Thousands of Homeowners in Florida Have Drop Coverage

Homeowners that have a mortgage on their home are required to carry homeowners insurance in order to protect the invest their mortgage lender has made in their home but once that mortgage is paid off, homeowners are free to dump their insurance. 

Unfortunately, thousands of people in Florida have made the decision to drop their coverage. While this will certainly save a bit of money, it can be a very costly mistake if your home is damaged or destroyed by a severe storm, fire or other peril. 

According to the US Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey, roughly 12.8 percent of owner occupied homes in Florida are not carrying insurance. This number climbs to 14.4 percent in Miami, which is twice the nationwide rate of 6.8 percent.

Industry experts warn homeowners that going without homeowners insurance is an extremely risky move unless you are wealthy enough to easily rebuild your home and replace all of your possessions. If this is not possible on your income, you should absolutely have a homeowner’s policy in place. 

Florida is Prone to Storms and Expensive for Insurance

Dropping your homeowners insurance is never a good plan but in Florida it is a horrible idea. Florida often makes the list of states with the most natural disasters and Hurricane Andrew is 1992 held the record for the most expensive natural disaster until 2005. 

All of these storms have made Florida the most expensive state in the country for homeowners coverage. According to ValuePenguin, the average premium in the Sunshine State is $2,055, which is 90 percent above the national average. 

The high cost of insurance is one reason that Florida homeowners take the risk of living without it. While an expensive policy can put a strain on a homeowners budget, especially retired people on a fixed budget, the cost of rebuilding your home and replacing all of your possessions will be much higher. 

Why You Should Carry Homeowners Insurance

While high costs certainly make dropping your homeowners insurance attractive, there are a number of reasons this is a bad idea. Here are just a few reasons you should give it some serious thought before dropping your coverage:

• Your Home: Without insurance, the entire cost of rebuilding or repairing your home will fall to you. Despite the fact that most people never think that it will happen to them, severe storm damage, fire and wind damage are much more common than you think, especially in South Florida. 

If you are unable to easily cover the cost of a major repair or even rebuilding your entire home, you should be carrying homeowners insurance. 

• Your Possessions: The cost to replace your possessions is another factor you should consider. Over your lifetime you have probably accumulated a lot of stuff and if you are uninsured when a fire or storm hits, you will be paying to replace everything you own. 

Take a minute to walk around your home and do a quick calculation of what it would cost to replace everything. If you cannot easily cover that cost, you should be carrying homeowners insurance. 

• Liability: Another major benefit that homeowners insurance brings to the table is liability coverage. If someone is injured at your home or bitten by your pet, you could end up covering their medical bills as well as the cost of a lawsuit if they decide to sue. These kinds of costs can quickly spiral out of control and if you don’t have insurance you will covering them yourself.