September 4, 2024 • 31 mins
What if securing affordable, comprehensive home insurance in Florida wasn't as impossible as it seems? Join us this week on "Come to Find Out" as we uncover the intricacies of the Florida insurance market with Brian and Kevin from Top Quote Insurance, and Chris from Search 2 Close Title Company. Experience firsthand insights into how Top Quote Insurance provides an extensive range of options for all property types, whether it's a mobile home or a luxury waterfront estate. Brian and Kevin passionately discuss their commitment to educating clients about proper coverage, moving beyond the misconception that the cheapest policy is always the best choice.
Curious about the future of Florida's insurance landscape? Kevin enlightens us with current market trends, shedding light on how companies like Heritage Insurance are resuming policy writing and Citizens Insurance is reducing its policy count. We navigate through the vital requirements for Florida homeowners, such as wind mitigation and flood insurance, and even speculate on how anticipated rate reductions could stabilize the market. This chapter is packed with valuable information, dispelling fears and providing a clear picture of how the market is evolving post-hurricanes and amidst ongoing fluctuations.
Finally, we shift our focus to the Florida housing market. Chris and our guests discuss how insurance requirements impact real estate trends, especially in regions like Cape Coral and Tampa Bay. From the necessity of wind mitigation and four-point inspections to the benefits of upgrading roofing components, we offer practical insights for homeowners looking to save on insurance costs. As we compare the differing market conditions between Florida and Ohio, we also express our heartfelt gratitude to our listeners. Don't forget to leave your reviews and share this episode to help us spread knowledge and support a well-informed community. Join us for this enlightening journey on "Come to Find Out"!
Top Quote Insurance:
https://www.instagram.com/topquote_insurance/
https://www.topquoteins.com/about-us
Search2Close
https://www.instagram.com/search2close/
https://www.search2close.com
Sarah Thress
614-893-5885
First Time Home Buyer course: https://sarahthress.graphy.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarah_thress_realtor/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SarahThressRealtor/
https://www.youtube.com/@LIFEINCOLUMBUS
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we are joined by Brianand Kevin, who are with Top
Quote Insurance, and then wealso have a returning guest,
which is Chris from Search toClose Title Company.
But I'm super excited to getthem on here because, as you all
know, I am licensed in Ohio butalso Florida.
(00:24):
We have not really covered aton of Florida stuff on here, so
I definitely wanted to do that.
But also in talking with Chris,you know, I always kind of pick
his brain about what's going onin Florida, because search to
close is in Ohio and in Floridaand obviously, if you've
listened to anything on the news, it sounds like the sky is
(00:44):
falling and all of that withinsurance and no one can get any
insurance in Florida and all ofthat.
So that is why, when I talkedto Chris about this, he
recommended talking with Brianand Kevin, because they are with
Top Quote and can give youlegit information instead of the
sky is falling information.
So thank you guys so much fortaking time out and joining us
(01:07):
and, brian, I'd love for you tojust kind of kick off this you
know segment and let us knowabout Top Quote.
You know how did it come about.
How long have you been inbusiness?
What are things that make youdifferent?
You know all of the things, so,brian, take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
All the things.
So, yeah, so we've been inbusiness now for over 14 years.
We actually have two companiesin Florida.
One is Florida Best QuoteInsurance, which we kind of
focus a little more on the Gulfside of Florida and we write
everywhere else as well too withthat.
But we just created Top QuoteInsurance to kind of be more of
the concierge direct conciergeto lender and realtor partners,
(01:49):
while we still obviously showlove to people that are not
realtors and lenders withTopQuote.
It was formed in that way justso we can kind of focus in on
home and not real estatetransactions, which we've always
been a part of for all theseyears.
There's a lot of agencies outthere.
There's a ton of insuranceagencies out there.
A lot of them run a lot of ads.
Some people know people fromfamilies, but what makes us
(02:12):
different and there's only asmall number of agencies like us
out there what makes us verydifferent is the fact that we
have every carrier contract inthe state that we can write with
.
What that basically translatesinto is options.
So when another insuranceagency is telling you that they
only can place you with acertain carrier maybe citizens,
(02:33):
for example I'm sure everybodyknows about citizens.
It is a possibility that thereare others out there that will
take that risk.
That might be a little bit moreeither beneficial monetarily or
beneficial, you know, with abetter policy.
Um, that's kind of what makesus different.
We we can do just aboutanything and also, too, we are
full service.
We write commercial, life,health, every type of insurance
(02:55):
that you can think of, and Ialways kind of say jokingly, if
it's not on fire, we can insureit.
You know, we'll take for forour lender and realtor partners
out there that find it very hardto get to the closing table
with certain risks.
We can take anything from anold mobile home all the way up
to a $10 million house in thewater.
We've got products for that,we've got carrier contracts for
(03:16):
that.
So we are also.
One last quick little tidbit iswe are also huge on education.
We're not going to sell yousomething that is based on just
the premium.
Obviously, the premium and whatinflation rate is and the way
that people are with theirpocketbooks these days, we
understand premium has to bethat first frame of mind.
(03:36):
But at the same time, whenwe're going over your options,
we're going to be teaching you,and that's what Kevin does.
We're going to be teaching youabout what your options are
rather than going well, here's acheaper route and here's a more
expensive route.
No, because it doesn't workthat way.
You need to know that if yourhouse burns down tomorrow, were
you covered properly?
Did my agent do the right thing?
And that is kind of the way myagents think.
(03:57):
They think God.
Every single time I claim thisfile, they think God.
Did I insure that properly ordid I just care about the
premium?
Because it's not about that atthe end of the day.
So that is who we are.
That is what we feel.
We feel it deep in our bonesthat we want to just take care
of people, especially ourlenders and our realtors and
anybody else that works in thereal estate field.
(04:18):
We're all about you guys.
We're all about just makingsure that everybody in Florida
is well taken care of as far asinsurance is concerned.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, I love that and I love that before we started
recording, you know, you kind of, you made a point to say which
made me you know well, top quoteeven more.
But you said that you know youremployees have to be all about
the people and once theirmindset shifts if for some
reason, their mindset shifts toonly focusing on the dollar and
(04:50):
how much money they're going tomake or whatever that they're no
longer employees of yoursbecause that yeah, they just
don't belong.
Yeah, they don't belong.
Yeah, and that, to me, is huge.
I love that somebody is thatconcerned about customer service
because, you know, anyone thathas worked with me knows that
I'm going to give you five-starcustomer service and if I'm not,
(05:12):
then I want to know, becauseI'm going to make it right and
anyone I send you to has to dothat as well, otherwise, like,
I'm not going to send them.
So Right.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I mean, it's just, it's common sense, right.
I mean we all know, just likeevery other industry, like the
used cars industry and all thatstuff, everybody works for
commissions, right, and we getit.
Commissions is what.
You know, how they live and eatand breathe, and you know.
It's understandable, right?
But we're not here to just sellsomebody a used car.
This is not just a.
You know, you don't really haveto have it, but it's kind of
(05:43):
nice kind of thing.
