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Mobile Homes, Mobile Market

As we enter the last half of the 2009 hurricane season, the state of Florida has a significant number of mobile homes/manufactured housing at risk.

By Tim Hoelle | Updated on August 31, 2009

As we enter the last half of the 2009 hurricane season, the state of Florida has a significant number of mobile homes/manufactured housing at risk. A U.S. Census Bureau report titled Structural and Occupancy Characteristics of Housing: 2000, notes that Florida has over 800,000 of these homes. Tom Zuttel of the Office of Insurance Regulation (OIR) reported that less than half (344,593) were insured as of Dec. 31, 2008. Those homes carried total insured values of $27,974,430,478, and accounted for $344,661,566 in premium.

OIR statistics also show that the top writer in the state is Citizens Property Insurance Corp., with 87,646 mobile/manufactured homes. Citizens’ Public Information Manger John Kuczwanski said that as of June 30, 2009, Citizens’ total in-force mobile/manufactured home policy count is 186,904, including all renters’ and owners’ policies. The next four companies in order of in-force policies are Foremost Insurance Co. (50,640), Foremost Property & Casualty (37,368), Safeway Property Insurance Co. (31,774), and American Traditions Insurance Co. (25,553).

Omega Insurance Company, State Farm, American Southern Home, Modern USA, and Florida Farm Bureau General Insurance Company round out the top ten. Those ten account for 88 percent of the policies in force and structure values respectively, and 89 percent of the premium written. All told, there were 28 different entities writing mobile/manufactured homes in 2008 in Florida.

While it would appear that insurance options are plentiful, owners of these homes may actually have a limited number of choices available to them, depending on the age of the home, location, and condition. Age is a key qualifier, and newer-built homes are considered better quality and therefore better risks. Carriers are very selective when writing business on homes built prior to 1994, the year when significant changes regarding structural standards were implemented.

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