As most Florida residents are probably aware, June 1st was the official start of Hurricane Season.   Although there isn’t anything we can do to prevent a big storm from striking, there are ways to help mitigate the subsequent troubles that arise.

First and foremost, locate your hazard insurance policy and go over the coverages in detail with your Insurance Agent.  Discuss your total replacement cost and confirm that the coverage is sufficient to totally rebuild your home.   Additionally, you’ll want to verify a couple things before you could potentially need to use the policy:
1) You want to be sure that there is hurricane (wind) coverage included – there are very few reasons that it would be excluded on your policy, but better safe than sorry when a simple phone call can confirm the coverage.
2) Verify your home insurance policy is currently active – policies occasionally lapse/cancel for unforeseen reasons.
3) We also recommend that you purchase a flood insurance policy for your home.  Coverage for flooding is not automatically included in your policies and the premium for a preferred policy would be no more than $365/year.
4) Get the number to call if you need to file a claim so you can get the process started as soon as possible after the damage.
5) Also, with Florida’s insurance industry being so volatile, talk to your agent about your insurance company’s financial strength and claim’s paying history.  Read more