May 28, 2024 • 22 mins
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.
Follow us on Instagram @spacecoastpodcast
Sponsor this show
Want to watch our shows? https://youtube.com/@spacecoastpodcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
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 (00:13):
I'm doing so good.
Great to be back producinganother Space Coast Real Estate
Show episode man.
This is amazing, but we'regoing to talk about today where
we're at.
You're selling new construction.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
New construction and you know, the crazy thing is
just like what you were talkingabout interest rates.
A lot of people don't remember.
In the 80s, interest rates werelike 18%.
People were still buying houses, they were flipping houses,
they were renting houses.
So really, no matter what theinterest rate, the real estate
market is still going tofunction 100%.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
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, hehas again a new mantra that
they've adopted and it's likeyou know marry the house, date
the rate.
So get into the house.
You want the rate.
(01:07):
You could refinance once thingsyou know kind of get you know a
little bit better and it makesfiscal sense.
But in the meantime, just getthat house, get that equity,
because that same house is stillappreciating.
Get that house get that house.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's because, again it's, it's affordable today, but
it may not be tomorrow theweird thing is in palm bay you
can get a brand new home for theprice of a used home.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And with a brand new home, your insurance is cheaper,
your utilities, everything'scheaper and you're not going to
have issues.
So really it's kind of the newconstruction market is, I think,
almost moving a little fasterthan the used construction,
which is kind of crazy.
It doesn't normally work likethat.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
If you get a home on a warranty and then you get the
incentives these builders areoffering with.
You know your closing costscompetitive, yeah, um, I mean,
and these are incentives, likeclosing costs are three percent,
you know, if you get thatwaived or even have a little bit
of help out, you know, I mean,with the existing sales market,
a lot of sellers are to becompetitive, are offering to pay
down some of those closingcosts, are offered sellers
rebate and then the buyer coulduse that either to pay down the
(02:10):
rate or, you know, decide tomake small improvements.
You know, but they take thatseller's credit and they apply
it to whoever however they feel.
But now no longer are we seeingyou know, 10 blind offers over
asking.
You know, like we saw with thecraziness.
Now it's like sellers have tolike come to the table with
something a little bit more,with some kind of other
concession or something else,and and actually negotiate,
(02:33):
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 (02:42):
Well, funny thing is is they were selling houses that
needed full rehabs for fullprice.
So I don't think.
I think those days are kind ofchanging, because I think that
the demand for that is just notthere anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, and a lot of investors are just like, hey,
jesse, find me a deal.
It's like, yeah, but even thosehomes that would have been a
great candidate to flip, they'regoing for full retail.
So who's doing?
Well?
New construction, you know,because not only again, like you
said, they have all newamenities.
(03:14):
You know they're built withmore of these green,
energy-saving standards.
You know greener appliances, asmart home.
A new house has a lot of coolstuff in it yeah, they're doing
some.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
What I've been telling people is use the the
ten thousand dollars flex cashthat adams homes will give you
to cover your closing costs andthen use the money that you were
going to use to buy your ratedown, and then you get your cake
and eat it too.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So so a lot of different strategies.
Yes, yes for yes, for sure.
But the new construction.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It does seem like it's doing better than the used,
but it'll come back.
That's the thing with realestate is.
It's a roller coaster.
It goes up, it goes down.
You can always make money inreal estate.
You just have to change andapply your methods to whatever
your current market is yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
and how is Adams Homes?
I mean, you guys have a lot ofinventory homes, are you?
Your current market is yeah, um, and and how is adams?
Homes.
I mean, you guys have a lot ofinventory homes.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Are you guys buying this like spec homes or we're
building?
Like crazy yeah, with adamshomes they don't really offer a
lot of customs because theyinclude a lot of them, like they
have the double pane windowsand they do a lot of stuff that
other builders charge for, butit's standard with us because
they just want to make it easyand they do provide a really
good product.
There's a lot of new stuffgoing on in Palm Bay, but
there's so much room down there.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, but can you customize Like you know what are
some of the things.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So you could change the bathroom.
You can have a tub, or you canhave a tub and a shower, or a
tub and shower.
You can do tile but you can dogranite.
But they make their homes, theyput everything that you would
want there, the five and aquarter baseboard, so that way
you don't have to make changesaren't you having some tours
coming up soon?
Absolutely, yeah come on downto the model on emerson I'll
(04:52):
give you a tour any day.
We have we actually have justabout every model available
right now in palm bay okay uh,built either really close to
being done or completed, so wedefinitely can see all of our
inventory.
We're in several different hoasas well, just depending on what
people are looking for is therea market for pre-construction
homes like?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
if I were to buy something without a slab,
without even choosing a lot likelet 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 weweren't even allowed to sell
the homes until 20%, but theyjust released yesterday that we
are now allowed to selleverything.
Well, that's breaking news.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yes, Wow so we used to have to wait for the
foundation to be poured and thenwe considered that 20% and then
we could sell the house.
But now we can sell the lot, wecan sell the whole kit and
caboodle.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah Well, good catching up with Adams Homes.
