A few months ago, a client of mine received a homeowner’s policy renewal quote for their second home in FL at over a 100% increase. The expiring premium was approximately $19k and it was renewing at about $45k! The broker the client used had offices in NY and FL and was able to find an alternative option from a carrier I was not familiar with that offered a more reasonable premium of $28k. The carrier was highly-rated and client was willing to take the risk of going with a relatively unknown carrier.
As many in the insurance industry are aware, the homeowner’s insurance market in FL is in disarray and many homeowners are finding it challenging to find reputable carriers offering reasonably priced options. On a video conference yesterday with a NY-based broker, he shared with me that although he does not like to turn new business away, lately he has been advising prospects approaching him for homeowner’s quotes in FL to seek out quotes from local FL brokers. He explained to me that carriers writing in FL have a certain amount of premium allocated there and a majority of it is reserved for in-state brokers, which gives them an advantage over their out-of-state competitors.
Whether that is accurate, I don’t know, but for those in the market for homeowner’s insurance in FL, it may pay to investigate. At the very least, it would seem reasonable to grant an FL-based broker the opportunity to compete on a homeowner’s insurance policy.