Have a place in Sarasota I inherited years ago and two years ago the insurance was about $2200. That company stopped writing policies so I had to switch to another one for $3600. Today I get the renewal and they want over $6000. No way. I’ll go without insurance before paying that much. In the 10 years I’ve had it and the 15 years before that, it’s never suffered any wind damage even though many hurricanes have passed through. Even if there is damage, the deductible is so high, it wouldn’t pay anything in most cases anyway. It’s a gamble, I know.
I don’t know the real estate market but can imagine this killing many sales when buyers see that insurance is almost as much as the mortgage payment. Aren’t realtors getting very nervous? Aren’t they contacting the state to do something about the rates? I wouldn’t want to buy a property in Florida now with these rates.
Tough call. Our insurance in New Orleans is now $7000, but we did recently get basically all our premiums back when Hurricane Ida tore off our roof. You definitely want one big claim rather than a bunch of little ones under the deductible. Ours is 2% for named storms, otherwise 5k. I suspect the renewal premium this summer is going to be ridiculous.
They’re also changing the way they rate federal flood risk, essentially in a way that doesn’t broadly socialize it anymore. A lot of coastal owners are going to be very unhappy.
Florida real estate is doomed. Much of the state is gonna be under water in 50-100 years, so it’s a game of hot potato until insurance becomes unaffordable or unavailable. If it already doesn’t make sense financially to hold it – sell!
The word “much” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this prediction. Florida has 1,350 mi of coastline. If the sea level rises by a meter (IPCC prediction for 2100), approximately 0.84 square miles of Florida will be underwater in the year 2100. How much do you predict the sea level will actually rise in 100 years? I like the timeline spread you gave in your prediction too. You must have learned your lesson from all those folks that said we only had 12 years to live a decade ago.
Florida is mostly flat and sits on porous rock – the water just comes up from below during a high tide… Sinkholes and flooding is common during high tide. The tides will get even higher when the baseline rises. The hurricanes will get more destructive.
You didn’t say some areas will flood more often, you said it would be underwater. Also, what makes you think the most affected areas won’t take any flood mitigation measures?
Po-tay-to - po-tah-to. Probably some will be underwater, the rest will flood. Not only is it mostly flat with lots of marsh land, the areas where most people live with the most expensive real estate are the low laying coastal areas. IMO it’s a slow-moving disaster.
Because it sits on porous rock, so you can’t keep the water out with levees like in Netherlands or New Orleans. You could raise all the buildings with piles / stilts, but it probably won’t be cost-effective to raise everything, including all the infrastructure. And the first thing to go will be insurance. It may take a few major destructive events before insurers decide to call it quits.
Cool. I’ll trust you’re right. Now I can now plan on retiring down there for pennies on the dollar in a high rise condo building and convert the first floor to an open flood flow through patio. I also love having no neighbors since they will have abandoned the place “I Am Legend” style. I always wanted to live in a sci-fi film. If your prediction turns out to be BS, I’m gonna be really said I can’t afford that beachfront condo.
Get to that fantastic sand!
Okay, back on topic. You’re not alone in insurance shock, but it’s not just FL. South Carolina rates for near ocean homes has skyrocketed, despite no recent disasters. Our insurance broker provided several options, none of which were particularly palatable. IIRC, we ended up with a general 5% deductible and a 35% named storm deductible. I highly recommend that you get some form of coverage. The rebuild costs that I looked at in 2019 were astronomical.
Have you considered selling the property? Or is this the one that your deceased relative “owns”?
This was one of many options that we were offered. We thought long and hard before taking this option. I analyzed hurricane history and forecasts for almost a day before deciding it was a decent option. If we got hit, our deductible would be more than we paid for our current home, but the savings were hugely significant. That’s not why we sold the house, but it sure let’s me hear “East Coast” hurricane without reaching for a glycerin tab.
IIRC, according to AlGore’s award winning “documentary”, Miami will sink first, causing northern Florida, along with the panhandle to flip up in the air. We can then attach windmills to the elevated end and solve global warming. This presumes, that by then, there will be another boondoggle religion to wash money for one political party.
Also, the above movie was made prior to the anointed one lowering the seas, which had the added benefit of preventing Guam from tipping over.
Well, to be fair, the anointed one has windmills in <a state that didn’t vote for him> that will raise dikes (not them) to protect his precious trees. Granted, he said that electing him would lower the seas, but he’s prepared … just in case he lied or was mistaken. You can also see that he has solar panels over his entire property because they’re pretty, save the planet, and help to support his Chinese contributors.
