Alabama Homeowners can Reduce Insurance Costs
Alabama Homeowners can Reduce Insurance Costs by retrofittingor building their homes to the FORTIFIED Designation requirements, for more information on the FORTIFIED Programs CLICK HERE
| Coastal Counties of NW Florida, Alabama, Mississippi |
2012-08-28
Alabama has made progress on storm protection, but more work needs to be done (Insight)
Published: Monday, August 27, 2012, 9:13 AM Updated: Monday, August 27, 2012, 9:13 AM
Late August heralds the start of intense hurricane season. Witness the formation of two tropical systems in the past few days.
This Sept. 11, 2008, file satellite image shows Hurricane Ike over the Gulf of Mexico. This week, Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac will threaten the northern Gulf Coast.Indeed, this year marks an important anniversary: Twenty years ago, on Aug. 24, a hurricane named Andrew made landfall in southern Florida, resulting in the then-costliest natural disaster in our country.
With that nighttime storm, people witnessed the amazingly destructive power of wind and the need to protect their homes and belongings in advance of a hurricane or tropical storm.
Andrew drove significant changes in the way we build along our nation’s coastlines, including Alabama’s. In Baldwin and Mobile counties, for example, we have made progress in improving the quality of homes and the strength and durability of building products.
Residents also are wiser about taking appropriate precautionary measures and obeying the need to evacuate.
But there is much more work to do, particularly away from Alabama’s coastal counties, where tornadoes have violently demonstrated the need for changes that make all of our homes stronger.
Alabama mandates insurance policy discounts for tougher construction
Published: Sunday, June 06, 2010, 3:41 PM Updated: Tuesday, June 08, 2010, 4:04 PM
Here's a change: Residents of Mobile and Baldwin counties have a chance to cut home insurance bills by 10 percent to 25 percent.
The discounts, mandated in a 2009 state law, were rolled out May 1. The idea is simple -- if stronger roofs, window coverings and other improvements make a home less vulnerable to hurricane damage, insurers should charge less.
"This is one way to encourage (stronger construction) in both existing homes and new construction," said state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, who sponsored the bill.
Alabama became at least the fifth state to mandate discounts for policyholders who toughen houses, following Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana and Massachusetts.
Some insurers are voluntarily offering discounts in Mississippi and other states.
Only 26 Alabamians have sought price breaks for upgrades to existing houses, said Fred Malik of the Institute for Business & Home Safety, which set the construction standards used in Alabama's program.
2011-06-05
Fortified homes can save homeowners money
By Kathy Jumper, Press-Register
Homeowners Jeffrey and Alicia Duncan of Daphne, at left, will reduce their homeowners insurance by retrofitting their house against strong storm winds. At far right is Carl Schneider, founder of Smart Home Alabama, which is helping to retrofit the Duncan house. (Press-Register/Mike Kittrell)DAPHNE, Alabama - Jeffrey and Alicia Duncan will save an estimated $1,600 a year on insurance costs after their Daphne home is retrofitted to be safer and stronger in storm winds.
That's good news for the couple, who said they had paid $2,700 a year to protect their 2,100-square-foot home in Lake Forest before their insurer dropped them earlier this year as part of a larger withdrawal from the coastal market.
They found replacement coverage for $3,700 a year after consulting with the nonprofit Smart Home Alabama. They also got a bonus -- an offer to make their home more storm-resistant at no charge.
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