Great to see you're doing well,I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Same to you, buddy.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
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 onbecause we've got to deep dive
into our topic, du jour, right,I mean.
So today's theme is insurance.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
The biggest issue Floridians are dealing with
right now, yeah, so let's goahead and introduce our guests
so we have an expert today todiscuss the issue, and I just
wanted to let everyone knowbefore we get into the interview
that we're gonna be changingthe show up.
We're actually gonna be talkingabout all things real estate,
but also all things on the SpaceCoast as well.
We we have a lot of greatguests scheduled and I'm really
(06:25):
excited for the content thatwe're going to be bringing you.
If you have a topic that you'dlike to hear about, go to Space
Coast Real Estate Show Facebookpage, of course, like the page
and then send us a message andlet you know what you want to
hear about.
So today's show, we have anexpert in the insurance industry
with 20-plus years experience,who was introduced to us by our
great friend, justin Brown, theowner broker at RE-MAX Elite,
(06:48):
which, justin, we thank you andlook forward to having you on
the show soon.
Her name is Chelsea Johnson andshe works with Florida.
Best Quote, chelsea, how youdoing today.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Good, how are you guys?
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So awesome.
Delighted to have you, by theway.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Thank you for taking time out of your schedule.
So give us a little backgroundon you.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
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 mycareer, but ended up starting a
family pretty young and thenthings happened and got got back
into it.
I've been doing it for over 20years now and, um, yeah, it's
(07:30):
been a.
It's been a good career.
It's it's kind of a rollercoaster sometimes, especially
lately the past couple yearsyeah, it does seem.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Uh, you know how did it get this bad and who's to
blame?
I guess that's probably thequestion that everyone's going
to have on their mind.
Yeah, yeah, because you havethe media telling you it's the
contractors.
I mean everyone's pointing thefinger at everybody else, Right?
But, the situation is still thesituation.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah Well, it's not just you know, pinpointed to
probably one you know, group orperson or contractors or lawyers
or whatever.
Right but contractors orlawyers or whatever, but I mean
I'd say the.
The biggest factor um that'sgotten us here is the, the
lawyer fees, the we're the mostlitigious state in the nation so
um, but yes, definitely.
You know there was some afterthe hailstorms with the
(08:15):
assignment of benefits happening, which the contractors.
There were some contractorstaking 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 (08:29):
The lawyer fees are sometimes more than the actual
cost of the repair.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Like ridiculously more Like.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Jesse, I know firsthand that, like for the
roofing industry, when theattorney gets involved it pretty
much doubles the price of theroof and the insurance company
still has to foot the bill.
But the person making the mostmoney 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 thecommercials I think, man, I was
like that's only adding to theproblem that we have.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, yep, and unfortunately, you know, like
people in my industry that workat agencies and you know agents,
customer service, we kind oftake the brunt of it because
everyone you know is upset Imean myself included.
You know we don't get adiscount because we work in it,
you know, or any specialtreatment, so we get it but our
(09:19):
hands are kind of tied.
So the agency I work at we have95% more appointments than any
other agency in the state.
So we've got a lot more optionsas far as people calling around
shopping their rate.
We've got a lot more optionsthan most agencies do, aside
(09:39):
from just trying to force you togo with Citizens or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, Citizens has kind of taken over over well,
they're the only ones available.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
When you're only, uh, you know, guy, in the, in the,
on the cereal aisle, you knoweverybody's going to be eating
your brand, you know.
So it's like no citizens.
God bless them, and I think youknow, not for nothing, aren't
they like a?
Like a state owned or statesubsidized, or something?
They're a state-owned orstate-subsidized, or something.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, they're our state carrier, so they're the
carrier of last resort.
But honestly, thankfully, like Isaid, our agency is so big and
we have so many appointmentsthat I don't even if I can get
you with some other carriersometimes.
We have a couple carriers thatcome in less than citizens or
right around the same price andit gives more liability because
citizens only gives $100,000.
(10:22):
Citizens that's some one oftheir stipulations.
You know they force you to haveflood right even if you don't
have a mortgage.
Now they're, you know, they'vekind of implemented some new
stuff that's coming out um evenif you're not in a flood zone
with citizens.
If your home, uh, is over sixhundred thousand, then you're
going to still have to take theflood next year.
If it's five 500,000 on yourdwelling, you're still going to
(10:42):
have to take flood, even ifyou're not in a flood zone.
So there's some you know thingswith citizens that and a lot of
times, especially lately, eventhough I write you a citizen's
policy divvying out thosepolicies that we're writing to
other carriers, and if thoseother carriers come within 20%
of citizens rate, you 20 percentof citizens rate, you're pushed
(11:04):
off to that other carrier youcan't choose.
To stay with citizens is aslong as that other carriers
within 20 percent of their rate.
So sometimes you know I'llwrite someone in a couple months
later.
They're like we received thisletter and you know, they're
putting us with someone else,and if, as long as their price
is within that 20 percent, thenthey have to go, that's crazy,
right?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
no, we have some new carriers in the state.
