Space Coast Podcast Network
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Space Coast Podcast Network
Insurance Insights with Expert Chelsy Johnson
How can you navigate the turbulent waters of the real estate market and come out on top? Find out as we unpack the resilience and emerging trends in new construction homes. Despite fluctuating interest rates, the market remains resilient, with new builds offering cost-effectiveness, reduced insurance and utility expenses, and fewer headaches over maintenance. We'll explore the advantages of buying new construction, from builder incentives and energy-efficient features to smart home amenities. Discover how the market dynamics have shifted to favor buyers, with sellers more willing than ever to offer concessions. Plus, we'll shine a spotlight on Adams Homes in Palm Bay, detailing their diverse array of customizable models and features.
Ever wondered why your insurance premiums keep rising? Chelsy Johnson from Florida Best Quote joins us to demystify the complexities of the insurance landscape, particularly in litigious states. Chelsy's two decades of experience shed light on the real culprits: exorbitant legal fees and a litigious climate driving up costs. Learn about the role of state-owned carriers like Citizens and the stipulations that come with them. Chelsy shares actionable tips for securing the best rates, from the benefits of masonry homes to the critical importance of wind mitigation credits. This episode arms you with the knowledge to make informed real estate and insurance decisions, ensuring you're ahead of the curve in today's market.
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Welcome to the Space Coast Real Estate Show. We are back. We are your host, Rob Christen, and the proud producer and owner of Space Coast Podcast, Jesse Hall. How are you, Jesse?
Speaker 2:I'm doing so good. Great to be back producing another Space Coast Real Estate Show episode man. This is amazing, but we're going to talk about today where we're at. You're selling new construction.
Speaker 1:New construction and you know, the crazy thing is just like what you were talking about interest rates. A lot of people don't remember. In the 80s, interest rates were like 18%. People were still buying houses, they were flipping houses, they were renting houses. So really, no matter what the interest rate, the real estate market is still going to function 100%.
Speaker 2:And as the mantra exists today, and if you call Michael Cruz of Bay Equity, he'll tell you the same thing they use. Thank you for your sponsorship. By the way, michael Cruz, he has again a new mantra that they've adopted and it's like you know marry the house, date the rate. So get into the house. You want the rate. You could refinance once things you know kind of get you know a little bit better and it makes fiscal sense. But in the meantime, just get that house, get that equity, because that same house is still appreciating. Get that house get that house.
Speaker 1:It's because, again it's, it's affordable today, but it may not be tomorrow the weird thing is in palm bay you can get a brand new home for the price of a used home.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And with a brand new home, your insurance is cheaper, your utilities, everything's cheaper and you're not going to have issues. So really it's kind of the new construction market is, I think, almost moving a little faster than the used construction, which is kind of crazy. It doesn't normally work like that.
Speaker 2:If you get a home on a warranty and then you get the incentives these builders are offering with.
Speaker 2:You know your closing costs competitive, yeah, um, I mean, and these are incentives, like closing costs are three percent, you know, if you get that waived or even have a little bit of help out, you know, I mean, with the existing sales market, a lot of sellers are to be competitive, are offering to pay down some of those closing costs, are offered sellers rebate and then the buyer could use that either to pay down the rate or, you know, decide to make small improvements. You know, but they take that seller's credit and they apply it to whoever however they feel. But now no longer are we seeing you know, 10 blind offers over asking. You know, like we saw with the craziness. Now it's like sellers have to like come to the table with something a little bit more, with some kind of other concession or something else, and and actually negotiate, which is kind of refreshing, because I mean buyers buying without, you know, weight waving, inspections and buying sight unseen. We, we don't recommend that yes, yeah, yes.
Speaker 1:Well, funny thing is is they were selling houses that needed full rehabs for full price. So I don't think. I think those days are kind of changing, because I think that the demand for that is just not there anymore.
Speaker 2:No, and a lot of investors are just like, hey, jesse, find me a deal. It's like, yeah, but even those homes that would have been a great candidate to flip, they're going for full retail. So who's doing? Well? New construction, you know, because not only again, like you said, they have all new amenities. You know they're built with more of these green, energy-saving standards. You know greener appliances, a smart home. A new house has a lot of cool stuff in it yeah, they're doing some.