No, this is insurance.
This is your life we're talkingabout, and with all the
different products that we selland all the different ways that
they can go wrong and right,it's important to have the
mindset that you can't just bein it for the money, because
when you put that in there, thenyou're giving people these
bloated policies with a higherpremium so that you can make
(06:04):
more money.
It doesn't make sense.
Or you're selling them on acrappier policy, worse coverage,
but maybe that carrier givesyou a higher percentage in
commissions.
You can't have that in yourmind.
It doesn't work.
It doesn't work in our fieldand we don't believe in it as an
agency, and I know that all ofour agents don't believe in that
(06:26):
either.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I love that Because I think that if you're
taking care of your people andyou're doing what you're
supposed to and you're aservice-minded, you know like a
servant hearted leader, then themoney follows Like that's just,
that's just how it works,naturally.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I love it.
I love it.
So let walk me through this.
(06:51):
Um, so, if someone was tocontact you and this can go to
either you, brian or Kevin, um,but if someone contacts you and
they're like hey, I need to.
You know, I'm purchasing ahouse, I need to get homeowner's
insurance.
Um, you know how does that lookLike?
Do you look at like, oh well,who do you have for car
insurance?
And could we, you know, bundlethat for you?
Or do you, you know what?
What?
Walk me through the steps ofwhat happens whenever someone
contacts you.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I'll let Kevin take this one, Cause he he deals with
this on a daily.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
All right, thanks for having us.
So, for example, I had somebodycall me today and they're
closing on a house tomorrow andshe's like she's an existing
client that we have, so it's ayou know, it's a rental property
for her.
Well, I need your address andI'm guessing that if you're
closing tomorrow, you know.
(07:40):
So we basically, you know, gothrough that type of stuff.
Ask them do you have yourfour-point inspection?
Do you have your windmitigation?
That way we know what creditswe can give for the wind
mitigation and stuff like that.
That way, when we arc, what isthe best possible rate that we
can find, not just guessing asfar as the wind windmills and
(08:06):
saying, well, I hope this is it.
And then when they get thewindmills, a thousand more, you
know.
So we try to start with here'sthe best, it could only get
better.
Or windmill well, here's theworst, kind of and it can only
get better from there that typeof approach.
As far as, like you said, likebundling, we don't have any
(08:28):
current carriers that'll do thebundling option.
State Farm is really the onlyone that'll do that in the state
, so we don't write with themthemselves.
So yeah, so that's kind ofwhere we started on the you know
question.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, and I just want to add one quick thing to that,
because this kind of just goesback to the customer service
side of things.
Right, it's like if somebodycalls in and they say to you,
hey, I'm closing on a hometomorrow.
Well, sometimes it's tomorrow,but I'm closing on a home and I
need insurance.
The first question out of ourmouths is not well, do you have
a car too?
Can we get it all at once?
(09:06):
I mean it's let's take care ofthe need, let's car too.
Can we get it all at once?
I mean it's let's take care ofthe need.
You know, let's get you acrossthe finish line for what you
want first.
Right Cause, I know, when youcall these 1-800 numbers, they
start, they give you this giantsurvey and they start asking you
all these questions about allthe other things and you're like
, well, wait, I don't need thatright now.
I mean so we, we try to winthem over and give them some
love through quoting them forwhat they need first.
And then, obviously, later on,we're like hey, if you left us
(09:28):
enough for your home, did youknow we also do the other things
.
So you know we're, we're notgoing to be a pushy, we're not a
pushy sales people agency Likethat's not what people are going
to get when they call us.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, I love that, I love that.
And Kevin, your um, your wifiwas a little bit um, it was a
little choppy.
So I just want to make surethat everybody, you know I don't
know if it's just my connectionor not, but regardless, I just
want to make sure that you knowI fully understood.
So, if someone calls in, I knowyou had someone that called in
that they're closing today on ahouse and they needed, you know
(10:01):
they called you yesterday,they're closing today, needed
insurance, and so you know, yourfirst question was like okay,
have they had the windmitigation report and things
like that, which I know arethings that are very important
in Florida, those are not thingsthat we deal with here in Ohio.
So I love that you guys arethere, you know, you know all of
those items.
(10:22):
But then I guess my nextquestion is you know, on the
news, you know everyone istalking about insurance and you
know, on the news, you knoweveryone is talking about
insurance and you know all thetop stories are like no one,
everybody's leaving Floridabecause nobody can get insurance
there and insurance companiesare dropping people left and
right.
And so you know, I'd love tokind of hear from you because
(10:44):
you're there and you're in theinsurance industry.
Could you help kind of set therecord straight?
Like you know, is there stillinsurance being written in
Florida?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, I mean definitely.
I mean we're definitely inFlorida.
I mean, like Brian said,sometimes, yes, our only option
is I see that coming less andless, we are having more options
.
I see that coming less and less, we are having more options.
Just the other day thatHeritage Insurance Company is
actually going to start writingagain and they haven't written a
(11:18):
policy in two years.
So the markets are definitelychanging.
So I definitely see that.
You know it's getting better.
They got new, they're doing thedepopulation with citizens
where they're taking citizenspolicies away from less policies
to citizens, which that's whatwe all want.
(11:39):
So, yeah, it's, sometimescitizens is the only option,
like we said, but options outthere now than there were before
.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, well, that's good to know, because you know a
lot of clients that I have thatwant to purchase something down
there, whether it's they'rerelocating or they want, like, a
vacation home or they want to,you know, an Airbnb or whatever.
Like they're, you know, scaredto death.
Because all they're hearing is,oh, you can't get insurance
there and you know, because ofthe hurricane, like it affected
(12:13):
this and that and you know, sonow nobody's getting insurance
and I, you know, and it alwaysjust blows my mind that I'm like
do you really think that thatmany people stayed in Florida
with no insurance on their house?
Like I mean, maybe they did?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I don't know, requirement belongs, so
obviously you're going to haveto add it.
Yeah, we hear that.
We hear that too From peoplemoving down here.
They're like, oh, I didn't wantto move down here because I
knew that the insurance wasgoing to be so difficult to get
and so expensive.
And then we send them a quoteand they're like, oh, all right,
cool, you know, that's how thatgoes.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well, and I mean, obviously the insurance down
there is a little bit differentthan here, because you have to
have, you know, like thehurricane, insurance if you're
close to water or like the flood, you know, depending on what
flood zone you're in and thingslike that.
You know, obviously there aredifferent things that pertain to
people in Florida that wouldn'tpertain here, but you know, I'm
glad to hear that they arestill getting insurance in
(13:08):
Florida.
Yeah, yes, I love it.
So when I am talking with youknow, with lenders or with
anyone, I always like to say youknow, none of us have crystal
balls at all, so none of us cantruly, truly predict the future.
But I'd love to hear from youall about.
(13:30):
You know, when I spoke withBrendan Bland of Neighborhood
Loans a couple weeks ago, youknow I asked him the same thing
Like what?
You know, what are yourpredictions for?
You know, after hearing all thethings that we hear in the news
, what are your predictions?