Yes, yeah, well, we've got.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We've got some new ones, but then a lot of them
that went on pause.
You know we've had a lot thatwent out of business completely,
but then there was a lot thatyou know pause new business.
They just said like we're nottaking anything on new, but
slowly those are coming back.
Um, we've got, yeah, some newcarriers that have have come
aboard and that are great, butthe guidelines are still, you
(11:46):
know, kind of sticky with a lotof the carriers Like they really
like those new build homes.
You know the 10 years or neweris going to get you a better
rate and you're going to havemore 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 notthat as many choices and your
rates double, triple than itwould be with a new build, even
(12:08):
with, like, a new roof anddecent roof credits.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Right.
So it sounds like there's ahuge advantage to homeowners
dealing with a broker such asyourself than trying to go with
one carrier who only has onerate.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
One rate minimum products.
It's like either you fit inthat box or you don't.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So how do we fix the problem?
I mean, that might be a loadedquestion how much time have you
got?
I wish I could fix it.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
But you know, be real careful.
As a homeowner, you know, justcalling in the carrier directly
and filing the claim, because alot of times the claim can get
denied or it's not even going tomeet your deductible.
It's really good to call youragent first and kind of run it
by them to say, hey, this isgoing 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'lleither deny it or it's not going
(13:03):
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 foryour.
I mean, it benefits thehomeowner too, because once you
file a claim, even if they denyit, it's still on your record
for five years and it's if youtry to shop and another carrier
set has a guideline like oh no,we don't take a certain amount
(13:24):
of claims or we don't take anyclaims within the last five
years.
Even if that claim didn't payout, it's still going to be on
your record and they're going tosay no, we won't take it.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Always talk to your agent first.
Yes, for sure yeah, becausethere'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 betterdecision, so it doesn't sound
like.
The problem is is anything thatwe can fix, personally, other
than just?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
no, there's not anything like magically that I
can say like, oh, do this andthis will get better.
But as far as price wise goesfor people, um, I'd say,
definitely talk to your agentabout if your home is 2002 or
older.
Um, you know, check out yourwind mitigation credits.
Make sure you're getting windmitigation credits.
Um, something that reallyaffects the rate is the roof to
(14:14):
wall attachment.
Um, if it's just attached bytoenails, you're getting zero
credit whereas you can getretrofitted to get clips or
single wraps and that literallydrops sometimes the rate in half
just to do that and get anupdated wind mitigation.
So I would call and talk toyour agent just to make sure.
Hey, you know, am I getting thewind mitigation credits?
(14:35):
Is there anything I can do onthat wind mitigation to get the
price down?
That's where you get you'regoing to get.
The biggest relief is is fromthat wind mitigation inspection
do you double?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
yeah, I second that.
What about double paint?
Or like those impact windows?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
does that?
make a huge difference that'sthe uh, that's within that wind
mitigation inspection.
It's number seven on there andthat's the opening protection
credit.
So if all glass is eitherimpact rated or shuttered with,
like, an approved shutter andthe 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 glassblocks, everything has to be
(15:10):
impact rated or shuttered withan approved shutter for him to
be able to check off that fullcredit.
But, um, coastal properties,see that discount in a bigger
percentage.
Main lane, you're still, youwill get the discount, but it's
if you're Beachside that thatdiscounts bigger because you're
coastal.
But yes, that too that's somegood insight.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I know a couple inspectors that offer wind mint
for like 100 bucks yeah, forsure you know, but of course
retrofitting if they do findlike, oh you know, then then
that's going to be a little bitmore of an expense.
But you got to calculate thatafter five years of paying full
rate versus a rate with, youknow, a wind mitigation credit,
exactly that could be thedifference of that 1500, you
know.
Visit from the roofer to do thetie straps back to code you
(15:50):
know to qualify just for example, yesterday, just random, I was
writing a.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
It's a smaller, older home on the west coast of
florida but um, when Ioriginally quoted him I had
quoted him he didn't have thewind mitigation yet or the four
point, but we kind of just wereballparking, you know, and I put
that he had clips.
Well, when he got theinspections and sent him over
yesterday the guy, well, theinspector checked unknown
because he there was too muchinsulation in the attic.
(16:14):
He said he couldn't get thepicture of the whatever.
It took his rate from fivegrand to ten grand, just from me
moving it from clips to thetoenails or unknown credit.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
So I mean that's half cut in half just right, credit
right there well that's aboutthat's valuable yeah but just,
really just, living in Florida,you should have your trust is
you should have hurricaneprotection so even if the house
doesn't have it, it's totallyworth retrofitting the house
just because we do gethurricanes, that's just that's.
You know, I lived in cape coralfor a period, for not too long
(16:46):
after the storm, and it amazedme how many of those houses like
cape coral was still standing.
They lost a couple roofs, theylost a couple pool screens, a
couple cape pool cages, but likethe houses were there, the high
rises were there because theywere built for it.
So it was just, it was kind ofamazing to me that the
construction it took a category5 storm head-on and, you know,
(17:08):
just had some very minor damageyeah, and thankfully means you
know some other communities likeSanibel and for Mars Beach
didn't they suffered.
