As Hurricane Ian barreled toward Florida last September, Jason Voss and Dawn Jacobson were prepared. They had drained the pool, moved the outdoor furniture, and hunkered down with their hurricane kit in the safest room of their home in Sarasota, a few miles from the Gulf Coast.
Even as fierce winds lashed the area and torrential rain swelled the lake behind their property, the couple took comfort knowing they had invested in new doors and windows, meeting the state’s strict hurricane building code. After the storm cleared, the damage was minimal: lots of debris and four downed trees.
None of that mattered when it came to renewing their homeowners insurance. Though they had done everything right and never filed a claim, they found themselves scrambling to find insurance in a state where costs have soared, insurers have split, and even the state-backed carrier turned them down after balking at the replacement cost of the house.
“It’s nightmarish because you have no control,” says Voss, 53, CEO of a fintech start-up called Deception and Truth Analysis.
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Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.