Home Insurance Guide

The State of Florida recently put out a website called Shop And Compare Rates where they give the general rates of several different insurance companies for a pretty standard house in Florida. They took a five year old, concrete block home with a replacement value of $150k, a $500 non-hurricane deductible, a 2% hurricane deductible, no claim and no win mitigation discount and received quotes from numerous insurance companies in numerous counties. We’re not talking five companies and a few big counties, we’re talking 21 companies in every single county in Florida! This is probably one of the most comprehensive insurance comparison websites out there and definitely worth a look even if you’re not a Florida resident.

For example, for the exact same home in Palm Beach county, you would pay $8,391 a year if you went with State Farm Florida Insurance Company but only $1,562 if you chose Security First Insurance Company. Now, Security First isn’t a national name so if you went with the cheapest national name I could recognize, Allstate Floridian Insurance Company, you’d still be paying only $3,631 - less than half of State Farm’s quoted rate!

What can you take from this if you’re not in Florida? Always shop around! This isn’t a scenario where you can save a few hundred dollars by going with a company you’ve never heard of, that would be reckless on a piece of property worth $150,000; you’re saving over $6,000 each year to go with them. Over the course of a thirty year mortgage, the difference alone is worth more than the replacement cost of your home! (It’s $180k) Even if you went with Allstate, you’re still talking about a difference of $4,760 - or $142,800 over the course of a thirty year mortgage.

Shop around!

[Incidentally, the reason why Security First isn't a household name is because it was created in 2005 and they're local to Florida]