They suffered greatly.
They were a lot olderproperties, unfortunately
knowing that.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But but I mean those were the barrier islands that
those are islands that kind ofprotected cape coral, right you?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
know luckily us over here in brevard, because I write
the whole state of florida.
But you know down in tri countyand even over in uh largo,
pinellas and pasco they're about, they're just as hard almost to
get carriers to acceptsometimes than the tri county
because tri county used to belike the hardest for insurance.
Not a lot of carriers are openthere, but the west coast of
(17:49):
florida is is almost just as badright now, but over here
they're like.
They haven't done that to usjust yet, so I'm hoping you know
that at least so, chelsea, whatwould be your biggest tips to
give to homeowners?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
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 (18:09):
okay, um well, for people like buying a home, new
buyers, um, a couple things.
Obviously the new build isgoing to give you a better rate.
A masonry home over a frame isgoing to make your rate a lot
less than a frame home, even ifit's frame with stucco or, you
know, frame with, uh, somemasonry or a hardy board or
(18:30):
something.
Yes, so I'm actually going togive you a better rate, um, but
for people out there, like youknow, that are just trying to
shop their homeowners thatcurrently own, like I said, um,
the wind mitigation credits,definitely shop.
Yeah, every year shop, becausewe don't.
You know, day to day we'regetting tons of emails from
(18:50):
carriers saying, okay, now we'vereopened this county or now
we've changed this guideline tothis.
So every day something'schanging or a or a carrier has
opened back up.
So definitely be proactiveabout shopping, talking to your
agent, getting them to explainand really look into your wind
mitigation credits.
And if you have to get a newfour point, those are only good
for a year.
(19:10):
The wind mitigation inspectionsare good for five years.
So you know, sometimes peopleare annoyed by that.
They're like I just got a fourpoint, 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'reable to move to another carrier,
because to get a new policywith another carrier you're
going to have to have upup-to-date inspections for us to
(19:32):
submit.
So even if you have to come outof pocket 125 bucks for new
inspections, it's worth it toshop it and definitely, you know
, get your agent to really diveinto your credits and look into
your policy, ask about you mightbe overinsured.
Some people come to me andthey're like I don't know why
I've had this you know, personalproperty coverage so much this
(19:54):
whole time.
I don't need that much, I don'thave that much personal property
, but it's because their agenthasn't taken time to really go
line by line through theircoverages and say do you really
need this, do you need this?
Do you have this much personalproperty?
So there's, there's things theycan do.
It's just your agent uh, youknow, needs to be knowledgeable
enough to look at it with youand see if there's anything that
(20:15):
you can do to get that creditdown.
Because a lot of people justnormal, you know homeowners that
are getting their renewals inthe 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 taketime and call your agent and get
them to look at it, it's worthit because it can save you a
couple grand a year yeah, notevery agent is going to be
(20:36):
proactive, looking up for yourbenefit right, sounds like they
need to call chelsea.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, if you shop and you have a good relationship
with your insurance agent whicheverybody should, you know,
because I mean, if somethingwere 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 justthis in a car accident, or loved
ones in a car accident, what dowe do next?
You know, like, and that goesfor any claims, you know, have
(21:02):
that relationship so how do theyget a hold of you chelsea to
get a quote and have you astheir awesome agent our main
number is 727-584-9999.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
That would go to, uh, our main headquarters, and you
can ask for me, um, if you wantto talk directly to me, um, or
our website's,floridabestquotecom.
You can go on there and just doan intake if you want.
You know a, a quote, for wewrite everything.
You know we write commercialtoo, so it's not just home and
auto, we do umbrella boats.
You know everything.
So you can go there online, ifthat's easier, and just fill out
(21:35):
an intake and you can requestsomeone.
If you want to talk to medirectly, you can choose my name
from the dropdown I thinkthere's a drop down in there and
then it'll go.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It'll just come to me and then I'll contact you by
email or phone or however youwant, and we can get started.
That's awesome, yeah, and ifyou're looking for a brand new
home here in the space coast, Ihave lots of brand new adams
homes and various modelsavailable.
You can text or call me at321-368-1881.
I'd first like to send a hugethanks to Jesse and the Space
Coast podcast for bringing usback to spit some knowledge on
the air again, and I'm veryappreciative to Justin Brown of
(22:11):
Remax Elite for introducing usto our new friend, chelsea
Johnson from Florida Best Quote,who I thank very much for
taking time out of your scheduleand coming to share your
knowledge.
It's been great doing the showagain.
I'm so excited for we're goingto take the show and I hope you
are as well.
Stay tuned next week.
Check out our facebook pagespace coast real estate show.
(22:32):
Like the page and tell us whatyou want to talk about.
Until then, we'll see you nextweek.
Take care, guys.
Thank you.
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 (00:13):
I'm doing so good.
Great to be back producinganother Space Coast Real Estate
Show episode man.
This is amazing, but we'regoing to talk about today where
we're at.
