Homeowners Insurance Renewing? Make Sure You Do This One Thing

If you have homeowners insurance in Florida, you know how hard it is to find a policy you can afford with the coverage you need. You might think you’re home free once you do—and then it’s time to renew your policy. Hopefully, you’ll receive a renewal offer from your current homeowners insurance company. The first crucial thing you must do is this: read your renewal offer and look for any changes the insurance company has made to coverages, deductibles, and so on.

Insurance companies must file changes in their coverage forms and deductible options with the state, and then they must inform policyholders of these changes when they send renewal notices. Notification of these changes may be sent separately or may be included with your renewal offer. Look for the words “Notice of Change in Policy Terms.”

Homeowners insurance is a legal contract

Your homeowners insurance policy is a legal contract between you and your insurance company, spelling out your rights and responsibilities as well as your insurance company’s. As policyholder, it is your responsibility to review your homeowners insurance renewal offer to be sure the policy still meets your needs. Do not ignore your renewal documents or assume everything is the same as last year. In the current Florida homeowners insurance market, there are policy changes nearly every year.

We are seeing more and more significant changes included in renewal offers. One example of this is a change to the hurricane deductible, say from a two percent deductible to a five percent deductible. On a house worth $400,000, that means a change from an $8,000 to a $20,000 deductible! If you don’t feel comfortable with a change of this magnitude, you can reach out to us to see if the company will offer a renewal without the change, or have us shop your renewal with other markets.

Once you send your renewal payment in, you are considered to have accepted the new terms. Again, we cannot stress enough that it’s very important to review this before sending in payment. 

Explore your options with Lakewood Financial Services

We always encourage clients to read their policy documents carefully. While we will be happy to help you understand anything you’re not sure of, there are simply too many policies and changes to policies for us to automatically review these for you.

If you find your homeowners insurance policy is not adequate for your needs, please call us at 941-747-4600 or click here for a homeowners insurance quote. Since Lakewood Financial Services is an independent insurance agency, we write with multiple homeowners insurance carriers, not just one. Our agents will be happy to help you compare rates and coverage options for your Florida home or condominium. 

What if your homeowners policy is non-renewing? We can help! Please call or contact us online for a homeowners insurance quote!