Fuller Insurance Blog

Florida Vacation Rental Home Insurance

The Emerald Coast needed 2011. After the collapse of the housing market in 2008 and 2009, and the BP oil spill in 2010, we needed a great year - 2011 has been a come back year.

Just ask our long-time customer Dr. Michael O'Donnell ... in this Destin Log article, he says his Emerald Waters Village vacation rental home "stays booked from March till November and despite the down economy he enjoyed his busiest year ever in 2011."

Do you own a Florida vacation rental home? Are you thinking about taking the vacation rental approach? Dr. O'Donnell said "it has actually worked out really well for us."

If you are getting ready to purchase a Florida vacation rental home, you generally need to purchase a dwelling-fire insurance policy instead of a homeowners policy. A dwelling-fire policy is written on homes that are rented out to other people, as opposed to a homeowners policy, which is written on owner-occupied homes.

Depending on the location of your vacation rental home and the distance from tidal water, you may need a separate windstorm policy and possibly a separate flood insurance policy. If you have an umbrella policy, you will need to ensure your vacation rental home insurance satisfies the liability requirements on your umbrella policy.

Would you like some professional guidance on Florida vacation rental home insurance? Call Shelley Carmichael at our office. She will be more than happy to answer your questions.

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Florida Renters Need Insurance Too

With the collapse of the housing market in Florida, more people are renting their home now than ever before. If you rent your home, whether it is a single family home, an apartment, a townhouse, or a condominium unit, you need a renters insurance policy.

Renters insurance does 3 big things for you:

1. covers your contents or personal property
2. provides additional living expense if your home is severely damaged
3. includes liability coverage in case someone is injured in your home

Fuller Insurance offers Florida renters insurance that will cover you for fire, theft, burglary, vandalism, and windstorm (hurricane or tornado). If you are in a high risk flood zone, you may also need a flood insurance policy to cover your contents from flood waters.

If you need renters insurance, give us a call. Remember we cannot issue new insurance policies when a tropical storm or hurricane is approaching, so call us today while the Gulf is still quiet!

 

It's Hurricane Season - Are You Ready?

This year National Hurricane Preparedness Week runs from May 22 through May 28. Take some time now before the official start of hurricane season to make repairs to your property, make an action plan should a hurricane approach, and review your Florida homeowners insurance policy.

A hurricane brings many different hazards: storm surge on the coast, high winds, tornadoes, and inland flooding.

First, make necessary repairs to your property, such as repairing loose shingles, trimming overgrown trees, and sealing any cracks in stucco or exterior coverings. It is common for beach-front homes and condominiums to suffer wind driven water damage, so inspect and repair any broken seals around windows and doors.

Destin, Miramar Beach, and Santa Rosa Beach Florida are difficult areas to evacuate when a Hurricane Watch or Warning is issued. You need to plan on where you would evacuate to and how you will get there. A few years ago my family and I had to evacuate due to a hurricane and because the traffic was so bad on Highway 331 North, we decided to drive all the way to Panama City Beach and head north on Highway 79 - it took hours! 

Your Florida homeowners insurance policy does not cover you for flooding and it may not cover you for wind damage, so its important that you review your homeowners insurance policy now. Questions to ask yourself include:

1. Do I have enough coverage on my home and contents?
2. What is my hurricane or windstorm deductible?
3. What phone number do I call to file a claim?
4. Do I have Loss of Use coverage?

Still have questions about your Florida homeowners insurance policy? Call Fuller Insurance in Santa Rosa Beach for a personal insurance review. ###

 

 

Spring Cleaning The Exterior Of Your Home from the Insurance Information Institute

I came across this video clip in a recent email and thought I would share it. The video shows you how to spring clean the exterior of your home. This is a great time of year to get outside and check your roof for broken or missing shingles, clean the gutters, and make any necessary repairs to the exterior of your home. Don't wait for the first tropical storm or hurricane to develop - spring clean your exterior today!

 

Citizens Property Insurance Gets Rate Increases

Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty approved rate increases for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, to be effective between Janurary  1 and February 1, 2011. The average rates will increase approximately 10.3 percent for homeowners insurance, 9.2 percent for mobile home insurance, and 10.4% for rental home insurance.

Read more about the Citizens rate increases from the Insurance Journal.

Citizens Insurance: Mail Fraud Occurred, Check Your Checking Account

Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the Florida windstorm insurance company, advised the public last week that some mail addressed to it may have been fraudulently redirected to an unauthorized location on or about June 24, 2010 through June 29, 2010.

Today, the Insurance Journal is reporting that the U.S. Postal Service and Citizens confirmed that no mail was lost, but they can't be 100 percent sure. According to the USPS, the fraudulent mail forwarding never happened because Citizens never responded to a USPS request for confirmation. So, there is no evidence that any mail was forwarded to the fraudulent address (which was an apartment complex).

Still, Citizens is advising customers that if they mailed in a check or other payment during that week, they should call Citizens to confirm that their payment was received and posted. Citizens has posted a question/answer page on their website as well.

Thoughts About the 2010 Hurricane Season

Today is June 1 - the start of the 2010 Hurricane Season. If you watch the news, you will find plenty of commentary about what kind of hurricane season this might be, what you should be doing to prepare, or what might happen if a hurricane collides with the oil spill.

But, as your Local, Trusted Choice insurance agent, I thought I would bring a couple of items to your attention:

1. If you don't have flood insurance, consider purchasing it now. The flood insurance program is a federal government program. As such, Congress decides how the program works. Since Hurricane Katrina hit almost 5 years ago, Congress intended on reworking the flood insurance program to improve it. Yet, something else always comes up and Congress can never seem to get the job done. So what happens is Congress extends the flood insurance program a few months hoping to get to it, they don't get to it, and for whatever reason the flood insurance program lapses! Congress then has to reinstate the flood program retroactively. 


2. A flood insurance policy provides a maximum of $250,000 of coverage on your home. If the replacement value of your home is more than $250,000, and you have a flood insurance policy, consider purchasing excess flood insurance. If you suffer catastrophic flooding from a hurricane, and your home is condemned by the county, you will be out of luck without excess flood coverage.


3. You did not buy windstorm insurance? Buy it now and take a higher deductible to save money. A hurricane will produce two kinds of damage to your home: wind damage and flood damage. You need to have both windstorm coverage and flood coverage to be properly insured. If you declined windstorm coverage because it is too expensive, take a high (or the highest) deductible option to save money. At least you will have most of the coverage you need in case the big one hits. You can also pay in quarterly installments.


4. You rent your home? Cover your contents in case of rain, wind, or flood damage. With the economy, many people now have to rent their home. Plan ahead and purchase a renters insurance policy that includes windstorm coverage. The premiums usually start at about $300-$400 per year and you can pay monthly or quarterly. If you live near the beach, bay, bayou, or a flooding area, you should purchase a flood insurance policy too. (BONUS: The renters insurance policy includes loss of use coverage in case there is damage from wind - it will help you pay for a temporary place to live).

These are just a few thoughts that crossed my mind today, the first day of the 2010 Hurricane Season.