I didn't think it was possible to screw over the few homeowners left in Florida that haven't been foreclosed on, short saled, or evicted, but "yes" there's something else that can be done and is being done right now, in the hurricane season. I'm talking about the 99%, you know the hanging on by a thread group.
It's personal. This past June, I received my new Homeowners insurance policy from my regular provider for the last 7 years. The premium jumped four hundred dollars from last year and the value of my house depreciated another twenty thousand dollars.
You could say that I was a lucky one, because I don't have a mortgage. So insurance isn't required by some outside bank making me pay outrageous money.
However, I did complain to my agent that it seemed odd that my premiums went up as my value went down. She assured me that the company that I had been dealing with had lost their minds and that she would easily be able to get me a policy that would be cheaper and it would be no problem. And she did. I got me a brand new policy from Safeway Insurance for four hundred dollars less than the other group and for two months and two payments adding up to half the years premium, they cancelled me. I would like to say that I went on Safeway's page today and they are a "Family run" Insurance company that actually insures mobil homes. With or without wind coverage in Florida.
It was today, just after "Isaac" left the Florida area that I received my letter. The reason for the cancellation was that my house wasn't worth enough for them to insure. I've got to really think about that for a long time because I'm not that smart and I don't understand why paying a homeowner less for replacement costs is a bad thing. I am just under the $125,000 limit that they will insure.
I actually called Geico, to see if I could "bundle" my car insurance with a new homeowners policy and when I told the sales person my dilemma, she was sorry to say that Geico partners with the very same kind of jackasses that cancelled me and that they also won't insure a home that is worth less that that amount. She was helpful enough to send me to a group that helps poor souls like myself, sort of like the old days with auto insurance when they pooled you cause your driving sucked.
Of course Florida state politicians have been promising for years to fix this scam of homeowners and I believe that Charlie Crist once threatened to keep any insurance company out of the state that won't insure homes as well as autos. So what the hell? I have until September 19th and then I'm hung out to dry. If there's a storm, I could be homeless, no recourse, really?