Posts tagged "Good Luck"

Do I need condo insurance in Fl?

I have a mortgage for about $157,000. I guess the previous owner paid it off for the year. Any idea how much I will have to pay for 2008? Can I pay in installments?

First, the previous owners insurance will NOT cover you, it is not your policy, it is their policy. They probably cancelled it by now anyway since FL property insurance is so expensive. Your mortgagee will probably want a copy of the master policyi showing building coverage. If they have a flood policy, that can be assigned to you & then you take over the policy.
A condo policy will cover building items you are responsible for (sometimes studs in, sometimes drywall in, sometimes only additions & alterations to the original unit), your contents (usually worldwide with some limitations), your liability (usually worldwide) & your loss of use. It also covers loss assessment. Loss assessment is when there is a loss to common property that is not covered by the association & they assess all of the unit owners a portion of the loss. BUT & this is a big but, only $1,000 loss assessment coverage is for the master policy’s deductible, so if it is a loss to only your unit & the master policy has a $50,000 deductible, your policy will only pay $1,000 towards the deductible. If the loss can be assessed to 50 unit owners (example – loss to the pool house), the coverage is OK. This cannot be increased, it is written into the policy form.
Good luck to you, insurance in FL is very expensive, but condo policies are not as bad as homeowners policies.
Start calling independent agents in FL, they are the only ones that can give you a price for insurance. Don’t go to one of the little start up companies that are not rated by AMBest. Either go to Citizens (I know of someone who got coverage there cheaper than one of the little companies) or be sure the company you get is rated by AMBest (see ambest.com). If there was a big hurricane, they would not have the assets to pay the claims.

Will homeowners insurance pay to fix a leaky roof following a bad rain storm?

I plan on calling the insurance company tomorrow, but before I do, I thought I’d ask here first, just out of curiosity, to see if this is generally a covered expense or not (and if it isn’t normally covered, if there are ever exceptions to allow something like this.)

A bad thunderstrom blew through, and following this a leak y wet spot developed the ceilings in one of the rooms. Not bad, but definitely coming through the roof, and definitely something that needs to be repaired.

Should I expect homeowners to cover something like this?

thanks.

Only if the bad storm actually caused the damage. If your roof is old and was needing repair or replacement before the storm, they won’t cover it. They will get on the roof and inspect it and can pretty well tell these things. They may cover the cost of the wet spots in the ceiling of the room, but your deductible is probably higher than the cost of that repair. We had roof damage after 3 hurricanes in 2004 and they debated on whether or not they would replace the roof because of how old it was. We proved that it was in good shape before the hurricanes, so ours was replaced. All you can do is try. Good luck to you.

Trying to find condo insurance in Ft Lauderdale but am having no luck finding a company? Any suggestions?

You’ll probably have to go through Citizens, the state’s insurer. Call your auto insurance agent and see if they write it. If not many/most State Farm agents do.

But before you do that go ahead and call around to some local brokers and see if they have any companies writing new policies, or call the Florida Market Assistance Plan, set up to help people find coverage. You can call them at 800-524-9023 or register online at http://www.fmap.org.

From what I’ve seen Citizens is the safest bet. But I haven’t seen everything.

Good luck!

Can I file a water damaged mac under homeowners insurance?

So here’s the deal: My roommate pushed someone walking into my room while they were holding a water pitcher. It spilled all over my computer and caused a lot of damage, over $800 worth… It really was an accident cause he couldnt see that he was holding the water pitcher. Apple doesn’t cover water damage so we (really he) has to pay for it. Even thou im at college, is there any way we could file this under homeowners insurance? Or anything else to make it cost less?

If the computer is scheduled under valuable items on your or your parents’ homeowners insurance policy, you will probably have coverage for this with no deductible. Before you make a claim, call your agent and find out if you have this coverage. If he or she says you do, then you should still weigh whether or not to submit the claim since it is still relatively small, i.e. you should limit your claims to instances where you truly cannot afford to handle the damage yourself.

I hope this helps. Good Luck!

Compare home insurance quotes: Is there an easy way to compare home insurance quotes?

I currently bought a home and I need home insurance. What is the best way to compare home insurance quotes? I want a good policy but I have a small budget, Is there a way to compare home insurance quotes online?

To compare home insurance quotes you have 2 options. Spend your day calling agents in the phone book and getting quote after quote. Or my favorite fill out one form and make the agents compete for your business.

A company called insure me allows you the ability to complete one quote form, then that form is sent to all agent within your zip code. The agent in return will send you their quotes based on your information.

This method allows you to compare home insurance quotes by filling out one 5 minute form. Its real easy and fast, I have included a link below so you can get the process started or read more about the process.

http://dmurl.info/OCZ7M3

Good Luck,

what companies offer good homeowners insurance?

