Buying and owning a home, for many of us, is the most significant investment we will make in our lives. It will likely also be one of the costliest ones too.

Therefore, when we make that investment we want to make sure that the investment won’t turn sour. It is of paramount importance that the home we purchased is strong and sturdy enough to protect us from a significant hurricane.

South Florida’s building codes were significantly re-vamped following Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and tweaked again following the active hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005. The local building codes were revised to ensure that our homes would remain standing in the event of a hurricane strike.

But these building code advancements did not come without added costs to our homes. In fact, some of the advancements added to the costs of building a home to withstand a hurricane.

As such, our Florida legislators devised a statutory scheme that would permit a home owner to secure discounts for their homeowners insurance coverage if they home met certain criteria.

Indeed, our legislators enacted Florida Statute § 627.711 which requires property insurers to clearly identify and explain discounts available on the policies they sell if a property meets hurricane mitigation requirements.

The State of Florida, however, has discontinued the popular program that aided property owners to secure discounts on their homeowners insurance policy. But many homeowners may still qualify for the discounts even without the state’s assistance.

Here are some tips to follow if you think your insurance company revoked legitimate discounts for strengthening your home against hurricanes.

1. Compare Forms. If your first inspection was done prior to 2009, and the second one was done after 2009, then that will likely explain the issue. The forms recently changed.

2. Keep Documentation. Keep copies of all documentation regarding any and all work performed.

3. Contact the Original Inspector. The inspector that performed the original inspection may be able to assist you in securing the discount today.

4. Use a licensed contractor to perform any work required to strengthen your home.

These tips will help you in making your home stronger. This will help you in the event of a significant hurricane striking Florida. If the work is done properly, it may even qualify you for additional insurance discounts on your insurance premium.

So be sure to check with your insurance company and ask them what discounts are applied and how you can go about securing those discounts.

In the past few weeks, we have seen homes destroyed throughout the country due to the recent ravaging rage of tornado strikes.

Unfortunately, many of those homeowners will soon discover that their insurance won’t cover all of their rebuilding cost. The good news, however, is that the typical homeowners insurance policy does cover tornado damage. But as will be discussed below, it may not be enough. And that should serve as a cautionary tale for all of us residing in Florida as hurricane season gets under way while also serving as a reminder to check our insurance policy now, while also checking on the financial strength of the insurance company providing insurance coverage.

Other natural disasters, such as slides and earthquakes, are not typically covered under the standard insurance policy. But while 96% of homeowners have insurance, 64% of homes are undervalued for insurance purposes.

Therefore, with hurricane season upon us, it is critical that all homeowners in the state of Florida review their insurance policies for purposes of understanding exactly what coverages they have purchased. A typical homeowners policy will generally provide coverage that falls into the following three categories.

Replacement cost. This covers the cost of repairing or replacing your home, based on a set dollar amount. However, one of the problems with this coverage is that it often times does not reflect the increase in the cost of construction and labor since you took out your policy in your community. If your community is destroyed by a natural disaster, then that means that there could be higher demand for such construction and labor needs, and that will inevitably push up the cost of repairing and replacing your home.

Extended replacement cost. Here, the insurance company agrees to pay a certain percentage above the replacement cost to account for inflation. So, for instance, if your replacement cost coverage is $250,000, extended replacement cost coverage will pay up to 120% of that, or $300,000. However, even with that additional percentage of coverage afforded for purposes of assisting and paying for the replacement cost, if you have not adjusted your numbers in sometime, you may still fall short in the event of a catastrophic disaster.

Guaranteed Replacement Cost. This coverage will pay the total cost of replacing your home no matter how much prices have increased since you took out the insurance policy. However, not only of this type of coverage more expensive, it is also very difficult to fix your from an insurance company. The reason being is that insurance companies want to control their cost, and this type of coverage may permit the cost to spiral out of control. Paying for your lost or damaged items.

Replacing Your Stuff. Most insurance policies cover lost or damaged items. Typical coverage ranges from 50% to 70% of the amount of insurance you have on the structure of your home.

For instance, if your insurance policy provides up to $250,000 to rebuild your home, you can get an additional $125,000-$175,000 to replace your belongings. Moreover, you can also insure your belongings for the actual cash value, or the replacement cost.

The actual cash value coverage means that if you lost your 10 -year-old TV to a natural disaster, then you will be compensated the amount of money that your 10 -year-old TV set is worth today.

On the other hand, replacement coverage, while generally more expensive, is often times worth the additional premium cost. The reason being that if you lost your 10 year old TV then you would be entitled to receive new money today that would allow you to purchase a new TV today.

With hurricane season upon us, it is important to check to the financial strength of your property insurer. The reason for that is because a major storm could wipe out more than your home – it could wipe out an insurance company too.

Weiss Ratings, a company which studies the financial strength of property insurers in Florida, released its grades for property and casualty insurers. Weiss rated 29 Florida insurers as having a low financial strength rating. This means that about a quarter of the state’s private insures are in danger of being wiped out by a major hurricane.

One of the companies that received a low rating was State Farm Florida Insurance Co. State Farm is the state’s second largest insurer with $888 million in homeowner premiums. However, in 2010 it lost $66.2 million. The third-largest insurer, Universal Property and Casualty, was also given a low rating.

Currently, Florida law mandates that property and casualty insurers keep at least $5 million in capital. The recently passed insurance reform law will raise that requirement to $10 million in 2016 and $15 million in 2021.

However, hurricane season has already started. So take the time to look at your property insurer to determine whether your insurer is in good financial health. In the event of major storm, you don’t want to be stuck with an insurance company that is going broke as it will negatively impact your claim. Worse, it could leave you in a position where you will be unable to fully recover money for repairs that you are entitled to receive despite the fact that you paid your premiums.
—–
EXTENDED BODY:
Consider Your Options. Contact Us Today.

Before opening our law firm in 2006, our attorneys worked for some of the state’s, and nation’s, largest law firms, and worked representing the insurance companies for years. Our attorneys are now uniquely positioned to use that experience to assist individuals and businesses alike throughout Florida with their insurance claims. As a result, our attorneys are well versed in the impact insurance has on businesses, condominiums, and individuals alike. Our insurance litigation practice group is prepared to tackle your insurance claim.

Given our extensive experience litigating for, and against, insurance companies, our insurance litigation practice group is prepared to provide aggressive, efficient and effective representation on a broad spectrum of insurance claims in Florida for local, national, and international clients. We are prepared to advocate insurance claims at the pre-suit stage, trial, appellate and arbitration levels.

If you are facing a dispute over an insurance claim in Florida, contact Alvarez & Barbara, LLP, for a free and confidential consultation to discuss your rights.

Call us today toll free at 1-866-518-2913 or at 305-263-7700.