AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
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Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#2No surprise there.
Here in Florda, there are thousands of huge 2-3 story mansions on the keys and beach... including right where we are, on the left side of Ian's landfall. These places should be empty public beaches or hardened hotels, but alas they are just banks of big houses that will get flooded and torn up by the next hurricane.
And there are tons of developments built in low, swampy areas next to big rivers.
And did Ian scare anyone? Did it affect zoning? Nope. Real estate is as crazy hot as ever here, with prices shooting up and low lying swamps being mowed down for new neighborhoods. Newcomers here know nothing about hurricanes, and tons of them view increasing flood risk as hysterical "climate alarmism" when I talk to them about it, just like before Ian and Irma.
I am no fan of insurers, but they are smart to get out. Homebuilding in SW/SE Florida is nuts.
Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#3No surprise there. Here in Florda, there are thousands of huge 2-3 story mansions on the keys and beach... including right where we are, on the left side of Ian's landfall. These places should be empty public beaches or hardened hotels, but alas they are just banks of big houses that will get flooded and torn up by the next hurricane. And there are tons of developments built in low, swampy areas next to big rivers. A…
How does the flood insurance program work? I thought it was basically government subsidy for getting insurance where it would not make for an insurer to insure. Is the cost with that included just too high now?
Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#4I guess people might flock to Florida because it's warm there and it doesn't have an income tax? I can see out of state buyers get what looks like a house they can afford, only to find out they are on the hook for a huge insurance bill every month.
If insurance companies exit from an area, what happens to mortgages then in that area? Banks like to protect their mortgage properties and force people to buy insurance, even escrow the insurance to make sure it's always paid.
Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#5No surprise there. Here in Florda, there are thousands of huge 2-3 story mansions on the keys and beach... including right where we are, on the left side of Ian's landfall. These places should be empty public beaches or hardened hotels, but alas they are just banks of big houses that will get flooded and torn up by the next hurricane. And there are tons of developments built in low, swampy areas next to big rivers. A…
How does the flood insurance program work? I thought it was basically government subsidy for getting insurance where it would not make for an insurer to insure. Is the cost with that included just too high now?
The government produces floodmaps that dictate your "flood zones" and affect your rate, and you can either buy public or government approved private insurance.
We are in a lower risk flood zone, but insurance is really expensive now, yeah, and getting much worse. Also it doesn't really cover all the possessions in your home, at least for us.
The insurance scheme doesn't matter. The fundamental problem is that too much stuff is built in flood prone areas, and someone has to foot that bill when all that stuff gets trashed. Its like building neighboorhoods on the lip of volcano. The cost is unpredictable and potentially huge, but inevitable in the near term, which must be a nightmare for insurers.
Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#6I guess people might flock to Florida because it's warm there and it doesn't have an income tax? I can see out of state buyers get what looks like a house they can afford, only to find out they are on the hook for a huge insurance bill every month. If insurance companies exit from an area, what happens to mortgages then in that area? Banks like to protect their mortgage properties and force people to buy insurance, e…
The state of Florida is likely going to end up as the insurer of last resort, which causes some interesting political tensions because it means that a lot of working-class people are going to be subsidizing the well-connected people who are wealthy enough to own the waterfront property which is most at risk from flooding.
Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does the flood insurance program work? I thought it was basically government subsidy for getting insurance where it would not make for an insurer to insure. Is the cost with that included just too high now?
The government produces floodmaps that dictate your "flood zones" and affect your rate, and you can either buy public or government approved private insurance. We are in a lower risk flood zone, but insurance is really expensive now, yeah, and getting much worse. Also it doesn't really cover all the possessions in your home, at least for us. The insurance scheme doesn't matter. The fundamental problem is that too muc…
> We are in a lower risk flood zone, but insurance is really expensive now, yeah, and getting much worse.
An additional problem is that flood risk is based on area elevation rather than dwelling elevation.
In a zone where houses range from 2' to 40' elevation, those dwellings are all rated the same for surge risk.
Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#8In other words, it goes to show that if you don’t have competition in a place where claims will absolutely be filed, you will go broke. Smart move, but makes me feel insurance owes more to humanity than leaving people to fend for themselves.
Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#9In other words, it goes to show that if you don’t have competition in a place where claims will absolutely be filed, you will go broke. Smart move, but makes me feel insurance owes more to humanity than leaving people to fend for themselves.
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Re: AAA is limiting coverage in Florida, citing natural disaster threat
#10I guess people might flock to Florida because it's warm there and it doesn't have an income tax? I can see out of state buyers get what looks like a house they can afford, only to find out they are on the hook for a huge insurance bill every month. If insurance companies exit from an area, what happens to mortgages then in that area? Banks like to protect their mortgage properties and force people to buy insurance, e…
> I can see out of state buyers get what looks like a house they can afford, only to find out they are on the hook for a huge insurance bill every month.
While true, the influx of move-ins also played a meaningful part in raising insurance costs.
The sudden spike of buyers with NY & CA sized dollars massively inflated FL home prices. This further stretched tight JIT construction inventories which further drove up home replacement/repair costs.
What eases the above? More building. Where's the building happening? All over but with little regard to historical risk - whether an area sees 30 landfalls in 150 years or maybe one.