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“Insurance Companies are Being Manipulated”

It is time for Florida lawmakers to deal with the property insurance mess, writes Lonnie Cowan with Keller-Williams in Pensacola.

Selling a home used to be one of the most straightforward, fulfilling jobs. A first-time homebuyer would walk in, say they want a little piece of the American dream, and we would get it done. But then, home insurance rates began to skyrocket, putting the American dream out of reach for many.

We are all paying a lot more just to keep the roof over our heads and keep us secure from whatever mother nature decides to throw at us next.  Lawmakers in Tallahassee say they have made a lot of progress in tackling the lawsuit abuses that drive up our property insurance rates, but there is still a lot more to do.

We hear about roofing fraud - which is a huge problem - but not much about bad faith reform which is part of the solution to lower our property insurance rates. Through various schemes, insurance companies are being manipulated with the help of trial attorneys to pay inflated settlements, and if they hesitate to pay the excessive amount, they get sued for bad faith.  

We all do not want to pay ridiculous property insurance premiums, especially first-time homebuyers who should not have to put the American dream on hold. Our lawmakers are now meeting in Tallahassee and now is the time for them to take care of this mess.

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