I got in with the My Safe Fla. Home program right before it ended. I couldn't figure out why my ins. said I had the old tile roof when I had a new one put on 2 yrs. ago. My AAA agent told me you had to have it inspected by a My Safe Fla home inspector. It was free and I saved $300, but how ridiculous that I had all the receipts and they wouldn't believe me that my roof was new! Another way for the state to waste money. I had to have a permit to put on the new roof, so why pay for that if Citizens won't believe you did it?

Julie
I'm so glad you brought up the roof issue becuase I forgot to include that in the first post. Our inspector told us that when we re-roof (and our roof is at the end of its usefulness right now) that we will get credit and a further reduction without another inspection because the permit will be on file.
I know this contradicts your AAA agent but that's what we were told.
We are putting off the new roof as long as we can since we don't have any leaks.
I am hoping there will be improvements to solar power that we can integrate into a new roof for hot water heating. Wishful thinking but the Sarasota area an hour north of us is a hotbed of solar and green businesses.

We got the inspection. We put on the shutters.
Saved a bundle.
NOW State Farm wants to raise our rates over 40% to recoup.
You can't win....sigh.....

Naplesgardener - excellent tip. We have had substantial savings from the inspections and have seen the same with other residents in our neighborhood.

Coffeemom - We went thru the My Safe FL Home program, got the shutters, etc., got the insurance reduction and a year later, State Farm cancelled us. We had to pay for ANOTHER inspection to get insured by an untried brand new company just to stay off of Citizen's rolls.

We figure the 40% by State Farm is also to make up for the loss of income from the cancelled policies. They cancelled the homeowners, but of course we then went elsewhere for our automotive, motorcycle, trailer, etc insurance.

Anyone with Citizens and just got a notice that they were being taken over by a private company?

We were stuck with citizens for windstorm AND homeowners in this neighborhood when we bought because we're in a surge pattern (and my one little claim was handled very well, so I'm not down on Citizens, just didn't like being stuck with one choice.)
Now we got a notice that someone is taking over our coverage unless we opt to stay with Citizens. This new company (Magnolia) is promising lower rates, better service, blah, blah, blah. I'm wondering if I can go back to Citizens when this new company has to do a State Farm stunt and raise rates 40 percent to turn a profit.

Anyone been through this?
susannah

Susannah
Yes we got the same notice 2 months ago and hit the roof, thought we were being scammed. Called our State Farm agent and were told Citizens was laying off the newest policies to other insurers.

When we got the change notice we filled out the papers saying we wanted to stay with Citizens and walla it worked. So far. Citizens is who sent us the rebate check.

These new insur. companies are VERY new. If you do an internet search, some of them are offshore companies. Citizens is backed by the state of Florida, who knows about the newbies.

Florida should force State Farm (and others) to offer homeowners insurance in ALL FL areas to spread the risk. Don't allow them to "cherry pick".

Susannah
I had citizens and got the letter months ago telling me that I would be switched to Landmark One unless I declined. They said the rates would go down so I decided to let the switch happen. They would not give me any info until my renewal date which is next month. I just got the bill and it went down more than $1000 from the citizens rate. I also had the my safe fl home inspection done before the free inspections ended. I waited for the final report and faxed it to my agent and thats when I found out that they wanted the paperwork from the day of the inspection. I wish I had known that sooner. I am curious to see if it will help my rates since my house was built in 2003 and I already get a lot of credits for the new construction.

My friend got $1011 back after her inspection due to adding shutters and a new roof to a 1989 house.

Our house was built in l954. We have the original hip tile roof. No leaks. The house is cement block the addition is the same except it needs a new shingle roof.On the addition we put 4 anchers on each truss and at that time they only required 2 on everyother truss. My safe fla. inspection rates our house as 2 on a scale of 100 with 100 being the strongest. And even if we did all the upgrades we would still be a 16. Im afraid to submit this to the insurance, they might raise our rates. Our house is built like a bunker, the roof is built of 2 by 8 lumber not ply wood.

hopeful
that is a bummer. were you able to get any explanation for the "2" rating? that just doesn't seem possible for a liveable house.
and especially only getting a "16" after upgrades.
something doesn't seem right.
I hope you can get it changed somehow.