And you know he predicted thatin September.
You know, just like everybody'shearing, that you know interest
rates will go down and that'sgoing to open up the market a
(13:51):
little bit, and then you know,more than likely, we're going to
have another, you know anotherrate decrease in December, you
know, and then likely next year.
So you know again, no one canhold him to that.
You know that information.
That's just his prediction.
So I'd love to hear kind of whatyou guys think, because you
(14:11):
obviously have your finger, youknow, on the pulse of the
insurance industry.
I'm sure you hear a lot about,you know the, you know inflation
and how that's affectingeverything and all of that stuff
.
So I'd love to hear, like, yourpredictions of what you think
is going to happen with theinsurance industry there in
Florida, like, is it going toget stronger, is it going to get
worse?
Is it going to get to the pointthat no one has insurance in
(14:33):
Florida?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I mean I'll start off , but Brian can pick up.
Definitely see that it's goingto get stronger.
I know there's more reinsurancefor lowering their rate, which
is good.
That means the actual carrierscan get a cheaper rate, so it in
turn gives them a better rateto offer it off to their clients
(15:01):
.
With the Office of InsuranceInvestments regulations.
They like 12 or file for areduction in premium this year
and then, like I said, we're notgoing to increase, we're going
to keep it at zero.
So yeah, it's definitely goingto be.
(15:21):
It's not going to be like everysingle, you know, every single
customer is not, I think, bylocations.
If you're on the beach andyou're one of the prone areas of
getting hit by hurricanes, yeah, you're rich, probably going to
stay high and they mightincrease the next year.
If you're more in Orlando inthis, yeah, you'll probably go
(15:49):
lower and stuff like that orstay the same.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
But 15, that's going to probably take a long time
before the whole state sees thedecrease and stuff like that
yeah, which makes sense, and so,um, just to make sure that I
fully understood um, so you'resaying that the reinsurance
market, uh, is getting, they'relowering their rates, which
(16:14):
means they're feeling morestable about things.
So, in, in turn, insurancecompanies are going to be, you
know, aligning with that, so,like, the rates may come down,
unless you are on the beach,which I would hope that anyone
knows that if you're going tolive on the beach, you are going
to pay a premium.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
You can pay for it if you want the beach, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, you pay for it, you know, and so something that
the media has done a great jobof this year and I say that kind
of almost facetiously is theyreported about, I'd say about
five to six carriers.
They basically sent out acouple of, you know, articles
saying we got new carrierscoming to Florida, and so we got
(16:56):
a lot of phone calls on that.
And you know the thing aboutthose carriers, which is this is
a great trend, by the way, whencarriers are moving into our
state, we always love to seethat.
However, they're not open yetfor taking on new stuff, right.
So the carriers that are comingin, I think there's only one
right now, orange InsuranceExchange, that's really writing
(17:16):
new things underneath theumbrella of a current carrier
that we have.
But the other ones, whatthey're doing is they're
actually depopulating policiesfrom citizens.
First, they are taking some ofthose policies and they're
letting them sit in their booksfor a year and they're allowing
us to service through them andthings like that.
What that's going to do is justkind of get their feet wet in
(17:36):
Florida.
They're not going to, you know.
So eventually, down the road,yeah, those carriers, if
everything goes great, afterspeaking to those carrier reps,
they all seem to be pretty surethat they are going to start
opening to new business at somepoint, so that's a positive step
.
So there are five to sixcarriers that have now opened up
in Florida, but again there'slike only one that's actually
(17:57):
writing new business right nowthat you can do quotes through.
Are there others that you know,maybe kind of sneaking in here
and there?
And they will be.
As far as the current carriers,there are a few that have, like
Kevin was saying that, have youknow, requested to lower their
rates by a certain percentageand we're going to start to see
that as long as we can keephurricane, uh, uh, the hurricane
(18:18):
season under control aroundhere.
You know, knock on wood, so farit's been all right, you know,
this year.
But, um, there's alsolegislation and then that's,
that's the biggest piece.
You know, um, floridalegislators sat around for many,
many, many years, um, andreally didn't do a whole lot
like.
I think that maybe they did.
(18:38):
You know certain things hereand there that they thought were
important, but it it led to newlaws having to be written in
the last couple of years becausethey realized oh my God, people
, are you got roofing companiesknocking on people's doors
telling people that your roofwill.
You know your roof's old, butno problem, we'll, we'll file a
claim anyway, or you know thingslike that.
So it's, it's there's new lawsthat have come in, there's new,
stricter, stricter things thatthat the legislation is doing to
(19:02):
try to curb that stuff, andthat's going to eventually
relate to the premiums.
I mean, it's not an overnightprocess at all, so any laws that
they put in, it has to, likeyou know, take its time to come
into effect.
There's still a lot more workto be done here in Florida, but
(19:22):
we are going to start turning acorner.
The other, the only otherproblem is, of course, if we can
get inflation down, you know inthe country, and of course, the
building costs.
I mean, look how much it costsfor wood.
Right, I mean we all.
If you're building a house now,it's like it's ridiculous, the
cost of materials.
So you know that has to get uh,in a lot, in a lot of ways, and
kevin would agree that has toget put into that dwelling
coverage amount.
There is that inflation cardthat some of these carriers put
(19:43):
in every single year so thatyour dwelling amount, that
amount, actually grows with thecost of the materials.
So it's going to finally getcurved at some point.
Hopefully, knock on wood, it'snot as bad as what some other
people around the country thinkit is.
I still think that peopleshould still move to Florida,
you know, people should stillgive us a chance.
(20:04):
It's not that bad, I mean, yes,there are, there are things
that aren't great, but you justhave to find the right people to
help you out and that's andthat's ultimately shameless plug
.
That's why we're here, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yeah, yeah, no, that should be a plug, because that
is true and that is why Icontinue to try and network and
surround myself with good peoplethat I can refer to others,
because I can't be all things toall people.
But I like to, you know, beable to say like, oh, I got a
guy for that, I got a guy forthat.
You know, you need a contractor, I got that.
You need an insurance guy, Igot that.
(20:39):
You know, I got your title alltaken care of, like, don't even
worry about it, you know.
So I love that.
And I love that you even touchedon inflation, because in a
previous episode, a few weeksago, again with Brendan, we were
talking about inflation and oneof the things that I found very
interesting was that one of thekey indicators to the Fed was
(21:01):
the fact that McDonald's hadreported losses for two quarters
in a row and they were like,well, crap, if people can't
afford McDonald's, theneverything is too expensive and
it's like, yeah, no, kidding, Icould have told you that, with
my four teenagers going to thegrocery store, I could have told
you that all day long thatinflation is very high, but you
(21:24):
know.
So it's interesting to me,obviously that you know
inflation is connected to theFed and you know the interest
rate.
It's interesting that it's alsoattached to you know insurance.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right, exactly, I mean every.
I I mean look, every.
Everything's tied to inflationthese days, you know.
I mean it's the cost ofeverything.
Is is kind of symbiotic, Iguess in a way.