You're selling new construction.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
New construction and you know, the crazy thing is
just like what you were talkingabout interest rates.
A lot of people don't remember.
In the 80s, interest rates werelike 18%.
People were still buying houses, they were flipping houses,
they were renting houses.
So really, no matter what theinterest rate, the real estate
market is still going tofunction 100%.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
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, hehas again a new mantra that
they've adopted and it's likeyou know marry the house, date
the rate.
So get into the house.
You want the rate.
(01:07):
You could refinance once thingsyou know kind of get you know a
little bit better and it makesfiscal sense.
But in the meantime, just getthat house, get that equity,
because that same house is stillappreciating.
Get that house get that house.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It's because, again it's, it's affordable today, but
it may not be tomorrow theweird thing is in palm bay you
can get a brand new home for theprice of a used home.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And with a brand new home, your insurance is cheaper,
your utilities, everything'scheaper and you're not going to
have issues.
So really it's kind of the newconstruction market is, I think,
almost moving a little fasterthan the used construction,
which is kind of crazy.
It doesn't normally work likethat.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
If you get a home on a warranty and then you get the
incentives these builders areoffering with.
You know your closing costscompetitive, yeah, um, I mean,
and these are incentives, likeclosing costs are three percent,
you know, if you get thatwaived or even have a little bit
of help out, you know, I mean,with the existing sales market,
a lot of sellers are to becompetitive, are offering to pay
down some of those closingcosts, are offered sellers
rebate and then the buyer coulduse that either to pay down the
(02:10):
rate or, you know, decide tomake small improvements.
You know, but they take thatseller's credit and they apply
it to whoever however they feel.
But now no longer are we seeingyou know, 10 blind offers over
asking.
You know, like we saw with thecraziness.
Now it's like sellers have tolike come to the table with
something a little bit more,with some kind of other
concession or something else,and and actually negotiate,
(02:33):
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 (02:42):
Well, funny thing is is they were selling houses that
needed full rehabs for fullprice.
So I don't think.
I think those days are kind ofchanging, because I think that
the demand for that is just notthere anymore.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
No, and a lot of investors are just like, hey,
jesse, find me a deal.
It's like, yeah, but even thosehomes that would have been a
great candidate to flip, they'regoing for full retail.
So who's doing?
Well?
New construction, you know,because not only again, like you
said, they have all newamenities.
(03:14):
You know they're built withmore of these green,
energy-saving standards.
You know greener appliances, asmart home.
A new house has a lot of coolstuff in it yeah, they're doing
some.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
What I've been telling people is use the the
ten thousand dollars flex cashthat adams homes will give you
to cover your closing costs andthen use the money that you were
going to use to buy your ratedown, and then you get your cake
and eat it too.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So so a lot of different strategies.
Yes, yes for yes, for sure.
But the new construction.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
It does seem like it's doing better than the used,
but it'll come back.
That's the thing with realestate is.
It's a roller coaster.
It goes up, it goes down.
You can always make money inreal estate.
You just have to change andapply your methods to whatever
your current market is yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
and how is Adams Homes?
I mean, you guys have a lot ofinventory homes, are you?
Your current market is yeah, um, and and how is adams?
Homes.
I mean, you guys have a lot ofinventory homes.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Are you guys buying this like spec homes or we're
building?
Like crazy yeah, with adamshomes they don't really offer a
lot of customs because theyinclude a lot of them, like they
have the double pane windowsand they do a lot of stuff that
other builders charge for, butit's standard with us because
they just want to make it easyand they do provide a really
good product.
There's a lot of new stuffgoing on in Palm Bay, but
there's so much room down there.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, but can you customize Like you know what are
some of the things.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So you could change the bathroom.
You can have a tub, or you canhave a tub and a shower, or a
tub and shower.
You can do tile but you can dogranite.
But they make their homes, theyput everything that you would
want there, the five and aquarter baseboard, so that way
you don't have to make changesaren't you having some tours
coming up soon?
Absolutely, yeah come on downto the model on emerson I'll
(04:52):
give you a tour any day.
We have we actually have justabout every model available
right now in palm bay okay uh,built either really close to
being done or completed, so wedefinitely can see all of our
inventory.
We're in several different hoasas well, just depending on what
people are looking for is therea market for pre-construction
homes like?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
if I were to buy something without a slab,
without even choosing a lot likelet 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 weweren't even allowed to sell
the homes until 20%, but theyjust released yesterday that we
are now allowed to selleverything.
Well, that's breaking news.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Yes, Wow so we used to have to wait for the
foundation to be poured and thenwe considered that 20% and then
we could sell the house.
But now we can sell the lot, wecan sell the whole kit and
caboodle.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah Well, good catching up with Adams Homes.
Great to see you're doing well,I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Same to you, buddy.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
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 onbecause we've got to deep dive
into our topic, du jour, right,I mean.
So today's theme is insurance.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
The biggest issue Floridians are dealing with
right now, yeah, so let's goahead and introduce our guests
so we have an expert today todiscuss the issue, and I just
wanted to let everyone knowbefore we get into the interview
that we're gonna be changingthe show up.