Speaker 1:What I've been telling people is use the the ten thousand dollars flex cash that adams homes will give you to cover your closing costs and then use the money that you were going to use to buy your rate down, and then you get your cake and eat it too.
Speaker 2:So so a lot of different strategies. Yes, yes for yes, for sure. But the new construction.
Speaker 1:It does seem like it's doing better than the used, but it'll come back. That's the thing with real estate is. It's a roller coaster. It goes up, it goes down. You can always make money in real estate. You just have to change and apply your methods to whatever your current market is yeah.
Speaker 2:and how is Adams Homes? I mean, you guys have a lot of inventory homes, are you? Your current market is yeah, um, and and how is adams? Homes. I mean, you guys have a lot of inventory homes.
Speaker 1:Are you guys buying this like spec homes or we're building? Like crazy yeah, with adams homes they don't really offer a lot of customs because they include a lot of them, like they have the double pane windows and they do a lot of stuff that other builders charge for, but it's standard with us because they just want to make it easy and they do provide a really good product. There's a lot of new stuff going on in Palm Bay, but there's so much room down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but can you customize Like you know what are some of the things.
Speaker 1:So you could change the bathroom. You can have a tub, or you can have a tub and a shower, or a tub and shower. You can do tile but you can do granite. But they make their homes, they put everything that you would want there, the five and a quarter baseboard, so that way you don't have to make changes aren't you having some tours coming up soon? Absolutely, yeah come on down to the model on emerson I'll give you a tour any day.
Speaker 1:We have we actually have just about every model available right now in palm bay okay uh, built either really close to being done or completed, so we definitely can see all of our inventory. We're in several different hoas as well, just depending on what people are looking for is there a market for pre-construction homes like?
Speaker 2:if I were to buy something without a slab, without even choosing a lot like let me just get into, you know, to a lower price point or with, like a minimum deposit uh, so we weren't even offering that we weren't even allowed to sell the homes until 20%, but they just released yesterday that we are now allowed to sell everything. Well, that's breaking news.
Speaker 1:Yes, Wow so we used to have to wait for the foundation to be poured and then we considered that 20% and then we could sell the house. But now we can sell the lot, we can sell the whole kit and caboodle.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, good catching up with Adams Homes. Great to see you're doing well, I'm doing well.
Speaker 1:Same to you, buddy.
Speaker 2:And the Space Coast Real Estate Show is back in action. But I want to give our guest, who has been very patient listening to us ramble on because we've got to deep dive into our topic, du jour, right, I mean. So today's theme is insurance.
Speaker 1:The biggest issue Floridians are dealing with right now, yeah, so let's go ahead and introduce our guests so we have an expert today to discuss the issue, and I just wanted to let everyone know before we get into the interview that we're gonna be changing the show up. We're actually gonna be talking about all things real estate, but also all things on the Space Coast as well. We we have a lot of great guests scheduled and I'm really excited for the content that we're going to be bringing you. If you have a topic that you'd like to hear about, go to Space Coast Real Estate Show Facebook page, of course, like the page and then send us a message and let you know what you want to hear about. So today's show, we have an expert in the insurance industry with 20-plus years experience, who was introduced to us by our great friend, justin Brown, the owner broker at RE-MAX Elite, which, justin, we thank you and look forward to having you on the show soon. Her name is Chelsea Johnson and she works with Florida. Best Quote, chelsea, how you doing today.
Speaker 3:Good, how are you guys?
Speaker 1:So awesome. Delighted to have you, by the way.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for taking time out of your schedule. So give us a little background on you.
Speaker 3:Well, I got into insurance just kind of by happenstance when I was younger, out of high school, didn't think it was going to be my career, but ended up starting a family pretty young and then things happened and got got back into it. I've been doing it for over 20 years now and, um, yeah, it's been a. It's been a good career. It's it's kind of a roller coaster sometimes, especially lately the past couple years yeah, it does seem.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know how did it get this bad and who's to blame? I guess that's probably the question that everyone's going to have on their mind. Yeah, yeah, because you have the media telling you it's the contractors. I mean everyone's pointing the finger at everybody else, Right? But, the situation is still the situation.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, it's not just you know, pinpointed to probably one you know, group or person or contractors or lawyers or whatever. Right but contractors or lawyers or whatever, but I mean I'd say the. The biggest factor um that's gotten us here is the, the lawyer fees, the we're the most litigious state in the nation so um, but yes, definitely. You know there was some after the hailstorms with the assignment of benefits happening, which the contractors.