You know insurance is nodifferent and but we do, we can,
you know, we do what we can tohelp each other out.
People are still buying homes.
I mean the Fed's about to drop,you know hopefully.
(21:59):
You know the rates coming soonand I know, crossing fingers
we'll see what happens with thatand hopefully that gets more
people an incentive to buy, youknow, new homes and stuff.
And what are those people goingto need Insurance?
So we'll still be here for it,you know.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah absolutely Well and it's my understanding and
obviously correct me if I'mwrong, but if you live in
Florida and you have a loan onyour property, you have to have
homeowners insurance.
If you own it outright youdon't have to, but it's always
recommended Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's correct.
Yeah, if you're going through aloan, the lenders require that.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Okay, perfect, going through a loan.
They require, the lendersrequire that.
Okay, perfect.
And that's where, like the windmitigation and the hurricane
protection and the flood zone,that's where your expertise
comes in, because you can help.
People know like, yes, youabsolutely need that, or,
goodness, no, you don't needthat.
Someone is totally, just, youknow, selling you a line of crap
.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, and, and, quite honestly, one of the things you
touched on, the wind mitigation, and then Kevin probably sees
this all the time too you don'talways have to have a wind
mitigation inspection and afour-point inspection on your
homes, depending on the age ofthe home.
Those are now old houses.
We're not going to makesomebody that's got a home
that's only five years old goget those inspections.
That's the thing you got to,that's a hundred and something,
(23:17):
something right.
And in the grand scheme ofthings, if you're buying a house
, it's like chump change, right,but every dollar counts.
So we're not going to make yougo get things that you don't
need.
I mean, that's just commonsense, because on those homes
it's just how the rules work out, you know, and the carriers
don't require them.
So if they don't, why shouldthey?
You know, well, I should be,you know.
(23:44):
But but yeah, that's when we canlook at some of those policies,
and especially when somebody isputting on a new roof.
You know if they already ownthe home they put on a new roof,
you know, our agents are verykeen on letting them know hey,
you should be doing certainthings in that roof.
You know, it's a little bit ofan upgrade with the roofing
company, but it's going to saveyou a ton of money on insurance,
you know.
So putting on how the roof istied down, for example, you know
upgrading that factor you knowwe're going to.
(24:04):
Again, it's all about education.
We're going to let people knowthis is what you need to do, and
Kevin does a great job of thatevery day with his clients, and
so does all of our other agents,and you know that's just how
they're trained.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, I love that and I love that.
It makes sense to me too, onlyagain with my basic knowledge of
housing in Florida, but itmakes sense that if it was the
you know, if it was only fiveyears old, then it's already
built to the hurricane standards, that you know like, it's got
the correct tie down and youknow all of that stuff versus a
(24:41):
house that was maybe built, youknow, 10, 15 years ago.
There were different standardsback then and so you know, like
you wouldn't now, you just haveto make sure that it's been
brought up to speed, if Iunderstand correctly, right
(25:12):
right, which is, you know, goodand bad, but and I think that a
lot of people have been scared,but I feel like we may have one
more slow busy season and then Ithink it's going to get back
there.
That's my prediction, but I'dlove to hear, like your
prediction, cause you are downthere You're dealing with, you
know, many more realtors anddeals than I am on a daily basis
(25:33):
.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
So I've got that unique perspective of having
been in Ohio this time lastmonth.
Compared to now, ohio isdefinitely a little bit stronger
of a market, but Florida I meanTampa Bay is still number seven
in the country right now.
So although it's a littleslower, houses are still moving.
I can personally tell youlistings are going through the
roof right now.
I do know that some propertiesare taking a little bit longer.
(25:56):
Obviously, the condo market.
That'd probably be for a wholeother podcast, but that'd
probably be another good one.
I see Kevin shaking his head.
Yeah the condo market's a littledifferent right now.
That might be something wherewe all get together again and
just talk about condos and bringsome value, but I think the
market down here is strong.
Sellers just got to be preparedfor maybe 30, 60, 90 days to
(26:19):
get a home sold.
I think the rate decrease willdefinitely help from the lenders
and agents that I'm talking to.
Hopefully the Fed doesn'tovercorrect too much or else
we're going to end up in alittle bit of a different area.
But I think if they drop therates here in September, we'll
really feel a positive impact,probably around January or
February.
So, like you said, I think wehave one more quarter of
(26:41):
slowness before we start headingin the right direction.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, I agree, I think it'll be that much further
out from that massive hurricanethat you know scared the crap
out of everyone, the one thathit, like Fort Myers, bonita
Springs area.
You know, my, my sister-in-lawwas.
Actually I had twosister-in-laws that were
affected.
One was in Cape Coral and onewas on Bonita beach, so
literally her house wasdestroyed by that hurricane.
(27:07):
The 18 foot, you know, stormsurge, so you know I knew that
scared a lot of people,especially in that Fort Myers,
naples, bonita area.
But I and so it is very slow,you know, especially in the Cape
Coral area I think it's stillthe last time I checked it had
(27:28):
like the most houses on themarket for one area in all of
Florida.
So you know, but it's nice tohear that Tampa Bay is seeing
something totally different, youknow, cause I'm generally just
southwest Florida.
So I love your perspective onyou know, like Tampa and you
know some of the other areas andI like that you are thinking
(27:48):
along the same lines.
We must have the same crystalball.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
I mean, at the end of the day there's there's a lot
of panic, and you're right.
If you go to Yahoo News rightnow, I'm sure there's something
terrible in there about thehousing market, nar, insurance,
you name it.
Right now, when you have thatperfect storm coming together,
it's going to slow down a littlebit.
Kids are going back to school.
People don't think about that,they just see houses sitting on
the market.
(28:12):
Well, people's lives justchanged two weeks ago.
Kids are back in school.
They're adjusting.
No, it's going to come back.
It's going to be all right.
The feds are hopefully going todo Remember, it was supposed to
be four rate changes.
Now we might just get one.
So it'll be all right.
And I heard in November there'ssomething fairly big in this
country.
So you know, we'll see whathappens then.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, happens then.
Yeah, I mean, I've heard thattoo.
Yeah, it's funny because somenews say that it's going to
affect everything, and you knowgas prices are going to go down
and you know all this stuff.
And then others are saying thatthe election has literally
nothing to do with anything, andI seem to think that it has a
(28:56):
lot more power over things thanthey let on.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yeah, I would definitely agree and I can only
imagine Brian and Kevin sittingwith us today are probably
pretty interested to see howthat goes as well.
And you know it affects all ofus one way or the other and you
know that's a whole differentconversation.
But there's a lot of thingsworking against our industry
right now.
But, like I said, I think byJanuary, february, we'll start
(29:21):
seeing that path forward andthat light at the end of the
tunnel.
It's not a train.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, I totally agree .
I agree.
Well, thank you guys so much.
I know you guys are all verybusy, so I appreciate you taking
time out hopping on this callUm.
I think we've now created uh,you know at least two or three
more um podcasts that we can allget together on Um.
Maybe next time I'll just I'lljust join you guys in Florida.
I love it.
