PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — WPTV keeps looking for answers to Florida's insurance coverage collapse.
This week, we told you about one homeowner losing his Citizens Insurance coverage. So, we wanted to find out about the options and risks for homeowners navigating this situation.
WATCH BELOW: What can homeowners do if they get nonrenewal insurance notice?
Nonrenewal notices are something that Citizen Insurance said happened to more than 4,200 homeowners in Florida last year.
"A lot of people get a nonrenewal notice based on the roof's age that is on the Citizens file," Robert Norberg at Arden Insurance in Lantana said. "Sometimes there's ways to get that fixed, but the key is to talk to Citizens or the agent and find out what specifically they need to do because if the roof is in terribly bad shape, then they definitely need to get working on it."
Norberg said, in some cases, hiring an inspector to evaluate the roof can help.
Shopping around for another private insurer is becoming a little bit easier, according to Norberg, as more companies seem willing to take more risk.
He said the one option to avoid is forced-placed insurance, which is a policy imposed by the mortgage lender to cover the mortgage only and usually with a higher premium.
"Forced place is not something people want to run with because what happens is if the house gets destroyed, the bank gets their money and they’re left with nothing," Norberg said.
Matt Sczesny is determined every day to help you find solutions in Florida's coverage collapse. If you have a question or comment on homeowners insurance, you can reach out to him any time.
