Focus on Florida Thread........(THE FLORIDA POLITICAL DEBATE THREAD)

[Bling]

with so many threads started by myself, SS and TP about National Politics i sat back and said.... U know what.... we need to focus on our own local government and state government more as this is what affects us more "so to speak"


I was just watching some local News program and they were talking about such vital issues as


1. the revamping of the FCAT
2. Homeowner's insurance skyrocketing after Jan 1ST-'07..... etc



this is the thread for Florida Politics only

[swank]

The homeowners insurance premiums in the state of Florida are CRIMINAL.

As a resident of Florida I will be the first to say that if things don't change in the next couple of years, I will refuse to disperse a good portion of my wages into my cost of living when there are plenty of states that offer up to 50% better lifestyle benefits for young families.

Not to mention the educational system here is to be questioned...the only way to get the "A" rated schools is to buy a $300K home for $600K and then pay $2K/month for insurance.

[jamu]

I am disgusted at the fact that FCAT is not even allowed to be measured by psychological and education psychometric experts to see if it really measures what it is intended to. Our kids are taking this test, for which our teachers, students, and parents have no clue how it is intended to measure educational success.

[V. Barbarino]

My insurance program would solve all of floridas insurance problems.

Real simple, if you want to purchase or sell your home you must have hurricane upgrades such as windows, roof bracing, shutters etc. Screen porches are never covered under my program.

Then if your roof gets messed up, no more shingles allowed, you must use the metal hurricane roofs.

Once you put these laws in place, there will be a massive reduction in claims that insurance has to go down. We can't legislate our way out of this problem, we must minimize the potential damage. I'm not paying for some dudes 5th roof thru a state backed program.

Tree trimming would also be required each year you renew your policy.

I would also create a market whereas houses that are upgraded to modern storm codes would sell at a premium vs older homes built with weaker codes.

[slamminshaun]

Great plan Barbarino. Now, where does the large retired population who has no money get the $15,000 to upgrade their roof to a metal one, $4,000 for windows, $3,000 for shutters, etc, etc. if they have no money to begin with? Many are selling their houses simply because they can no longer afford the taxes and insurance. If they sell, sure they'll get money....but not UNTIL they close. Sounds like you are requiring it before they close. If I'm wrong, then I stand corrected.

By the way, how do YOU "create a market" where newer homes sell for more then older ones? I thought buyers create the market. I guess you yourself could "create a market" if you were to personally force all buyers to pay more for newer homes.

I say quit letting big insurance companies like Allstate contain the risk in Florida and claim they're taking "losses". They're fuckin' banking on insurance everywhere else in the country, especially auto insurance. Why not force "national" insurance companies to spread the risk out nationally? You want to be a national company, then spread the risk nationally. It wouldn't mean much to the other 49 states in terms of premium increases, but would mean ALOT to Floridians in terms of decreases.

[swank]

Originally Posted by Slammin'

Great plan Barbarino. Now, where does the large retired population who has no money get the $15,000 to upgrade their roof to a metal one, $4,000 for windows, $3,000 for shutters, etc, etc. if they have no money to begin with? Many are selling their houses simply because they can no longer afford the taxes and insurance. If they sell, sure they'll get money....but not UNTIL they close. Sounds like you are requiring it before they close. If I'm wrong, then I stand corrected.

By the way, how do YOU "create a market" where newer homes sell for more then older ones? I thought buyers create the market. I guess you yourself could "create a market" if you were to personally force all buyers to pay more for newer homes.

I say quit letting big insurance companies like Allstate contain the risk in Florida and claim they're taking "losses". They're fuckin' banking on insurance everywhere else in the country, especially auto insurance. Why not force "national" insurance companies to spread the risk out nationally? You want to be a national company, then spread the risk nationally. It wouldn't mean much to the other 49 states in terms of premium increases, but would mean ALOT to Floridians in terms of decreases.

I agree...insurance companies have been making bank for years and years. If I take my personal experiences, I have been paying out to insurance companies for many years and only claimed .000001% of the money I have ever paid in...

don't let me get started on taxes here....that's another legal scam. Speculators drive the price of real-estate through the roof....leave the houses to rot empty and increase my taxes. No where do I see it costing the government more money than 5 years ago to accomplish their jobs....so where is all of this excess cash going?

And it's not only the elders who are having a hard time...it's middle class in general. 100K annual household income doesn't get you very far anymore in these parts.

[Bling]

its sad to hear the callers this past weekend on a local news show. how retired little old ladies calling up saying they have to leave Florida because the insurance premiums is eating them up alive......


something has to be done.........


with regards to our education system in Florida...... i for one believe it needs to be vastly improved. AT least they are trying with the FCAT though poorly implemented at best..

The school system sucked when i was in High School. and it still sucks today


If i were a parent id enroll my kids in private school

[JMT]

Originally Posted by Slammin'

Great plan Barbarino. Now, where does the large retired population who has no money get the $15,000 to upgrade their roof to a metal one, $4,000 for windows, $3,000 for shutters, etc, etc. if they have no money to begin with?

bingo. metal roofing... youre talking close to $1000 dollars a square (= 10 ft x 10 ft area). people dont have $30k to $40k sitting around for upgrades.

[V. Barbarino]

The avg home to upgrade with shutters and bracing should only cost a few thousand, this would be split between the buyer and seller, it would be worked out in the contract, so lets say a house is being sold for 100k, but it needs 10k in upgrades, then the seller lowers their price by 5k and the buyer gets 5k more from his lender for the upgrades. The upgrades would have to be done with X amount of time after closing.

Now as for roofs real real simple, pay attention. Whats more cost effective, fixing a roof 3 times, or fixing it right one time? When a roof gets damage where as the entire roof has to come off, it has to be upgraded to metal roof. This legislation would create a market for metal roofs and the price would come down, but in the long run it's STILL CHEAPER!

I'm not saying we all must switch now, I'm saying after your roof gets damaged. I know people on their 5th roof! Mind you, the insurance company pays them 25k and they get some mexicans to do it for 7k and they pocket the money, this is not how insurance should work. Insurance companies should have a list of roofers registered with the state, this way the home owner doesn't profiter off the job.

By this legislation, it would create a market whereas buyers would buy properties already upgraded to modern building codes. Claims would go down significantly thus insurance premiums would go down.

[slamminshaun]

Not sure what Econ course you took, but when you create a market for something, the price doesn't go down. Demand goes up, price goes up! One needs to look no further then construction materials across the board to see how much prices have gone up. After the hurricanes, there was quite the market for shingles....but they didn't go down in price...they skyrocketed upward.

It definitely makes more sense to build a house with a metal roof IF you have the money to do so. Here's another curveball....what about all the Planned Unit Developments that have it written into their bylaws that homes MUST have a barrel tile roof? How do you get around that? All homes are supposed to have the same roof in those communities....but how can you force someone with an undamaged roof to change over at their own expense??? And where's the appeal of living in a PUD if some people have one roof, and others have another?

My grandparents have lived in Broward since 1967 and replaced their roof after Hurricane Wilma....they also replaced it back in 1982-83 just because it was old. Replacing it once in 40 years because of a hurricane is not going to convince them to fork out the $15,000 for a metal roof.

I see where you're going, but there's no way it can be done. Too many variables.