There needs to be specific Hurricane Insurance

[SoCalDem]

Most people need a mortgage to buy a house, and most lending institutions will not issue a mortgage without insurance. Insurance must be low-cost enough for most people or they could never buy a house.

The banks, real estate people and insurance companies are perpetuating a massive fraud when they sell these policies...claiming that the people are covered.

Insurance policies need to be written in EVERYDAY, easy-to-understand language, so people KNOW they are unlikely to have coverage.

BUT

that would eliminate a lot of real estate deals.. Would YOU buy a house in an area that is likley to be hit repeatedly by storms that are NOT covered by your insurance? Or would you look for a place further inland, that would be a safer choice?

It's not fair to toss these high-density areas into the National Flood Insurance program which is seriously underfunded either, since they will not get much out of that either, and will only put extra pressure on the federal program..

Out here we have to have earthquake insurance if we expect to get any coverage for earthquakes, even if a fire caused by an earthquake actually destroys a house.

We choose not to pay the sky-high premium and our policy has "NO EARTHQUAKE COVERAGE" stamped right on the policy. We accept the risk because the $30K deductible would be impossible for us to cover ourselves, so we take the risk.

Previous storm tracks should be easy to use for purposes of deciding which areas should offer/be required to carry the insurance.

Of course the real estate business and the banking business profit because they are in the business of selling dreams.. the dream of living in warm tropical climates with easy access to the beach is more costly than we realize..

Insurance companies don't want to pay out..they only like to collect .:(

[SteppingRazor]

1. You can always buy Citizens here in Florida...

they'll insure anyone, but their prices are sky-high. Other than that, very few companies will insure South Florida anymore. I'm hoping to get insurance through USAA once me and my fiancee get married (thank you, Dad, for joining the Navy!)

[SoCalDem]

2. BUT will they pay-off after the storm?

Most people find out the hard way about exclusions:(

[magellan]

3. Here in FL

...our insurance companies have always made it very clear on our policies whether or not we were carrying hurricane insurance. Maybe it's different because we're mobile home owners, but no complaints here.

What the insurance companies could be more clear about is flood insurance. Most people think that if they aren't in a flood plain they don't need to worry about flood insurance. But flooding isn't just about rising water. If a hurricane/tornado puts a hole in your roof and rain water then falls inside (and a hurricane can drop a lot of rain even after the wind core has departed the area, if it's moving slow), hurricane insurance doesn't cover the resulting damage -- flood insurance does.

The same people who buy hurricane insurance should buy flood insurance.