(29:48):
I love it.
As always, everything will bein the show notes, um, do you
guys have social media presence?
Okay, perfect.
So what I'll do is all um inthe show notes there will be
links to their social media, howto get ahold of them, their
website and all of thatinformation.
That way, if you have questionsthat you know, maybe after
(30:11):
listening to this you're like ohman, I've got some questions or
you know you need a quote.
This is definitely what you do.
So thank you so much for tuningin again.
Thank you guys for joining me.
Make sure that you guys leave areview, because that is the
best feedback that you can give,and feedback is a gift.
Make sure you're sharing thiswith people, because that is the
(30:31):
greatest compliment that youcan give all of us is by sharing
this information, because thatmeans that you learned something
and you're helping to educateothers and make sure that you
follow this podcast so you nevermiss another episode.
Thanks so much, and we will seeyou next time on come to find
out thank you, bye, guys bye,thank you thanks everybody.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Thanks brian and kevin.
Thank you.
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we are joined by Brianand Kevin, who are with Top
Quote Insurance, and then wealso have a returning guest,
which is Chris from Search toClose Title Company.
But I'm super excited to getthem on here because, as you all
know, I am licensed in Ohio butalso Florida.
(00:24):
We have not really covered aton of Florida stuff on here, so
I definitely wanted to do that.
But also in talking with Chris,you know, I always kind of pick
his brain about what's going onin Florida, because search to
close is in Ohio and in Floridaand obviously, if you've
listened to anything on the news, it sounds like the sky is
(00:44):
falling and all of that withinsurance and no one can get any
insurance in Florida and all ofthat.
So that is why, when I talkedto Chris about this, he
recommended talking with Brianand Kevin, because they are with
Top Quote and can give youlegit information instead of the
sky is falling information.
So thank you guys so much fortaking time out and joining us
(01:07):
and, brian, I'd love for you tojust kind of kick off this you
know segment and let us knowabout Top Quote.
You know how did it come about.
How long have you been inbusiness?
What are things that make youdifferent?
You know all of the things, so,brian, take it away.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
All the things.
So, yeah, so we've been inbusiness now for over 14 years.
We actually have two companiesin Florida.
One is Florida Best QuoteInsurance, which we kind of
focus a little more on the Gulfside of Florida and we write
everywhere else as well too withthat.
But we just created Top QuoteInsurance to kind of be more of
the concierge direct conciergeto lender and realtor partners,
(01:49):
while we still obviously showlove to people that are not
realtors and lenders withTopQuote.
It was formed in that way justso we can kind of focus in on
home and not real estatetransactions, which we've always
been a part of for all theseyears.
There's a lot of agencies outthere.
There's a ton of insuranceagencies out there.
A lot of them run a lot of ads.
Some people know people fromfamilies, but what makes us
(02:12):
different and there's only asmall number of agencies like us
out there what makes us verydifferent is the fact that we
have every carrier contract inthe state that we can write with
.
What that basically translatesinto is options.
So when another insuranceagency is telling you that they
only can place you with acertain carrier maybe citizens,
(02:33):
for example I'm sure everybodyknows about citizens.
It is a possibility that thereare others out there that will
take that risk.
That might be a little bit moreeither beneficial monetarily or
beneficial, you know, with abetter policy.
Um, that's kind of what makesus different.
We we can do just aboutanything and also, too, we are
full service.
We write commercial, life,health, every type of insurance
(02:55):
that you can think of, and Ialways kind of say jokingly, if
it's not on fire, we can insureit.
You know, we'll take for forour lender and realtor partners
out there that find it very hardto get to the closing table
with certain risks.
We can take anything from anold mobile home all the way up
to a $10 million house in thewater.
We've got products for that,we've got carrier contracts for
(03:16):
that.
So we are also.
One last quick little tidbit iswe are also huge on education.
We're not going to sell yousomething that is based on just
the premium.
Obviously, the premium and whatinflation rate is and the way
that people are with theirpocketbooks these days, we
understand premium has to bethat first frame of mind.
(03:36):
But at the same time, whenwe're going over your options,
we're going to be teaching you,and that's what Kevin does.
We're going to be teaching youabout what your options are
rather than going well, here's acheaper route and here's a more
expensive route.
No, because it doesn't workthat way.
You need to know that if yourhouse burns down tomorrow, were
you covered properly?
Did my agent do the right thing?
And that is kind of the way myagents think.
(03:57):
They think God.
Every single time I claim thisfile, they think God.
Did I insure that properly ordid I just care about the
premium?
Because it's not about that atthe end of the day.
So that is who we are.
That is what we feel.
We feel it deep in our bonesthat we want to just take care
of people, especially ourlenders and our realtors and
anybody else that works in thereal estate field.
(04:18):
We're all about you guys.
We're all about just makingsure that everybody in Florida
is well taken care of as far asinsurance is concerned.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, I love that and I love that before we started
recording, you know, you kind of, you made a point to say which
made me you know well, top quoteeven more.
But you said that you know youremployees have to be all about
the people and once theirmindset shifts if for some
reason, their mindset shifts toonly focusing on the dollar and
(04:50):
how much money they're going tomake or whatever that they're no
longer employees of yoursbecause that yeah, they just
don't belong.
Yeah, they don't belong.
Yeah, and that, to me, is huge.
I love that somebody is thatconcerned about customer service
because, you know, anyone thathas worked with me knows that
I'm going to give you five-starcustomer service and if I'm not,
(05:12):
then I want to know, becauseI'm going to make it right and
anyone I send you to has to dothat as well, otherwise, like,
I'm not going to send them.
So Right.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I mean, it's just, it's common sense, right.
I mean we all know, just likeevery other industry, like the
used cars industry and all thatstuff, everybody works for
commissions, right, and we getit.
Commissions is what.
You know, how they live and eatand breathe, and you know.
It's understandable, right?
But we're not here to just sellsomebody a used car.
This is not just a.
You know, you don't really haveto have it, but it's kind of
(05:43):
nice kind of thing.
No, this is insurance.
This is your life we're talkingabout, and with all the
different products that we selland all the different ways that
they can go wrong and right,it's important to have the
mindset that you can't just bein it for the money, because
when you put that in there, thenyou're giving people these
bloated policies with a higherpremium so that you can make
(06:04):
more money.
It doesn't make sense.
Or you're selling them on acrappier policy, worse coverage,
but maybe that carrier givesyou a higher percentage in
commissions.
You can't have that in yourmind.
It doesn't work.
It doesn't work in our fieldand we don't believe in it as an
agency, and I know that all ofour agents don't believe in that
(06:26):
either.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I love that Because I think that if you're
taking care of your people andyou're doing what you're
supposed to and you're aservice-minded, you know like a
servant hearted leader, then themoney follows Like that's just,
that's just how it works,naturally.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I love it.
I love it.
So let walk me through this.
(06:51):
Um, so, if someone was tocontact you and this can go to
either you, brian or Kevin, um,but if someone contacts you and
they're like hey, I need to.
You know, I'm purchasing ahouse, I need to get homeowner's
insurance.
