{"id":6912,"date":"2021-03-26T21:14:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T02:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/american-insurance.one.zysites.com\/blog\/floridas-property-insurance-dilemma\/"},"modified":"2022-08-17T16:08:16","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T21:08:16","slug":"floridas-property-insurance-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/blog\/floridas-property-insurance-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s Property Insurance Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florida\u2019s residential and commercial property insurance market is in a precarious state of flux, for both insurance companies and consumers.\u00a0 Old hurricane claims, litigation abuse, and fraudulent repair tactics have led to big underwriting losses and rising reinsurance rates.\u00a0 Those are being passed along to Florida residents in double-digit rate increases \u2013 some as high as 50%.<\/span><\/p>\n

Host Lisa Miller, a former Florida Deputy Insurance Commissioner, talks with two veteran insurance agents on the frontline, who reveal the hidden consequences that higher insurance premiums are having on their customers and the impact now on Florida\u2019s real estate market.<\/p>\n

Show Notes<\/span><\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s domestic insurance companies are in a sea of red ink, with $1.6 billion in net underwriting losses.\u00a0 Consumers have been left holding the bag for now.\u00a0 Some are scrambling to find coverage.\u00a0 They\u2019re increasingly turning to their insurance agents for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we have to have uncomfortable conversations with clients and some clients decide they don\u2019t want to keep insuring the property, they just want the liability (coverage),\u201d said\u00a0Ana Regina Myrrha, CEO of the American Insurance Point agency in Orlando.\u00a0 \u201cI see people taking a greater risk because they cannot afford to pay for the insurance.\u201d\u00a0 Myrrha, a 23-year insurance agent, said she has had to hire extra staff to review policies and quote and re-quote clients who\u2019ve lost or can\u2019t find affordable coverage.<\/p>\n

The availability and affordability issue is even more advanced in South Florida, with many clients seeing rate increases of 20% to 40%, according to\u00a0Dulce Suarez-Resnick, Vice President of Personal Lines for Acentria Insurance Associates in Miami.\u00a0 \u201cIn the last two years, more and more of our markets have shut down,\u201d said Suarez-Resnick.\u00a0 \u201cI represent 16 homeowners carriers and I have four open in Miami-Dade County and six open in Broward County.\u201d\u00a0 But many she said have policy restrictions, including roof age requirements of under 10 years old.\u00a0\u00a0 Those clients have little choice than to be placed with Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-backed insurer of last resort, whose policy count\u00a0has exploded<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in the current dilemma.<\/p>\n

Both agents report the situation has begun impacting home affordability and the Florida real estate market.\u00a0 \u201cEventually what\u2019s going to happen with people is that they are not going to be able to afford that mortgage payment because their insurance is escrowed with their taxes.\u00a0 And it\u2019s just becoming a dilemma,\u201d said Suarez-Resnick, a 36-year agent in Miami who serves on the Citizens Property Insurance Corporation\u2019s Agent Roundtable.\u00a0 She said her own mortgage payment has gone up year after year, fueled by a $1,400 annual premium increase last year and another $800 increase this year.<\/p>\n

Some insurance consumers are increasing their deductibles to help reduce the premium increases.\u00a0\u00a0 The usual 2% hurricane deductible is now offered at 5%.\u00a0 Myrrha worries that some who had regular $1,000 all other perils deductibles are pushing their deductibles to $2,500, $5,000, and even $10,000.\u00a0 \u201cThe clients that choose those deductibles, can they afford to pay them in case of a catastrophe?\u00a0 Probably not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Host Miller and guests also talked about some of the insurance market and litigation reform bills being considered by the Florida Legislature, designed to ease the dilemma and help re-right the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter what kind of reform you pass, as long as you ignore the one-way attorney fees and the fee multiplier then you have really done nothing.\u00a0 You\u2019ve basically closed the door and opened the window,\u201d said Suarez-Resnick, who has travelled to the state Capitol for years to urge reform, from litigation abuse in the 2004-2005 storms\u2019 claims, then sinkholes, followed by Assignment of Benefits (AOB), and now litigation on old hurricane claims.\u00a0 She notes the constant stream of attorney commercials on local television.\u00a0 \u201cSo the attorneys are educating the consumer to have a different mindset.\u00a0 \u2018Don\u2019t call your insurance agent, your trusted advisor if you have a claim, call us.\u00a0 We can inspect,\u2019 they say.\u00a0 Since when is an attorney a public adjuster?\u201d she asked.\u00a0\u00a0 She urges the Florida Legislature to pass Senate Bill\u00a0SB-76<\/a><\/span>, the principal property reform bill this session.<\/p>\n