I am looking for a good company to get homeowners insurance with. I have looked at few companies and have gotten quotes from AIG, Progressive,geico, usaa, state farm, and farmers insurance. So far Farmers insurance is the cheapest and geico is the most exspensive but gives great coverage. I guess I would like to know are these companies any good and are there any websites that I can look at see reports about them.
Thanks

No doubt the easiest way to get insurance quotes is on the web.
Why would you waste your time on the phone calling around?
the last time i needed quotes on insurance i used one of these comparison sites and it was great.
this is the site i used and it was quick like less than 5 mins.
The last thing I want to do is listen to elevator music while waiting for a salesman.
Anyway I got good quotes and ended up saving money so I was happy.
So shop around and compare quotes which is easy on the net.
Good starting point is at this site.

http://insurance.deal4-you.com

Good luck.

Would a theft claim increase my homeowners insurance premium?

About $900 worth of stuff have been stolen from our garage and I would like to file a claim under my homeowners insurance (which covers contents). Do you think that filing a claim for theft would increase my insurance premiums?

Most likely it will increase your premiums, although not always. It depends on how your insurance company rates policies. Call your agent and check what your deductible would be. If your deductible is more than the value of what was stolen, then don’t even bother filing the claim because you won’t get anything anyway.

For most of my clients that have theft claims under $1000 (after deductibles0, I usually recommend they not file a claim unless they absolutely need/want to. Having a theft claim on your claims history report can make companies apprehensive about accepting you as an insured and often times results in larger premiums. I had a client once who told me that it wasn’t fair that the company increase his rate by 30% because he filed a $400 theft claim. And I agree with him, but insurance companies often times don’t look at the dollar amount paid (unless it’s a $0 paid claim). They look at how many claims you filed.

The same client filed a $400 theft claim ($1400 total loss – $1000 deductible) and when he got his renewal policy in the mail, his rate increased from about $1000 a year to $1300 a year. Needless to say, he was a bit upset and I don’t blame them.

My recommendation is to use your insurance policy for the major things and not for minor losses. But I would make sure to speak with your agent first and advise him/her. Good luck.

In a condo, will common insurance except a claim for a couple leaky windows?

I just found out that a couple of the windows in my first floor duplex condo are leaking. Unfortunately, due to the housing market, the developer is bankrupt. However, we do have common insurance on the building. Can I make a claim with the common insurance?

generally the common insurance covers items that are used by multiple units. For example, a roof would be covered if that roof covered more than one unit (like a building that had 3 units in it). Windows would be covered if they were windows that opened to a common area (hallway that is used to get to each unit).

Generally items that are used by only 1 unit are covered under that individual units insurance policy. In this case any damage caused by the leaking windows would be covered but not the windows themselves. That is up to the builder to repair (except he is bankrupt).

Good Luck!

How do I find out my neighbors homeowners insurance company?

My daughter was bitten by my neighbors dog. He refuses to pay. I want to file a claim on his homeowners insurance, but he won’t tell me.

i am in the insurance business. you can contact YOUR insurance co. and let them know what happened. this will get the ball rolling. they will interview you about what happened, so make sure you have all medical bills on record. they can reimburse you for any expenses that you have incurred. what they will do is subrogate those damages against your neighbor which basically means they will make him pay your insurance co back. he will either have to decide to go to court and pay it out of his own pocket which means that he will also need to higher an attorney, or, go ahead and file it is a claim and let the insurance companies handle it. they will probably go ahead and let the insurance companies handle it since this will save him money. if you are really needing your money back go ahead and call your insurance co and file a claim. the only downside is that it may take awhile for them to get this handled if they do not have a contact number for your neighbor. they will have to notify them via mail.

you can always get an attourney but that could get costly and time consuming as well. i think going the insurance route is the better choice. every state has a department of insurance that you can contact as well. you can also call them and see what they recommend. good luck to you.

by the way, filing this claim on your insurance co. should not count against you or affect your future premiums in a negative way.

How much does homeowners insurance cost in Nassau County, NY?

I’m just starting to look at purchasing my first home and need to understand even a basic range of cost for yearly homeowners insurance for budgeting purposes.
Without having a specific property in mind to request a rate for, is there any place I can see average or median homeowners insurance rates?

I’m looking at homes in good condition for under $375,000 purchase price.

I live in Nassau county (Hicksville) and pay $1,025 per year for $275,000 of building coverage as well as the liability and all the other bells and whistles. Expect to pay anywhere from $800-$1500+. Rates go by the amount of building coverage (in dollars) as well as the area of the home (square feet). The higher the value (and larger the area) the higher the premium will be. You’re credit will also be a factor. Also, brick houses are a little cheaper (not as combustible) and so are newer houses.
Good luck!