SHORE ACRES, Fla. — Lives are changed yearly in Florida as hurricanes and rising water continues to threaten local communities.
St. Petersburg is unfortunately used to bad weather and storm damage, so the city is investing millions of dollars to mitigate those issues.
Meantime, the only way homeowners can protect their assets is to have solid insurance policies. But that's tough to do as the state deals with an insurance crisis.
On a typical Tuesday at the end of August, heavy rain drenched the Shore Acres neighborhood, and 24 hours later, several storm drains remained at capacity, overflowing back into the street.
"Shore Acres always floods," said Graeme Jackson. "It’s a constant problem. They try and find a solution, but nothing is working, in my opinion."
He's used to seeing his neighbors' water-logged belongings curbside after a flood. Last year, he said it happened twice.
"I don’t know what the solution is, really," he said.
His house doesn't flood, but he told us to go one street over, and we'd find it. We didn't find any standing water there, but we did find Sean Appelbaum. He bought his home in 2021, knowing it had flooded in 2019.
"The owner had lived there since the early 90s, and that was the only time it had ever flooded, so I was like, oh, I’ll take my chances," he said.
But after a recent hurricane—his house flooded.
"It got about six inches in the house," he said, pointing out where the water hit in his garage.
His kitchen and bathrooms had to be gutted.
"They usually take about three feet or so cut at the wall," he said, showing us how much of the drywall needed to be replaced.
He said dealing with insurance took about four to five months, but in the end, "My work order from the contractor was around about $95,000, and I got $105 from the insurance, so it ended up covering and more."
That's the goal, right? If you pay every month for property insurance and even flood insurance, you want to make sure companies will step up and pay out when you need it.
"Check the details. Have your agent walk through them with you," said Mark Friedlander with the Insurance Information Institute.
Last year, Citizens Insurance began its "depopulation" effort, which allows other companies to come in and take over policies. So far, more than 132,445 personal and commercial residential policies have been removed from Citizens.
Friedlander said if you’re currently on Citizens and you end up with one or several takeout offers, some policies are now being written with depreciation factored into portions of the "dwelling coverage." It's called Actual Cash Value.
He said personal belongings are typically written as Actual Cash Value, while property is typically written as Replacement Cost Value. That means if you lost your roof or your garage door, they would be replaced at their current value.
"Some Florida insurers are writing up policies with depreciation for roofs. So, say your roof is five years old, you’re not going to get the full value for that," said Friedlander.
"I mean, how do you know how long the depreciation of a roof is over 20+ years? It’s tough because they’re the ones telling you what that value is," said Appelbaum.
Friedlander said to work with your insurance agent and have them read over the takeout offers to see what’s covered and how. He said it may be possible to upgrade the entire policy to RCV, although he estimates that will likely cost you about 25% more.
"Like you said, it’s more than just cost. Don’t just go on the cost, 'Okay, this is a better deal. I’m going to go with company A now because it’s a good takeout offer,'" he said.
Because the cheaper premium may mean ACV coverage versus RCV.
For flood insurance, there's a $250,000 coverage limit on the property and a $100,000 coverage limit on contents for policies written by the National Flood Insurance program. Property is usually written as Replacement Cost Coverage, and contents are Actual Cost Value, but again, it's smart to double-check. Some private flood insurers may have the option to switch your entire policy to RCV.
The Insurance Information Institute did a study showing replacement costs gradually went up 55% between 2020 and 2022—supply chain disruptions, the cost of construction materials, and labor shortages all played a role. Friedlander said the lesson here is that homeowners are underinsured and aren't upgrading their policies with inflation in mind.
"55%, that’s nearly four times the consumer price index," he said. "At that same time, if you have not upgraded your policy in recent years, you’re going to have a big gap."
That's why he said you should double-check the full replacement cost for your home and make sure what's in your policy is enough.
Back in Shore Acres, for sale signs are everywhere. Appelbaum moved back to St. Louis in April. He's had his house on the market ever since with no luck. He’s even bumped the price below what he bought it for.
"People are fed up for sure," he said.
"They’re tired of stripping out their house and replacing their furniture," Jackson added.
"She didn’t know what she was getting into. She didn’t know she’s signing away her property"
I-Team investigator Adam Walser is hearing from a 91-year-old Lakeland woman who signed a contract to sell her home which she says she did not understand and is now being sued.
