Floridians should be aware Home Insurance Premiums are going up.... again
Effective this past Tuesday, Floridians insured under Citizens Property Insurance holding a multi-peril policy (this is your standard homeowner's policy, so this affects most insureds) will see a rate increase of 6.4% across the board. Other policies under Citizens will see increases as high as 8.4 to 11 percent. This comes as Homeowners have already dealt with rising rates in the past two years. This doesn't come as much of a surprise because Citizens has increased its book of business exponentially. When you grow your book, premiums go up and your risk exposure goes up as well. Take these numbers into account... As of Oc. 31. 2020, less than two years ago, Citizens insured 521,289 homes. A year later in 2021, they increased that to 725,942 homes. Two years later, now in 2022, that book has now doubled to a whopping 1,098,762 homes insured under Citizens. That's pretty daunting considering this is one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States.
Possible ways to lower premiums
Before I end this Insurance update I want to mention a few ways you can save on your Home Insurance...
- Consider changing the primary applicant. This is one you don't always hear as much. Often our credit scores fluctuate, and this has a big impact on your premium. You may be able to lower your premium by changing the primary applicant to the co-applicant if the co-applicant has better credit.
- Home Upgrades This is another big one. A very important part of home upgrades is that you do them at your own cost. If you upgrade your roof by filing a claim, you're not helping yourself. If you can replace your roof or upgrade your windows to impact-rated windows, you can get a massive discount. Home security alarms, as well as water monitor (leak detection) equipment, can get you a nice discount as well. Let's say your roof was built without Hurricane clips. You can talk to a roofer about installing these on your roof without replacing your current roof. This must be done by a licensed contractor. In fact, most home upgrades require a licensed professional in order to accept the upgrades. But these are all things that can help you quite a bit in this tough market.