Insurance Help & Information

At Florida Insurance Concepts, we have a team of people who work together to help service your policies.  It is our goal to get to know you and to help you determine what you need in the way of insurance.  Whether in Port St. Lucie or Melbourne or anywhere in between; even if you have rental properties near one of our affiliated offices in Ocala or Vero Beach, we broker insurance for many different companies.

As we get to know our clients, we have many opportunities to answer many different questions.  With the housing market as it is, one of the questions we often get is, “My house is worth less  now than it was a year or two ago, but my homeowners insurance premium doesn’t cost any less; why is that?”

Here is the easy, if not palatable, answer.

Your homeowners insurance is based on the cost of replacing your home in the event of a total loss.  This means that if your home burns down to the ground, the insurance company will be paying the cost of rebuilding it.  They won’t be buying you a different house at approximately the same value of the home that you lost.  They will be rebuilding from scratch.

When you get your initial quote, one of our agents or customer service representatives will be figuring out a Replacement Cost Estimate…an RCE.  This is typically done with a computer program that virtually all of the insurance companies use.  We will enter in the square footage of your home, the type of floor and wall coverings that you have, what kind of roof material is covering your home, whether or not you have any fancy schmancy features like granite counter tops or jacuzzi tubs, bay windows, etc.  From that point, the RCE program generates a cost to rebuild your home.  Often times, this cost can be MORE than what you could sell your house for today.

There are times when companies, or individuals, may choose to not tell us about any special features, in which case the RCE may be a little less than what it would actually cost to replace your home.  That could potentially decrease your premium just a little bit, but a little bit could be in the range of $15-$30 each month.  Unfortunately if you do have a loss, and you are underinsured, you will not be receiving the payout that you expect.

We know how frustrating it is to see the value of your home be temporarily decreasing, and we know how hard it is to pay for something you hope to never use…we are customers in addition to being your agent.  When we help you insure your home (or any of the assets you value) we will work closely with you to meet your needs.  Let us know what kinds of questions you have because we are here to answer.  And in the event that you do need the financial security that your insurance policies have been offering, we are here to help you then, too.