Another issue is door to door solicitation by roofing firms offering new roofs that they convince the homeowner their insurance company will have to pay for.\u00a0 \u201cTo make matters worse, it\u2019s not only the client.\u00a0 Now I have realtors encouraging clients to file claims to replace the roof in order to get the house sold,\u201d said Myrrha.\u00a0 She said these jobs often involve an AOB and incomplete or shoddy work.\u00a0\u00a0 She said she educates her clients that \u201cMaybe they\u2019re giving you a free roof now, but for the rest of your life, you\u2019re going to be paying for that roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result, the agents agreed, is that property insurance capacity is running out, the market has dwindled, and the lack of competition has driven rates even higher, pushing people to taxpayer-backed Citizens Property Insurance.\u00a0 Even those homes with replacement values of more than $1 million are having a hard time finding windstorm insurance in coastal areas they said.\u00a0 \u201cI would tell the Florida Legislature that enough is enough.\u00a0 The insurance industry has been bleeding for a while.\u00a0 It\u2019s impossible that they cannot look to the little guy that is using their savings as a down payment on a house and now cannot afford the escrow payment,\u201d said Myrrha.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s clear after listening to our guests today that Florida\u2019s property insurance market dilemma is going to deepen and worsen without needed legislative reforms.\u00a0 I see the insurance companies\u2019 future, their profitability, is going to require them to shed business by cancelling or non-renewing more policies, said host Miller.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThis dilemma is falling squarely on consumers\u2019 pocketbooks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode<\/span><\/p>\n

American Insurance Point Agency<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Acentria Insurance Associates<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Florida Legislature Bill Watch<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(Lisa Miller & Associates)<\/p>\n

Florida Domestic Property Insurers Summary of 2020 Year-End Financial Results<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

S&P Global Market Intelligence<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Demotech Financial Stability Ratings for the Florida Domestic Market<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(March 12, 2021)<\/p>\n

Citizens Pushing Higher Rates<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(LMA Newsletter of March 22, 2021)<\/p>\n

Florida Property Insurance Cos. Financials<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(LMA Newsletter of March 15, 2021)<\/p>\n

Several Factors Hinder Homeowner and Auto Glass Insurance Fraud Processing<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, March 2021)<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s P&C Market: Spiraling Toward Collapse<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/em>(Guy Fraker, Cre8tfutures Advisory, January 2020)<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s Property Insurance Market Is \u2018Spiraling Towards Collapse\u2019 Due to Litigation<\/a><\/span><\/em>: Report (Insurance Journal, January 20, 2021)<\/p>\n

Consumer Impact and Trends in Property and Automobile Insurance<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate presentation to the Florida House Insurance & Banking Subcommittee, February 3, 2021, pages 37-45)<\/p>\n

2021 Legislative Proposals<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(Florida Insurance Consumer Advocate, February 2020)<\/p>\n

Citizens Exposure Reduction and Depopulation Opportunities Analysis<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(Florida State University\u2019s Florida Catastrophic Storm Risk Management Center, November 2020)<\/p>\n

How a $41,000 Plumbing Leak Turned Into a $1.2 Million Attorney Fee<\/a><\/span><\/em>\u00a0(Lisa\u2019s Blog, March 12, 2020)<\/p>\n

Assignment of Benefits & Insurance Litigation Webpage<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(Lisa Miller & Associates)<\/p>\n

Floridians for Lawsuit Reform<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Lisa Miller & Associates – Business Development, Government Consulting, Public Relations.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/lisamillerassociates.com\/9491-2\/<\/span><\/p>\n

Ou\u00e7a o podcast<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

26 de mar\u00e7o de 2021<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida’s residential and commercial property insurance market is in a precarious state of flux, for both insurance companies and consumers.  Old hurricane claims, litigation abuse, and fraudulent repair tactics have led to big underwritin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aipflorida.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}