Um, you know how does that lookLike?
Do you look at like, oh well,who do you have for car
insurance?
And could we, you know, bundlethat for you?
Or do you, you know what?
What?
Walk me through the steps ofwhat happens whenever someone
contacts you.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I'll let Kevin take this one, Cause he he deals with
this on a daily.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
All right, thanks for having us.
So, for example, I had somebodycall me today and they're
closing on a house tomorrow andshe's like she's an existing
client that we have, so it's ayou know, it's a rental property
for her.
Well, I need your address andI'm guessing that if you're
closing tomorrow, you know.
(07:40):
So we basically, you know, gothrough that type of stuff.
Ask them do you have yourfour-point inspection?
Do you have your windmitigation?
That way we know what creditswe can give for the wind
mitigation and stuff like that.
That way, when we arc, what isthe best possible rate that we
can find, not just guessing asfar as the wind windmills and
(08:06):
saying, well, I hope this is it.
And then when they get thewindmills, a thousand more, you
know.
So we try to start with here'sthe best, it could only get
better.
Or windmill well, here's theworst, kind of and it can only
get better from there that typeof approach.
As far as, like you said, likebundling, we don't have any
(08:28):
current carriers that'll do thebundling option.
State Farm is really the onlyone that'll do that in the state
, so we don't write with themthemselves.
So yeah, so that's kind ofwhere we started on the you know
question.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Yeah, and I just want to add one quick thing to that,
because this kind of just goesback to the customer service
side of things.
Right, it's like if somebodycalls in and they say to you,
hey, I'm closing on a hometomorrow.
Well, sometimes it's tomorrow,but I'm closing on a home and I
need insurance.
The first question out of ourmouths is not well, do you have
a car too?
Can we get it all at once?
(09:06):
I mean it's let's take care ofthe need, let's car too.
Can we get it all at once?
I mean it's let's take care ofthe need.
You know, let's get you acrossthe finish line for what you
want first.
Right Cause, I know, when youcall these 1-800 numbers, they
start, they give you this giantsurvey and they start asking you
all these questions about allthe other things and you're like
, well, wait, I don't need thatright now.
I mean so we, we try to winthem over and give them some
love through quoting them forwhat they need first.
And then, obviously, later on,we're like hey, if you left us
(09:28):
enough for your home, did youknow we also do the other things
.
So you know we're, we're notgoing to be a pushy, we're not a
pushy sales people agency Likethat's not what people are going
to get when they call us.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah, I love that, I love that.
And Kevin, your um, your wifiwas a little bit um, it was a
little choppy.
So I just want to make surethat everybody, you know I don't
know if it's just my connectionor not, but regardless, I just
want to make sure that you knowI fully understood.
So, if someone calls in, I knowyou had someone that called in
that they're closing today on ahouse and they needed, you know
(10:01):
they called you yesterday,they're closing today, needed
insurance, and so you know, yourfirst question was like okay,
have they had the windmitigation report and things
like that, which I know arethings that are very important
in Florida, those are not thingsthat we deal with here in Ohio.
So I love that you guys arethere, you know, you know all of
those items.
(10:22):
But then I guess my nextquestion is you know, on the
news, you know everyone istalking about insurance and you
know, on the news, you knoweveryone is talking about
insurance and you know all thetop stories are like no one,
everybody's leaving Floridabecause nobody can get insurance
there and insurance companiesare dropping people left and
right.
And so you know, I'd love tokind of hear from you because
(10:44):
you're there and you're in theinsurance industry.
Could you help kind of set therecord straight?
Like you know, is there stillinsurance being written in
Florida?
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, I mean definitely.
I mean we're definitely inFlorida.
I mean, like Brian said,sometimes, yes, our only option
is I see that coming less andless, we are having more options
.
I see that coming less and less, we are having more options.
Just the other day thatHeritage Insurance Company is
actually going to start writingagain and they haven't written a
(11:18):
policy in two years.
So the markets are definitelychanging.
So I definitely see that.
You know it's getting better.
They got new, they're doing thedepopulation with citizens
where they're taking citizenspolicies away from less policies
to citizens, which that's whatwe all want.
(11:39):
So, yeah, it's, sometimescitizens is the only option,
like we said, but options outthere now than there were before
.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, well, that's good to know, because you know a
lot of clients that I have thatwant to purchase something down
there, whether it's they'rerelocating or they want, like, a
vacation home or they want to,you know, an Airbnb or whatever.
Like they're, you know, scaredto death.
Because all they're hearing is,oh, you can't get insurance
there and you know, because ofthe hurricane, like it affected
(12:13):
this and that and you know, sonow nobody's getting insurance
and I, you know, and it alwaysjust blows my mind that I'm like
do you really think that thatmany people stayed in Florida
with no insurance on their house?
Like I mean, maybe they did?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I don't know, requirement belongs, so
obviously you're going to haveto add it.
Yeah, we hear that.
We hear that too From peoplemoving down here.
They're like, oh, I didn't wantto move down here because I
knew that the insurance wasgoing to be so difficult to get
and so expensive.
And then we send them a quoteand they're like, oh, all right,
cool, you know, that's how thatgoes.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Well, and I mean, obviously the insurance down
there is a little bit differentthan here, because you have to
have, you know, like thehurricane, insurance if you're
close to water or like the flood, you know, depending on what
flood zone you're in and thingslike that.
You know, obviously there aredifferent things that pertain to
people in Florida that wouldn'tpertain here, but you know, I'm
glad to hear that they arestill getting insurance in
(13:08):
Florida.
Yeah, yes, I love it.
So when I am talking with youknow, with lenders or with
anyone, I always like to say youknow, none of us have crystal
balls at all, so none of us cantruly, truly predict the future.
But I'd love to hear from youall about.
(13:30):
You know, when I spoke withBrendan Bland of Neighborhood
Loans a couple weeks ago, youknow I asked him the same thing
Like what?
You know, what are yourpredictions for?
You know, after hearing all thethings that we hear in the news
, what are your predictions?
And you know he predicted thatin September.
You know, just like everybody'shearing, that you know interest
rates will go down and that'sgoing to open up the market a
(13:51):
little bit, and then you know,more than likely, we're going to
have another, you know anotherrate decrease in December, you
know, and then likely next year.
So you know again, no one canhold him to that.
You know that information.
That's just his prediction.
So I'd love to hear kind of whatyou guys think, because you
(14:11):
obviously have your finger, youknow, on the pulse of the
insurance industry.
I'm sure you hear a lot about,you know the, you know inflation
and how that's affectingeverything and all of that stuff
.
So I'd love to hear, like, yourpredictions of what you think
is going to happen with theinsurance industry there in
Florida, like, is it going toget stronger, is it going to get
worse?
Is it going to get to the pointthat no one has insurance in
(14:33):
Florida?
Speaker 3 (14:38):
I mean I'll start off , but Brian can pick up.
Definitely see that it's goingto get stronger.
I know there's more reinsurancefor lowering their rate, which
is good.
