Categories
Real Estate

How To Save On Home Owners Insurance

A month ago I got the renewal notice for my home owners insurance premium. Although it had actually gone down a little after the policy was sold from Citizens Insurance, the Florida-run insurer of last resort, to another carrier, I still thought that it was a lot of money.

But how can I save any more on the cost of home owners insurance? The last thing I needed was being underinsured with inadequate coverage.

Hurricane anchors on truss and framesOne mistake that was made on the Citizens  policy was the description of the roof type. It was marked ‘gable’ when it was actually ‘hip’. I had asked for a correction to the policy but from the renewal notice I found out that the correction had not been made a year ago.

But I also requested a discount for having hurricane clips or anchors on the roof trusses and framing. It is easy to see from the outside what a roof shape is, but not so easy to prove there are anchors in the walls and rafters. I needed a certified inspector’s declaration to satisfy the insurance company.

Categories
Community News

Anna Maria Bridge Closes

Anna Maria Island bridge will close from early morning, Monday, September 29th, to allow planned repairs.

The closure is for 45 days, but may be shorter if the work progresses ahead of schedule, or longer if there are delays.

Anna Maria Island bridge

Traffic to and from the island will be detoured to the Cortez bridge to the south. Increased traffic flows at the Bradenton Beach end of Cortez Bridge will be accommodated by a lengthened turn lane.

Categories
Environment News Sports

Holmes Beach Surfs Hurricane Ike Surge

Anna Maria Island beaches felt the effects of Hurricane Ike this week with several days of high surf and high water.

Every day this past week brought a good swell and copious waves as Ike passed 300 miles away to the south west of Anna Maria Island.

Hurricane Ike waves Anna Maria Island

The storm emerged off the coast of Cuba into the Gulf of Mexico with Tropical Storm strength winds and soon intensified into a Category 2-3 hurricane heading northwest.

Categories
Sports

Surfing Hurricane Gustav At Holmes Beach

Gustav sent a few waves to Anna Maria Island, Sunday, and brought out a crowd of surfers and onlookers. A high tide and offshore wind meant the waves broke close to shore but some good rides were possible.

Some gusty showers were about the only impact Gustav had on Anna Maria Island but the rain and possibly a raised sea level from the effects of surge caused an above average high tide.

Categories
Real Estate

Foreign Invasion Or Foreign Evasion?

Darcie Duncan at Duncan Real Estate Inc. discusses international property buyers.

The National Association of Realtors has just released its Profile of International Home Buying Activity, relaying information about foreign national buying practices in the 12-month period between May 2007 and May 2008. Although the survey of 4,000 realtors across the nation indicates that buying was widespread and spanned almost every state (the most popular states being Florida, California, Texas, Arizona, New York, Washington and Nevada), the report also shows that foreign buyers purchased less property during the period than they did a year earlier. The decline in reported transactions can be attributed to the general downturn in the U.S. housing market. In fact, it appears, according to the report, that foreign buyers, like U.S. buyers, may be reticent to invest in U.S. property until they are assured that the investment will “pay off.”