We're actually gonna be talkingabout all things real estate,
but also all things on the SpaceCoast as well.
We we have a lot of greatguests scheduled and I'm really
(06:25):
excited for the content thatwe're going to be bringing you.
If you have a topic that you'dlike to hear about, go to Space
Coast Real Estate Show Facebookpage, of course, like the page
and then send us a message andlet you know what you want to
hear about.
So today's show, we have anexpert in the insurance industry
with 20-plus years experience,who was introduced to us by our
great friend, justin Brown, theowner broker at RE-MAX Elite,
(06:48):
which, justin, we thank you andlook forward to having you on
the show soon.
Her name is Chelsea Johnson andshe works with Florida.
Best Quote, chelsea, how youdoing today.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Good, how are you guys?
Speaker 1 (06:58):
So awesome.
Delighted to have you, by theway.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Thank you for taking time out of your schedule.
So give us a little backgroundon you.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
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 mycareer, but ended up starting a
family pretty young and thenthings happened and got got back
into it.
I've been doing it for over 20years now and, um, yeah, it's
(07:30):
been a.
It's been a good career.
It's it's kind of a rollercoaster sometimes, especially
lately the past couple yearsyeah, it does seem.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Uh, you know how did it get this bad and who's to
blame?
I guess that's probably thequestion that everyone's going
to have on their mind.
Yeah, yeah, because you havethe media telling you it's the
contractors.
I mean everyone's pointing thefinger at everybody else, Right?
But, the situation is still thesituation.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah Well, it's not just you know, pinpointed to
probably one you know, group orperson or contractors or lawyers
or whatever.
Right but contractors orlawyers or whatever, but I mean
I'd say the.
The biggest factor um that'sgotten us here is the, the
lawyer fees, the we're the mostlitigious state in the nation so
um, but yes, definitely.
You know there was some afterthe hailstorms with the
(08:15):
assignment of benefits happening, which the contractors.
There were some contractorstaking 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 (08:29):
The lawyer fees are sometimes more than the actual
cost of the repair.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Like ridiculously more Like.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Jesse, I know firsthand that, like for the
roofing industry, when theattorney gets involved it pretty
much doubles the price of theroof and the insurance company
still has to foot the bill.
But the person making the mostmoney 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 thecommercials I think, man, I was
like that's only adding to theproblem that we have.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, yep, and unfortunately, you know, like
people in my industry that workat agencies and you know agents,
customer service, we kind oftake the brunt of it because
everyone you know is upset Imean myself included.
You know we don't get adiscount because we work in it,
you know, or any specialtreatment, so we get it but our
(09:19):
hands are kind of tied.
So the agency I work at we have95% more appointments than any
other agency in the state.
So we've got a lot more optionsas far as people calling around
shopping their rate.
We've got a lot more optionsthan most agencies do, aside
(09:39):
from just trying to force you togo with Citizens or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Yeah, Citizens has kind of taken over over well,
they're the only ones available.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
When you're only, uh, you know, guy, in the, in the,
on the cereal aisle, you knoweverybody's going to be eating
your brand, you know.
So it's like no citizens.
God bless them, and I think youknow, not for nothing, aren't
they like a?
Like a state owned or statesubsidized, or something?
They're a state-owned orstate-subsidized, or something.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
Yeah, they're our state carrier, so they're the
carrier of last resort.
But honestly, thankfully, like Isaid, our agency is so big and
we have so many appointmentsthat I don't even if I can get
you with some other carriersometimes.
We have a couple carriers thatcome in less than citizens or
right around the same price andit gives more liability because
citizens only gives $100,000.
(10:22):
Citizens that's some one oftheir stipulations.
You know they force you to haveflood right even if you don't
have a mortgage.
Now they're, you know, they'vekind of implemented some new
stuff that's coming out um evenif you're not in a flood zone
with citizens.
If your home, uh, is over sixhundred thousand, then you're
going to still have to take theflood next year.
If it's five 500,000 on yourdwelling, you're still going to
(10:42):
have to take flood, even ifyou're not in a flood zone.
So there's some you know thingswith citizens that and a lot of
times, especially lately, eventhough I write you a citizen's
policy divvying out thosepolicies that we're writing to
other carriers, and if thoseother carriers come within 20%
of citizens rate, you 20 percentof citizens rate, you're pushed
(11:04):
off to that other carrier youcan't choose.
To stay with citizens is aslong as that other carriers
within 20 percent of their rate.
So sometimes you know I'llwrite someone in a couple months
later.
They're like we received thisletter and you know, they're
putting us with someone else,and if, as long as their price
is within that 20 percent, thenthey have to go, that's crazy,
right?
Speaker 1 (11:18):
no, we have some new carriers in the state.
Yes, yeah, well, we've got.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
We've got some new ones, but then a lot of them
that went on pause.
You know we've had a lot thatwent out of business completely,
but then there was a lot thatyou know pause new business.
They just said like we're nottaking anything on new, but
slowly those are coming back.