That means the actual carrierscan get a cheaper rate, so it in
turn gives them a better rateto offer it off to their clients
(15:01):
.
With the Office of InsuranceInvestments regulations.
They like 12 or file for areduction in premium this year
and then, like I said, we're notgoing to increase, we're going
to keep it at zero.
So yeah, it's definitely goingto be.
(15:21):
It's not going to be like everysingle, you know, every single
customer is not, I think, bylocations.
If you're on the beach andyou're one of the prone areas of
getting hit by hurricanes, yeah, you're rich, probably going to
stay high and they mightincrease the next year.
If you're more in Orlando inthis, yeah, you'll probably go
(15:49):
lower and stuff like that orstay the same.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
But 15, that's going to probably take a long time
before the whole state sees thedecrease and stuff like that
yeah, which makes sense, and so,um, just to make sure that I
fully understood um, so you'resaying that the reinsurance
market, uh, is getting, they'relowering their rates, which
(16:14):
means they're feeling morestable about things.
So, in, in turn, insurancecompanies are going to be, you
know, aligning with that, so,like, the rates may come down,
unless you are on the beach,which I would hope that anyone
knows that if you're going tolive on the beach, you are going
to pay a premium.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
You can pay for it if you want the beach, yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, you pay for it, you know, and so something that
the media has done a great jobof this year and I say that kind
of almost facetiously is theyreported about, I'd say about
five to six carriers.
They basically sent out acouple of, you know, articles
saying we got new carrierscoming to Florida, and so we got
(16:56):
a lot of phone calls on that.
And you know the thing aboutthose carriers, which is this is
a great trend, by the way, whencarriers are moving into our
state, we always love to seethat.
However, they're not open yetfor taking on new stuff, right.
So the carriers that are comingin, I think there's only one
right now, orange InsuranceExchange, that's really writing
(17:16):
new things underneath theumbrella of a current carrier
that we have.
But the other ones, whatthey're doing is they're
actually depopulating policiesfrom citizens.
First, they are taking some ofthose policies and they're
letting them sit in their booksfor a year and they're allowing
us to service through them andthings like that.
What that's going to do is justkind of get their feet wet in
(17:36):
Florida.
They're not going to, you know.
So eventually, down the road,yeah, those carriers, if
everything goes great, afterspeaking to those carrier reps,
they all seem to be pretty surethat they are going to start
opening to new business at somepoint, so that's a positive step
.
So there are five to sixcarriers that have now opened up
in Florida, but again there'slike only one that's actually
(17:57):
writing new business right nowthat you can do quotes through.
Are there others that you know,maybe kind of sneaking in here
and there?
And they will be.
As far as the current carriers,there are a few that have, like
Kevin was saying that, have youknow, requested to lower their
rates by a certain percentageand we're going to start to see
that as long as we can keephurricane, uh, uh, the hurricane
(18:18):
season under control aroundhere.
You know, knock on wood, so farit's been all right, you know,
this year.
But, um, there's alsolegislation and then that's,
that's the biggest piece.
You know, um, floridalegislators sat around for many,
many, many years, um, andreally didn't do a whole lot
like.
I think that maybe they did.
(18:38):
You know certain things hereand there that they thought were
important, but it it led to newlaws having to be written in
the last couple of years becausethey realized oh my God, people
, are you got roofing companiesknocking on people's doors
telling people that your roofwill.
You know your roof's old, butno problem, we'll, we'll file a
claim anyway, or you know thingslike that.
So it's, it's there's new lawsthat have come in, there's new,
stricter, stricter things thatthat the legislation is doing to
(19:02):
try to curb that stuff, andthat's going to eventually
relate to the premiums.
I mean, it's not an overnightprocess at all, so any laws that
they put in, it has to, likeyou know, take its time to come
into effect.
There's still a lot more workto be done here in Florida, but
(19:22):
we are going to start turning acorner.
The other, the only otherproblem is, of course, if we can
get inflation down, you know inthe country, and of course, the
building costs.
I mean, look how much it costsfor wood.
Right, I mean we all.
If you're building a house now,it's like it's ridiculous, the
cost of materials.
So you know that has to get uh,in a lot, in a lot of ways, and
kevin would agree that has toget put into that dwelling
coverage amount.
There is that inflation cardthat some of these carriers put
(19:43):
in every single year so thatyour dwelling amount, that
amount, actually grows with thecost of the materials.
So it's going to finally getcurved at some point.
Hopefully, knock on wood, it'snot as bad as what some other
people around the country thinkit is.
I still think that peopleshould still move to Florida,
you know, people should stillgive us a chance.
(20:04):
It's not that bad, I mean, yes,there are, there are things
that aren't great, but you justhave to find the right people to
help you out and that's andthat's ultimately shameless plug
.
That's why we're here, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Yeah, yeah, no, that should be a plug, because that
is true and that is why Icontinue to try and network and
surround myself with good peoplethat I can refer to others,
because I can't be all things toall people.
But I like to, you know, beable to say like, oh, I got a
guy for that, I got a guy forthat.
You know, you need a contractor, I got that.
You need an insurance guy, Igot that.
(20:39):
You know, I got your title alltaken care of, like, don't even
worry about it, you know.
So I love that.
And I love that you even touchedon inflation, because in a
previous episode, a few weeksago, again with Brendan, we were
talking about inflation and oneof the things that I found very
interesting was that one of thekey indicators to the Fed was
(21:01):
the fact that McDonald's hadreported losses for two quarters
in a row and they were like,well, crap, if people can't
afford McDonald's, theneverything is too expensive and
it's like, yeah, no, kidding, Icould have told you that, with
my four teenagers going to thegrocery store, I could have told
you that all day long thatinflation is very high, but you
(21:24):
know.
So it's interesting to me,obviously that you know
inflation is connected to theFed and you know the interest
rate.
It's interesting that it's alsoattached to you know insurance.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Right, exactly, I mean every.
I I mean look, every.
Everything's tied to inflationthese days, you know.
I mean it's the cost ofeverything.
Is is kind of symbiotic, Iguess in a way.
You know insurance is nodifferent and but we do, we can,
you know, we do what we can tohelp each other out.
People are still buying homes.
I mean the Fed's about to drop,you know hopefully.
(21:59):
You know the rates coming soonand I know, crossing fingers
we'll see what happens with thatand hopefully that gets more
people an incentive to buy, youknow, new homes and stuff.
And what are those people goingto need Insurance?
So we'll still be here for it,you know.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah absolutely Well and it's my understanding and
obviously correct me if I'mwrong, but if you live in
Florida and you have a loan onyour property, you have to have
homeowners insurance.
If you own it outright youdon't have to, but it's always
recommended Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
That's correct.
Yeah, if you're going through aloan, the lenders require that.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Okay, perfect, going through a loan.
They require, the lendersrequire that.
Okay, perfect.
And that's where, like the windmitigation and the hurricane
protection and the flood zone,that's where your expertise
comes in, because you can help.
People know like, yes, youabsolutely need that, or,
goodness, no, you don't needthat.
