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Old 04-25-2015, 09:25 AM   #38
BandB
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City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twistedtree View Post
Yes, it's well worth reading your policy carefully regarding "floods". As B&B says, the most probably watering events are typically NOT covered.

Re flood insurance, we live on the water front but are NOT in a flood zone. Regardless, insurance was extremely difficult to get with only 3 companies writing insurance for water front homes; Chubb, Ace, and AIG/Chartis. All of them reflect "yacht" pricing. None of the more commonly used companies will write insurance for a waterfront home regardless of flood zone, despite teh fact that the house has stood for 125 years, and despite the fact that no storm has ever reached it.

I also looked at flood insurance to fill the gaps in the normal policy. It was a complete waste of money. Yes, it provides coverage for the events not covered by homeowners, but the catch was the cap. The max it would pay out is $30k. That might rebuild the garage and dock, and is less than the deductible for the homeowners insurance for a named storm.
Often the separate flood policies are very limited and, if one can, getting the insurance from their regular insurer is best. The other option if your carriers can't provide it or won't is to go to a surplus lines carrier for your homeowner's insurance.

Not surprisingly the companies you find willing to write insurance for waterfront homes are the same ones insuring boats and yachts. All three companies you mentioned above are major yacht insurers in the US.
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