Speaker 3:There were some contractors taking advantage and um, that got us in a bad spot, but um, really the lawyer fees is what's kind of gotten us here.
Speaker 1:The lawyer fees are sometimes more than the actual cost of the repair.
Speaker 2:Like ridiculously more Like.
Speaker 1:Jesse, I know firsthand that, like for the roofing industry, when the attorney gets involved it pretty much doubles the price of the roof and the insurance company still has to foot the bill. But the person making the most money is the attorney, not the contractor, not the homeowner. So it is pretty pretty funny, Like you see these commercials, and every time I see the commercials I think, man, I was like that's only adding to the problem that we have.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yep, and unfortunately, you know, like people in my industry that work at agencies and you know agents, customer service, we kind of take the brunt of it because everyone you know is upset I mean myself included. You know we don't get a discount because we work in it, you know, or any special treatment, so we get it but our hands are kind of tied. So the agency I work at we have 95% more appointments than any other agency in the state. So we've got a lot more options as far as people calling around shopping their rate. We've got a lot more options than most agencies do, aside from just trying to force you to go with Citizens or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Citizens has kind of taken over over well, they're the only ones available.
Speaker 2:When you're only, uh, you know, guy, in the, in the, on the cereal aisle, you know everybody's going to be eating your brand, you know. So it's like no citizens. God bless them, and I think you know, not for nothing, aren't they like a? Like a state owned or state subsidized, or something? They're a state-owned or state-subsidized, or something.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they're our state carrier, so they're the carrier of last resort.
Speaker 3:But honestly, thankfully, like I said, our agency is so big and we have so many appointments that I don't even if I can get you with some other carrier sometimes. We have a couple carriers that come in less than citizens or right around the same price and it gives more liability because citizens only gives $100,000. Citizens that's some one of their stipulations. You know they force you to have flood right even if you don't have a mortgage. Now they're, you know, they've kind of implemented some new stuff that's coming out um even if you're not in a flood zone with citizens.
Speaker 3:If your home, uh, is over six hundred thousand, then you're going to still have to take the flood next year. If it's five 500,000 on your dwelling, you're still going to have to take flood, even if you're not in a flood zone. So there's some you know things with citizens that and a lot of times, especially lately, even though I write you a citizen's policy divvying out those policies that we're writing to other carriers, and if those other carriers come within 20% of citizens rate, you 20 percent of citizens rate, you're pushed off to that other carrier you can't choose. To stay with citizens is as long as that other carriers within 20 percent of their rate. So sometimes you know I'll write someone in a couple months later.
Speaker 3:They're like we received this letter and you know, they're putting us with someone else, and if, as long as their price is within that 20 percent, then they have to go, that's crazy, right?
Speaker 1:no, we have some new carriers in the state. Yes, yeah, well, we've got.
Speaker 3:We've got some new ones, but then a lot of them that went on pause. You know we've had a lot that went out of business completely, but then there was a lot that you know pause new business. They just said like we're not taking anything on new, but slowly those are coming back. Um, we've got, yeah, some new carriers that have have come aboard and that are great, but the guidelines are still, you know, kind of sticky with a lot of the carriers Like they really like those new build homes.
Speaker 3:You know the 10 years or newer is going to get you a better rate and you're going to have more options. If you call me with a new build, I've got you know like a whole bunch of offers from carriers, whereas, like with the older homes, there's not there's not that as many choices and your rates double, triple than it would be with a new build, even with, like, a new roof and decent roof credits.
Speaker 1:Right. So it sounds like there's a huge advantage to homeowners dealing with a broker such as yourself than trying to go with one carrier who only has one rate.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:One rate minimum products. It's like either you fit in that box or you don't. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So how do we fix the problem? I mean, that might be a loaded question how much time have you got? I wish I could fix it.
