Save a bundle on Florida Homeowner's Insurance !!!

Owners of Residential property in Florida have been slow to take advantage of a new (since 2007) STATE-FUNDED PROGRAM to save them money on their homeowners insurance policies.  Now, how many programs state or otherwise ever SAVE you money?

  There is a link to the whole long-winded bill:    http://www.mysafefloridahome.com/images/215.5586amended2007RegSess.pdf

Here's the short story:  

1. Make an application for a FREE wind inspection on your home.  Go to http://www.mysafefloridahome.com/ and fill out the application on-line or on the telephone.  Ask for (or enter) Code K-11 and Inspector 676.   Yeah, I scratch my buddies back, so don't even go there.  He saved me a bunch of money, so why wouldn't I try to help him and his company?  Full Disclosure!

2. The local Inspector, a licensed contractor,  will come out and prepare a report.  He will Look up in your attic and check your ash trays.  Or look up your ash trays and check your attic.

3.  You will get a written report back which you give to your insurance agent, who hopefully takes it from there.  Most agents get right on top of it once you hand them the report.

4.  In some cases you may be eligible for grant money to mitigate issues.  Don't count on it, but it does happen once in awhile.

I have done this for myself and my insurance premium dropped from roughly $5900. to just over $2900.  I'm told that the Florida average is about 15% lower after inspection, but I think the average for Cape Coral Real Estate is more like a 25% drop in premiums.  With every house I sell, I suggest the wind inspection process and it has saved folks some large amounts of money, especially with pre-Andrew homes where the construction techniques were not so codified.

Anybody else had experience with wind inspections on Florida Residential Real Estate?  I'd be interested in hearing how Waterfront Homes fare with this process.  I have never heard of anybody having an INCREASE in premiums due to the inspection, but maybe you have.

Have a fun day making and saving money on Florida Real Estate !!!

Jim Gibson, Florida Realtor, MBA, E-PRO
http://www.JimGibson.BIZ