Um, we've got, yeah, some newcarriers that have have come
aboard and that are great, butthe guidelines are still, you
(11:46):
know, kind of sticky with a lotof the carriers Like they really
like those new build homes.
You know the 10 years or neweris going to get you a better
rate and you're going to havemore 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 notthat as many choices and your
rates double, triple than itwould be with a new build, even
(12:08):
with, like, a new roof anddecent roof credits.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Right.
So it sounds like there's ahuge advantage to homeowners
dealing with a broker such asyourself than trying to go with
one carrier who only has onerate.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
One rate minimum products.
It's like either you fit inthat box or you don't.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
So how do we fix the problem?
I mean, that might be a loadedquestion how much time have you
got?
I wish I could fix it.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
But you know, be real careful.
As a homeowner, you know, justcalling in the carrier directly
and filing the claim, because alot of times the claim can get
denied or it's not even going tomeet your deductible.
It's really good to call youragent first and kind of run it
by them to say, hey, this isgoing 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'lleither deny it or it's not going
(13:03):
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 foryour.
I mean, it benefits thehomeowner too, because once you
file a claim, even if they denyit, it's still on your record
for five years and it's if youtry to shop and another carrier
set has a guideline like oh no,we don't take a certain amount
(13:24):
of claims or we don't take anyclaims within the last five
years.
Even if that claim didn't payout, it's still going to be on
your record and they're going tosay no, we won't take it.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Always talk to your agent first.
Yes, for sure yeah, becausethere'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 betterdecision, so it doesn't sound
like.
The problem is is anything thatwe can fix, personally, other
than just?
Speaker 3 (13:53):
no, there's not anything like magically that I
can say like, oh, do this andthis will get better.
But as far as price wise goesfor people, um, I'd say,
definitely talk to your agentabout if your home is 2002 or
older.
Um, you know, check out yourwind mitigation credits.
Make sure you're getting windmitigation credits.
Um, something that reallyaffects the rate is the roof to
(14:14):
wall attachment.
Um, if it's just attached bytoenails, you're getting zero
credit whereas you can getretrofitted to get clips or
single wraps and that literallydrops sometimes the rate in half
just to do that and get anupdated wind mitigation.
So I would call and talk toyour agent just to make sure.
Hey, you know, am I getting thewind mitigation credits?
(14:35):
Is there anything I can do onthat wind mitigation to get the
price down?
That's where you get you'regoing to get.
The biggest relief is is fromthat wind mitigation inspection
do you double?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
yeah, I second that.
What about double paint?
Or like those impact windows?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
does that?
make a huge difference that'sthe uh, that's within that wind
mitigation inspection.
It's number seven on there andthat's the opening protection
credit.
So if all glass is eitherimpact rated or shuttered with,
like, an approved shutter andthe 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 glassblocks, everything has to be
(15:10):
impact rated or shuttered withan approved shutter for him to
be able to check off that fullcredit.
But, um, coastal properties,see that discount in a bigger
percentage.
Main lane, you're still, youwill get the discount, but it's
if you're Beachside that thatdiscounts bigger because you're
coastal.
But yes, that too that's somegood insight.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
I know a couple inspectors that offer wind mint
for like 100 bucks yeah, forsure you know, but of course
retrofitting if they do findlike, oh you know, then then
that's going to be a little bitmore of an expense.
But you got to calculate thatafter five years of paying full
rate versus a rate with, youknow, a wind mitigation credit,
exactly that could be thedifference of that 1500, you
know.
Visit from the roofer to do thetie straps back to code you
(15:50):
know to qualify just for example, yesterday, just random, I was
writing a.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
It's a smaller, older home on the west coast of
florida but um, when Ioriginally quoted him I had
quoted him he didn't have thewind mitigation yet or the four
point, but we kind of just wereballparking, you know, and I put
that he had clips.
Well, when he got theinspections and sent him over
yesterday the guy, well, theinspector checked unknown
because he there was too muchinsulation in the attic.
(16:14):
He said he couldn't get thepicture of the whatever.
It took his rate from fivegrand to ten grand, just from me
moving it from clips to thetoenails or unknown credit.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
So I mean that's half cut in half just right, credit
right there well that's aboutthat's valuable yeah but just,
really just, living in Florida,you should have your trust is
you should have hurricaneprotection so even if the house
doesn't have it, it's totallyworth retrofitting the house
just because we do gethurricanes, that's just that's.
You know, I lived in cape coralfor a period, for not too long
(16:46):
after the storm, and it amazedme how many of those houses like
cape coral was still standing.
They lost a couple roofs, theylost a couple pool screens, a
couple cape pool cages, but likethe houses were there, the high
rises were there because theywere built for it.
So it was just, it was kind ofamazing to me that the
construction it took a category5 storm head-on and, you know,
(17:08):
just had some very minor damageyeah, and thankfully means you
know some other communities likeSanibel and for Mars Beach
didn't they suffered.
They suffered greatly.
They were a lot olderproperties, unfortunately
knowing that.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But but I mean those were the barrier islands that
those are islands that kind ofprotected cape coral, right you?