Speaker 3:But you know, be real careful. As a homeowner, you know, just calling in the carrier directly and filing the claim, because a lot of times the claim can get denied or it's not even going to meet your deductible. It's really good to call your agent first and kind of run it by them to say, hey, this is going on. You know, can you look and see, does this sound like something I should file a claim for or not? Because a lot of times they'll either deny it or it's not going to meet your deductible. So as far as things we can do, um to kind of help, I'd say be careful with filing claims for your. I mean, it benefits the homeowner too, because once you file a claim, even if they deny it, it's still on your record for five years and it's if you try to shop and another carrier set has a guideline like oh no, we don't take a certain amount of claims or we don't take any claims within the last five years.
Speaker 3:Even if that claim didn't pay out, it's still going to be on your record and they're going to say no, we won't take it.
Speaker 1:Always talk to your agent first. Yes, for sure yeah, because there's a lot of companies out there that'll push you to. You know, just jump on board, uh, but I never thought about that. That's probably a much better decision, so it doesn't sound like. The problem is is anything that we can fix, personally, other than just?
Speaker 3:no, there's not anything like magically that I can say like, oh, do this and this will get better. But as far as price wise goes for people, um, I'd say, definitely talk to your agent about if your home is 2002 or older. Um, you know, check out your wind mitigation credits. Make sure you're getting wind mitigation credits. Um, something that really affects the rate is the roof to wall attachment.
Speaker 3:Um, if it's just attached by toenails, you're getting zero credit whereas you can get retrofitted to get clips or single wraps and that literally drops sometimes the rate in half just to do that and get an updated wind mitigation. So I would call and talk to your agent just to make sure. Hey, you know, am I getting the wind mitigation credits? Is there anything I can do on that wind mitigation to get the price down? That's where you get you're going to get. The biggest relief is is from that wind mitigation inspection do you double?
Speaker 1:yeah, I second that. What about double paint? Or like those impact windows?
Speaker 3:does that?
Speaker 3:make a huge difference that's the uh, that's within that wind mitigation inspection. It's number seven on there and that's the opening protection credit. So if all glass is either impact rated or shuttered with, like, an approved shutter and the inspector can mark off that box on there. Yes, they have everything. It's an all or none credit. So it's like all the glass, even if you have like little skylight or you know those glass blocks, everything has to be impact rated or shuttered with an approved shutter for him to be able to check off that full credit. But, um, coastal properties, see that discount in a bigger percentage. Main lane, you're still, you will get the discount, but it's if you're Beachside that that discounts bigger because you're coastal. But yes, that too that's some good insight.
Speaker 2:I know a couple inspectors that offer wind mint for like 100 bucks yeah, for sure you know, but of course retrofitting if they do find like, oh you know, then then that's going to be a little bit more of an expense. But you got to calculate that after five years of paying full rate versus a rate with, you know, a wind mitigation credit, exactly that could be the difference of that 1500, you know. Visit from the roofer to do the tie straps back to code you know to qualify just for example, yesterday, just random, I was writing a.
Speaker 3:It's a smaller, older home on the west coast of florida but um, when I originally quoted him I had quoted him he didn't have the wind mitigation yet or the four point, but we kind of just were ballparking, you know, and I put that he had clips. Well, when he got the inspections and sent him over yesterday the guy, well, the inspector checked unknown because he there was too much insulation in the attic. He said he couldn't get the picture of the whatever. It took his rate from five grand to ten grand, just from me moving it from clips to the toenails or unknown credit.
Speaker 1:So I mean that's half cut in half just right, credit right there well that's about that's valuable yeah but just, really just, living in Florida, you should have your trust is you should have hurricane protection so even if the house doesn't have it, it's totally worth retrofitting the house just because we do get hurricanes, that's just that's.
Speaker 1:You know, I lived in cape coral for a period, for not too long after the storm, and it amazed me how many of those houses like cape coral was still standing. They lost a couple roofs, they lost a couple pool screens, a couple cape pool cages, but like the houses were there, the high rises were there because they were built for it. So it was just, it was kind of amazing to me that the construction it took a category 5 storm head-on and, you know, just had some very minor damage yeah, and thankfully means you know some other communities like Sanibel and for Mars Beach didn't they suffered.
Speaker 1:They suffered greatly. They were a lot older properties, unfortunately knowing that.
Speaker 2:But but I mean those were the barrier islands that those are islands that kind of protected cape coral, right you?
Speaker 3:know luckily us over here in brevard, because I write the whole state of florida. But you know down in tri county and even over in uh largo, pinellas and pasco they're about, they're just as hard almost to get carriers to accept sometimes than the tri county because tri county used to be like the hardest for insurance. Not a lot of carriers are open there, but the west coast of florida is is almost just as bad right now, but over here they're like.
