seller. How do they get paid more? By "benefitting" the seller. There's no way the buyer benefits from realtors. The fewer the better in most cases. Why? Because you can often negotiate the realtor fees. If you have one realtor taking the entire commission, it's far easier to negotiate them down than to negotiate with multiple agents and try to negotiate down when they're getting 1/4 or less of the commission. Beware of this statement and check into these claims. You're far better off to have a good real estate attorney on your side. S/He'll be working for YOUR benefit. Mine found problems in the paperwork and embarrassed the daylights out of the stack of realtors, closers and the like at my closing! It was hilarious! Now as for the inspector, yes, that can be worthwhile, but don't use one recommended by the realtor (kickbacks) and make sure you know what they're inspecting, their qualifications and the like. A good alternative can be a trusted friend with qualifications. Hire like any professional. Realize, though, that the inspectors DO NOT GUARANTEE the house! So if they overlook something, it's not their fault or responsibility and they won't be doing anything for you so know what you're getting. A title examination, especially of abstract properties, can be very important especially if you don't know how to read an abstract. Torrens is less problematic. Buying a home brings up a pandora's box of potential problems and far too many to go into here, but there's some things to be careful of. #21 Consumer Reports is a pet peeve of mine. They're often very biased in their reporting. Plus, keep in mind that they do not "test" ALL models and versions, even of similar products! Do you realize that the washer you buy at Home Depot is different than the one you buy at Best Buy and they're both different than the one you buy from a mom-n-pop dealer? That can have significant differences in the specs and needs. One can have cycles and features the other doesn't. Don't get caught up in the CR myth. Read their magazine with a shaker full of salt and do far more research than CR. You'll be doing yourself a favor. That's enough for now. There's more opinions coming, I'm sure! :) Happy saving all! Enjoy the frugal season!
...See More
coffeemom
15 years ago
We got the inspection. We put on the shutters.
Saved a bundle.
NOW State Farm wants to raise our rates over 40% to recoup.
You can't win....sigh.....
ladywingr
15 years ago
Naplesgardener - excellent tip. We have had substantial savings from the inspections and have seen the same with other residents in our neighborhood.

Coffeemom - We went thru the My Safe FL Home program, got the shutters, etc., got the insurance reduction and a year later, State Farm cancelled us. We had to pay for ANOTHER inspection to get insured by an untried brand new company just to stay off of Citizen's rolls.

We figure the 40% by State Farm is also to make up for the loss of income from the cancelled policies. They cancelled the homeowners, but of course we then went elsewhere for our automotive, motorcycle, trailer, etc insurance.
natives_and_veggies
15 years ago
Anyone with Citizens and just got a notice that they were being taken over by a private company?

We were stuck with citizens for windstorm AND homeowners in this neighborhood when we bought because we're in a surge pattern (and my one little claim was handled very well, so I'm not down on Citizens, just didn't like being stuck with one choice.)
Now we got a notice that someone is taking over our coverage unless we opt to stay with Citizens. This new company (Magnolia) is promising lower rates, better service, blah, blah, blah. I'm wondering if I can go back to Citizens when this new company has to do a State Farm stunt and raise rates 40 percent to turn a profit.

Anyone been through this?
susannah
naplesgardener
Original Author
15 years ago
Susannah
Yes we got the same notice 2 months ago and hit the roof, thought we were being scammed. Called our State Farm agent and were told Citizens was laying off the newest policies to other insurers.

When we got the change notice we filled out the papers saying we wanted to stay with Citizens and walla it worked. So far. Citizens is who sent us the rebate check.

These new insur. companies are VERY new. If you do an internet search, some of them are offshore companies. Citizens is backed by the state of Florida, who knows about the newbies.

Florida should force State Farm (and others) to offer homeowners insurance in ALL FL areas to spread the risk. Don't allow them to "cherry pick".
JoanM
15 years ago
Susannah
I had citizens and got the letter months ago telling me that I would be switched to Landmark One unless I declined. They said the rates would go down so I decided to let the switch happen. They would not give me any info until my renewal date which is next month. I just got the bill and it went down more than $1000 from the citizens rate. I also had the my safe fl home inspection done before the free inspections ended. I waited for the final report and faxed it to my agent and thats when I found out that they wanted the paperwork from the day of the inspection. I wish I had known that sooner. I am curious to see if it will help my rates since my house was built in 2003 and I already get a lot of credits for the new construction.

My friend got $1011 back after her inspection due to adding shutters and a new roof to a 1989 house.
hopeful_in_Brevard
15 years ago
Our house was built in l954. We have the original hip tile roof. No leaks. The house is cement block the addition is the same except it needs a new shingle roof.On the addition we put 4 anchers on each truss and at that time they only required 2 on everyother truss. My safe fla. inspection rates our house as 2 on a scale of 100 with 100 being the strongest. And even if we did all the upgrades we would still be a 16. Im afraid to submit this to the insurance, they might raise our rates. Our house is built like a bunker, the roof is built of 2 by 8 lumber not ply wood.
naplesgardener
Original Author
15 years ago
hopeful
that is a bummer. were you able to get any explanation for the "2" rating? that just doesn't seem possible for a liveable house.
and especially only getting a "16" after upgrades.
something doesn't seem right.
I hope you can get it changed somehow.

save money on homeowners insurance

Comments (9)

julieyankfan

naplesgardener
Original Author

Related Discussions

coffeemom

ladywingr

natives_and_veggies

naplesgardener
Original Author

JoanM

hopeful_in_Brevard

naplesgardener
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

save money on homeowners insurance

Comments (9)

julieyankfan

naplesgardenerOriginal Author

Related Discussions

coffeemom

ladywingr

natives_and_veggies

naplesgardenerOriginal Author

JoanM

hopeful_in_Brevard

naplesgardenerOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

naplesgardener
Original Author

naplesgardener
Original Author

naplesgardener
Original Author