To all my Flood Insurance-carrying peeps, especially here in Florida, who were facing potentially huge and incomprehensible $pike$ in annual premiums, this seems like good news - the Grimm-Cassidy Bill: The House legislation limits yearly premium increases to an average of 15 percent per year for each of the nine property categories listed by FEMA, and stipulates that no individual policyholder pay an increase of more than 18 percent per year. It calls on FEMA to strive to reach the goal that most policyholders have a premium of no more than 1 percent of the value of their coverage -- in other words, $2,000 for a $200,000 policy. The bill also reinstates the flood insurance programs grandfathering provision; meaning homes that complied with previous flood maps would not be hit with large increases when new maps show greater risk of flooding. It also ends a provision that required an immediate hike to actuarial levels when a home changes ownership -- slowing homes sales in many communities designated high risk by FEMA flood maps. As Ive said before, my close friends who recently moved to Pensacola live right on the Bay and pay only $400/yr, admit thats way too low considering the risk & history of that area being hit by hurricanes, and do not want the burden placed on someone in Iowa - for example - to cover a legitimate increase in my friends annual flood insurance premium. And, as Ive said, Ill pay my fair share and more than my current rate, but the math has to add up. I can live with the 1% rule; that would raise my $2500/yr to about $3500/yr. Thats 2x the percentage I pay for my personal articles policy, but theres more to cleaning up my property - not just rebuilding my home - in the event of a catastrophic flood.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 10:11:02 +0000
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