Speaker 3:They haven't done that to us just yet, so I'm hoping you know that at least so, chelsea, what would be your biggest tips to give to homeowners?
Speaker 1:uh, wanting to get the best rate, wanting to like. What should they do? What should they not like? What's your best tips?
Speaker 3:okay, um well, for people like buying a home, new buyers, um, a couple things. Obviously the new build is going to give you a better rate. A masonry home over a frame is going to make your rate a lot less than a frame home, even if it's frame with stucco or, you know, frame with, uh, some masonry or a hardy board or something.
Speaker 3:Yes, so I'm actually going to give you a better rate, um, but for people out there, like you know, that are just trying to shop their homeowners that currently own, like I said, um, the wind mitigation credits, definitely shop. Yeah, every year shop, because we don't. You know, day to day we're getting tons of emails from carriers saying, okay, now we've reopened this county or now we've changed this guideline to this. So every day something's changing or a or a carrier has opened back up. So definitely be proactive about shopping, talking to your agent, getting them to explain and really look into your wind mitigation credits. And if you have to get a new four point, those are only good for a year. The wind mitigation inspections are good for five years. So you know, sometimes people are annoyed by that. They're like I just got a four point, you know two years ago which I get it, but carriers, they need them to be within one year for the four points. But it's worth it if you're able to move to another carrier, because to get a new policy with another carrier you're going to have to have up up-to-date inspections for us to submit. So even if you have to come out of pocket 125 bucks for new inspections, it's worth it to shop it and definitely, you know, get your agent to really dive into your credits and look into your policy, ask about you might be overinsured.
Speaker 3:Some people come to me and they're like I don't know why I've had this you know, personal property coverage so much this whole time.
Speaker 3:I don't need that much, I don't have that much personal property, but it's because their agent hasn't taken time to really go line by line through their coverages and say do you really need this, do you need this? Do you have this much personal property? So there's, there's things they can do. It's just your agent uh, you know, needs to be knowledgeable enough to look at it with you and see if there's anything that you can do to get that credit down. Because a lot of people just normal, you know homeowners that are getting their renewals in the mail, they don't have time to call their agent or, you know, they just pay it and whatever. But if you, if you can take time and call your agent and get them to look at it, it's worth it because it can save you a couple grand a year yeah, not every agent is going to be proactive, looking up for your benefit right, sounds like they need to call chelsea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you shop and you have a good relationship with your insurance agent which everybody should, you know, because I mean, if something were to be devastating and you, you have someone to call versus, you know, get calling a 1-800 number, maybe we'll redirect you. Maybe, like, no, like I just this in a car accident, or loved ones in a car accident, what do we do next? You know, like, and that goes for any claims, you know, have that relationship so how do they get a hold of you chelsea to get a quote and have you as their awesome agent our main number is 727-584-9999.
Speaker 3:That would go to, uh, our main headquarters, and you can ask for me, um, if you want to talk directly to me, um, or our website's, floridabestquotecom. You can go on there and just do an intake if you want. You know a, a quote, for we write everything. You know we write commercial too, so it's not just home and auto, we do umbrella boats. You know everything. So you can go there online, if that's easier, and just fill out an intake and you can request someone. If you want to talk to me directly, you can choose my name from the dropdown I think there's a drop down in there and then it'll go.
Speaker 1:It'll just come to me and then I'll contact you by email or phone or however you want, and we can get started. That's awesome, yeah, and if you're looking for a brand new home here in the space coast, I have lots of brand new adams homes and various models available. You can text or call me at 321-368-1881. I'd first like to send a huge thanks to Jesse and the Space Coast podcast for bringing us back to spit some knowledge on the air again, and I'm very appreciative to Justin Brown of Remax Elite for introducing us to our new friend, chelsea Johnson from Florida Best Quote, who I thank very much for taking time out of your schedule and coming to share your knowledge.
Speaker 1:It's been great doing the show again. I'm so excited for we're going to take the show and I hope you are as well. Stay tuned next week. Check out our facebook page space coast real estate show. Like the page and tell us what you want to talk about. Until then, we'll see you next week. Take care, guys. Thank you.