Someone is totally, just, youknow, selling you a line of crap
.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Yeah, and, and, quite honestly, one of the things you
touched on, the wind mitigation, and then Kevin probably sees
this all the time too you don'talways have to have a wind
mitigation inspection and afour-point inspection on your
homes, depending on the age ofthe home.
Those are now old houses.
We're not going to makesomebody that's got a home
that's only five years old goget those inspections.
That's the thing you got to,that's a hundred and something,
(23:17):
something right.
And in the grand scheme ofthings, if you're buying a house
, it's like chump change, right,but every dollar counts.
So we're not going to make yougo get things that you don't
need.
I mean, that's just commonsense, because on those homes
it's just how the rules work out, you know, and the carriers
don't require them.
So if they don't, why shouldthey?
You know, well, I should be,you know.
(23:44):
But but yeah, that's when we canlook at some of those policies,
and especially when somebody isputting on a new roof.
You know if they already ownthe home they put on a new roof,
you know, our agents are verykeen on letting them know hey,
you should be doing certainthings in that roof.
You know, it's a little bit ofan upgrade with the roofing
company, but it's going to saveyou a ton of money on insurance,
you know.
So putting on how the roof istied down, for example, you know
upgrading that factor you knowwe're going to.
(24:04):
Again, it's all about education.
We're going to let people knowthis is what you need to do, and
Kevin does a great job of thatevery day with his clients, and
so does all of our other agents,and you know that's just how
they're trained.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Yeah, I love that and I love that.
It makes sense to me too, onlyagain with my basic knowledge of
housing in Florida, but itmakes sense that if it was the
you know, if it was only fiveyears old, then it's already
built to the hurricane standards, that you know like, it's got
the correct tie down and youknow all of that stuff versus a
(24:41):
house that was maybe built, youknow, 10, 15 years ago.
There were different standardsback then and so you know, like
you wouldn't now, you just haveto make sure that it's been
brought up to speed, if Iunderstand correctly, right
(25:12):
right, which is, you know, goodand bad, but and I think that a
lot of people have been scared,but I feel like we may have one
more slow busy season and then Ithink it's going to get back
there.
That's my prediction, but I'dlove to hear, like your
prediction, cause you are downthere You're dealing with, you
know, many more realtors anddeals than I am on a daily basis
(25:33):
.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
So I've got that unique perspective of having
been in Ohio this time lastmonth.
Compared to now, ohio isdefinitely a little bit stronger
of a market, but Florida I meanTampa Bay is still number seven
in the country right now.
So although it's a littleslower, houses are still moving.
I can personally tell youlistings are going through the
roof right now.
I do know that some propertiesare taking a little bit longer.
(25:56):
Obviously, the condo market.
That'd probably be for a wholeother podcast, but that'd
probably be another good one.
I see Kevin shaking his head.
Yeah the condo market's a littledifferent right now.
That might be something wherewe all get together again and
just talk about condos and bringsome value, but I think the
market down here is strong.
Sellers just got to be preparedfor maybe 30, 60, 90 days to
(26:19):
get a home sold.
I think the rate decrease willdefinitely help from the lenders
and agents that I'm talking to.
Hopefully the Fed doesn'tovercorrect too much or else
we're going to end up in alittle bit of a different area.
But I think if they drop therates here in September, we'll
really feel a positive impact,probably around January or
February.
So, like you said, I think wehave one more quarter of
(26:41):
slowness before we start headingin the right direction.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, I agree, I think it'll be that much further
out from that massive hurricanethat you know scared the crap
out of everyone, the one thathit, like Fort Myers, bonita
Springs area.
You know, my, my sister-in-lawwas.
Actually I had twosister-in-laws that were
affected.
One was in Cape Coral and onewas on Bonita beach, so
literally her house wasdestroyed by that hurricane.
(27:07):
The 18 foot, you know, stormsurge, so you know I knew that
scared a lot of people,especially in that Fort Myers,
naples, bonita area.
But I and so it is very slow,you know, especially in the Cape
Coral area I think it's stillthe last time I checked it had
(27:28):
like the most houses on themarket for one area in all of
Florida.
So you know, but it's nice tohear that Tampa Bay is seeing
something totally different, youknow, cause I'm generally just
southwest Florida.
So I love your perspective onyou know, like Tampa and you
know some of the other areas andI like that you are thinking
(27:48):
along the same lines.
We must have the same crystalball.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
I mean, at the end of the day there's there's a lot
of panic, and you're right.
If you go to Yahoo News rightnow, I'm sure there's something
terrible in there about thehousing market, nar, insurance,
you name it.
Right now, when you have thatperfect storm coming together,
it's going to slow down a littlebit.
Kids are going back to school.
People don't think about that,they just see houses sitting on
the market.
(28:12):
Well, people's lives justchanged two weeks ago.
Kids are back in school.
They're adjusting.
No, it's going to come back.
It's going to be all right.
The feds are hopefully going todo Remember, it was supposed to
be four rate changes.
Now we might just get one.
So it'll be all right.
And I heard in November there'ssomething fairly big in this
country.
So you know, we'll see whathappens then.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Yeah, happens then.
Yeah, I mean, I've heard thattoo.
Yeah, it's funny because somenews say that it's going to
affect everything, and you knowgas prices are going to go down
and you know all this stuff.
And then others are saying thatthe election has literally
nothing to do with anything, andI seem to think that it has a
(28:56):
lot more power over things thanthey let on.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
Yeah, I would definitely agree and I can only
imagine Brian and Kevin sittingwith us today are probably
pretty interested to see howthat goes as well.
And you know it affects all ofus one way or the other and you
know that's a whole differentconversation.
But there's a lot of thingsworking against our industry
right now.
But, like I said, I think byJanuary, february, we'll start
(29:21):
seeing that path forward andthat light at the end of the
tunnel.
It's not a train.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, I totally agree .
I agree.
Well, thank you guys so much.
I know you guys are all verybusy, so I appreciate you taking
time out hopping on this callUm.
I think we've now created uh,you know at least two or three
more um podcasts that we can allget together on Um.
Maybe next time I'll just I'lljust join you guys in Florida.
I love it.
(29:48):
I love it.
As always, everything will bein the show notes, um, do you
guys have social media presence?
Okay, perfect.
So what I'll do is all um inthe show notes there will be
links to their social media, howto get ahold of them, their
website and all of thatinformation.
That way, if you have questionsthat you know, maybe after
(30:11):
listening to this you're like ohman, I've got some questions or
you know you need a quote.
This is definitely what you do.
So thank you so much for tuningin again.
Thank you guys for joining me.
Make sure that you guys leave areview, because that is the
best feedback that you can give,and feedback is a gift.
Make sure you're sharing thiswith people, because that is the
(30:31):
greatest compliment that youcan give all of us is by sharing
this information, because thatmeans that you learned something
and you're helping to educateothers and make sure that you
follow this podcast so you nevermiss another episode.
Thanks so much, and we will seeyou next time on come to find
out thank you, bye, guys bye,thank you thanks everybody.
Speaker 4 (30:54):
Thanks brian and kevin.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!