Speaker 3 (17:27):
know luckily us over here in brevard, because I write
the whole state of florida.
But you know down in tri countyand even over in uh largo,
pinellas and pasco they're about, they're just as hard almost to
get carriers to acceptsometimes than the tri county
because tri county used to belike the hardest for insurance.
Not a lot of carriers are openthere, but the west coast of
(17:49):
florida is is almost just as badright now, but over here
they're like.
They haven't done that to usjust yet, so I'm hoping you know
that at least so, chelsea, whatwould be your biggest tips to
give to homeowners?
Speaker 1 (18:03):
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 (18:09):
okay, um well, for people like buying a home, new
buyers, um, a couple things.
Obviously the new build isgoing to give you a better rate.
A masonry home over a frame isgoing to make your rate a lot
less than a frame home, even ifit's frame with stucco or, you
know, frame with, uh, somemasonry or a hardy board or
(18:30):
something.
Yes, so I'm actually going togive you a better rate, um, but
for people out there, like youknow, that are just trying to
shop their homeowners thatcurrently own, like I said, um,
the wind mitigation credits,definitely shop.
Yeah, every year shop, becausewe don't.
You know, day to day we'regetting tons of emails from
(18:50):
carriers saying, okay, now we'vereopened this county or now
we've changed this guideline tothis.
So every day something'schanging or a or a carrier has
opened back up.
So definitely be proactiveabout shopping, talking to your
agent, getting them to explainand really look into your wind
mitigation credits.
And if you have to get a newfour point, those are only good
for a year.
(19:10):
The wind mitigation inspectionsare good for five years.
So you know, sometimes peopleare annoyed by that.
They're like I just got a fourpoint, 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'reable to move to another carrier,
because to get a new policywith another carrier you're
going to have to have upup-to-date inspections for us to
(19:32):
submit.
So even if you have to come outof pocket 125 bucks for new
inspections, it's worth it toshop it and definitely, you know
, get your agent to really diveinto your credits and look into
your policy, ask about you mightbe overinsured.
Some people come to me andthey're like I don't know why
I've had this you know, personalproperty coverage so much this
(19:54):
whole time.
I don't need that much, I don'thave that much personal property
, but it's because their agenthasn't taken time to really go
line by line through theircoverages and say do you really
need this, do you need this?
Do you have this much personalproperty?
So there's, there's things theycan do.
It's just your agent uh, youknow, needs to be knowledgeable
enough to look at it with youand see if there's anything that
(20:15):
you can do to get that creditdown.
Because a lot of people justnormal, you know homeowners that
are getting their renewals inthe 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 taketime and call your agent and get
them to look at it, it's worthit because it can save you a
couple grand a year yeah, notevery agent is going to be
(20:36):
proactive, looking up for yourbenefit right, sounds like they
need to call chelsea.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yeah, if you shop and you have a good relationship
with your insurance agent whicheverybody should, you know,
because I mean, if somethingwere 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 justthis in a car accident, or loved
ones in a car accident, what dowe do next?
You know, like, and that goesfor any claims, you know, have
(21:02):
that relationship so how do theyget a hold of you chelsea to
get a quote and have you astheir awesome agent our main
number is 727-584-9999.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
That would go to, uh, our main headquarters, and you
can ask for me, um, if you wantto talk directly to me, um, or
our website's,floridabestquotecom.
You can go on there and just doan intake if you want.
You know a, a quote, for wewrite everything.
You know we write commercialtoo, so it's not just home and
auto, we do umbrella boats.
You know everything.
So you can go there online, ifthat's easier, and just fill out
(21:35):
an intake and you can requestsomeone.
If you want to talk to medirectly, you can choose my name
from the dropdown I thinkthere's a drop down in there and
then it'll go.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It'll just come to me and then I'll contact you by
email or phone or however youwant, and we can get started.
That's awesome, yeah, and ifyou're looking for a brand new
home here in the space coast, Ihave lots of brand new adams
homes and various modelsavailable.
You can text or call me at321-368-1881.
I'd first like to send a hugethanks to Jesse and the Space
Coast podcast for bringing usback to spit some knowledge on
the air again, and I'm veryappreciative to Justin Brown of
(22:11):
Remax Elite for introducing usto our new friend, chelsea
Johnson from Florida Best Quote,who I thank very much for
taking time out of your scheduleand coming to share your
knowledge.
It's been great doing the showagain.
I'm so excited for we're goingto take the show and I hope you
are as well.
Stay tuned next week.
Check out our facebook pagespace coast real estate show.
(22:32):
Like the page and tell us whatyou want to talk about.
Until then, we'll see you nextweek.
Take care, guys.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Betrayal: Season 4
Karoline Borega married a man of honor – a respected Colorado Springs Police officer. She knew there would be sacrifices to accommodate her husband’s career. But she had no idea that he was using his badge to fool everyone. This season, we expose a man who swore two sacred oaths—one to his badge, one to his bride—and broke them both. We follow Karoline as she questions everything she thought she knew about her partner of over 20 years. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-3 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.