You get only what you ask for.

There are many things a person can do in life that makes them feel good inside. For instance, being a positive role model for a child, finding a home for a young couple, even changing a tire for a complete stranger. I feel that most people possess this altruisitic quality, but don’t get a chance to share it with as many people as they would like. For those of you who want to possibly share something with your clients, read on.

I have been living in Walnut Creek for about six years now. I was fortunate enough to buy pre-construction, and have been living there happily ever since. The only things that have bothered me about being a homeowner are the property taxes, and my homeowners insurance. Both of which have risen over the years to the point where it’s not as inexpensive to live as it once was, comparatively speaking.

In ninth grade I learned that the two guarantees in life are death and taxes. Well they should have added multiple types of insurance to those two, either as clauses or addendums. I view this like one those analogies for the S.A.T. Homeowners insurance in Florida for hurricanes- is to -car insurance for all of our crazy drivers. These are two types of insurance that often go over looked once a policy has been taken out.

What I mean by that, is a lot of people have adopted that “if it ain’t broke, dont fix it” mentality. Let’s say that you have homeowners or car insurance with a well known, reputable company, who has worked well with you in the past. Whether you’ve submitted a claim or not, let’s say you’ve been satisfied thus far. Does this mean that there is no need to shop around elsewhere to see if there’s a better deal out there for you and your family? There is when you get hit with an astronomical bill like I did.

When I first moved into my house, my insurance was only $1,300 for the year. That was in 03′. A couple months ago I received a bill from the same company now demanding $4,400. Not only was I outraged, I was not even given a reason for the increase. Amazingly, less than a week later, I received a phone call from a friend who started a mitigation inspection company by the name of “R2 CONSTRUCTION”, 754-224-7042 ASK FOR GLEN. For those of you who are not fully aware of what this inspection entails, don’t feel bad, I was one of them.

That’s when I decided to do some research of my own and this is what I learned: The state of Florida REQUIRES Insurance Companies to offer REDUCED RATES for certain Hurricane resistant features.
Why are insurance companies offering the discounts?

The state legislation adopted provisions for a new statewide building code (the 2001 Florida Building Code), which became effective on March 1, 2002. The same legislation included a requirement for insurance companies to provide property insurance discounts for homes that have construction features that reduce the losses in windstorms. Each insurance company was required to submit new rates by February 28, 2003 and include discounts for wind damage reduction (mitigation) construction features. The discounts are justified because stronger, more wind-resistive houses have lower windstorm losses, and lower windstorm losses mean reduced costs to insurance companies. The insurance discounts provide some financial incentives for homeowners to strengthen their existing homes and for new construction to be built to the strongest options in the Florida Building Code. These new insurance rate discounts in Florida began to take place in 2003. They apply to both existing construction (houses built prior to 2002) and new construction built to the new statewide Florida Building Code (FBC).

What qualifies for an Windstorm Mitigation Insurance Discount : existing houses have one or more of these wind resistive construction features and may qualify for some insurance discounts. In addition, houses built after 1994 in Miami-Dade or Broward Counties and houses built after 2002 in the rest of the state generally have many wind resistive construction features and will likely qualify for significant credits. To qualify for a Windstorm Mitigation Discount and/or rebate on your existing homeowner insurance policy, insurance companies require a licensed building professionals certification of the structure.

To sum it all up: After making only two phone calls, I now have better coverage than before, and i’m back to a reasonable rate. So i’m simply suggesting that everyone do a little homework of their own to find out if you are getting the best deal available for you, afterall, you get only what you ask for.