Archive for the ‘farm property’ Category
March 21st, 2010 | 
Author: For years State Farm Florida Insurance Company has remained one of the few Fortune 500 homeowners insurance companies still doing business in Florida. It is still by far the largest private insurance company in the state for both homes and autos covering 1 million and 2.5 million policyholders respectively.
They deserve credit for that.
After all, following the billions in claims from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, many large insurance companies simply left the State of Florida for good – and never looked back. That left Florida to deal with the problem on its own and caused it to create its own state run insurance company of last resort to help those who simply could not find coverage.
State Farm Florida Insurance Company did not follow this approach.
It has taken a prudent approach to the market that has been present in Florida since Hurricane Andrew. These steps have included:
Strict underwriting criteria for homes selected for new business
Multiline discounts for policyholders with home, auto, and life coverage
Selectively cancelling higher risk older homes closer to the coastline
This approach might have been successful during normal, reasonable periods of history. But things in Florida have been anything but reasonable in recent years:
From 1992 to 2004, no large insurance companies re-entered the Florida home insurance market – leaving State Farm on its own.
Florida hurricane claims in 2004 and 2005 caused billions of dollars in damage. State Farm Florida paid millions in claims and had to request an emergency cash infusion from its parent company to recapitalize it.
While the company was able to get significant rate increases after the 04/05 hurricanes, massive rate increases granted to most of the companies in Florida in 2005 and 2006 caused a major political uproar. Quite honestly, the public demanded rate relief because Florida home insurance was simply not affordable.
The pressure for lower rates was far worse due to outrageous property taxes and the collapse of the Florida real estate market.
The State of Florida reacted to voter pressure. But the results were not impressive.
The 2007 and 2008 legislation had a minimal effect on lowering homeowners insurance rates and shifted billions of dollars in catastrophic risk to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund – a state entity that has publicly stated that it can’t meet its reinsurance obligation to insurance companies in part due to the frozen bond markets.
As a result, all companies including State Farm Florida are concerned that the Florida Cat Fund won’t be there to pay them back after a major hurricane and are looking for new sources of backup reinsurance.
That, combined with other factors led the company to request a 47% rate increase a few months ago. After state regulators rejected the rate increase, the company appealed that decision in court. Recently a judge agreed with state regulators that State Farm’s 47% rate increase was not justified and also rejected the rate increase.
This brings us to where we are today – a time when many Floridians have to be wondering if State Farm Florida is preparing to exit the state for good. This would not be welcome news and would cause a major shock to the Florida homeowners insurance market as policyholders scramble to find other coverage.
In today’s uncertain times, you have to be ready to face realities. One of those might be that State Farm will cancel or drop your homeowners insurance coverage in Florida. If that happens there are several things you need to do to respond to this:
Shop your policy. Most State Farm Florida agents can only offer you homeowners coverage with Citizens after your policy is cancelled. Find a large independent agent who represents multiple companies in order to give you the best options for replacing State Farm Florida.
There are new Florida base regional insurance companies that have been created over the past 15 years, with many only being recently approved since the start of 2006. Some of these companies might be a good option to replace State Farm but you have to research each and every one of them. Check their financial ratings and customer service history thoroughly.
State Farm Florida insurance agents will be hurt by mass cancellations of home insurance policies. They have spent years building a book of insurance business in Florida. When they lose your home insurance business, they often lose your auto and life insurance business as well. While you can’t help but be sympathetic, you need to know that it is in your agent’s self interest to keep your auto and life insurance business while putting your home insurance coverage into Citizens Property Insurance. Don’t accept being placed with Citizens without looking for other private home insurance companies through other agents that can also offer you auto and life insurance.
Get all the facts if you are thinking about Citizens Property insurance. Citizens has said that it does not charge enough premium to cover the risk that it takes. It too is expecting problems borrowing to pay its claims after a major hurricane in today’s troubled bond markets. Major recommendations being presently considered at Citizens include raising rates, limiting coverage, and mandating certain home hardening measures. Do your home work on Citizens just like you would for any other company.
While we don’t know how the final situation with State Farm Florida will play out, if you follow these steps you’ll be way ahead of hundreds of thousands of policyholders that might be scrambling to get coverage all at once.
Related items
The hobby farm is a special farm. It may serve economic interest but purposely exists to please the owner. The owner uses it as his past time just as someone does kayaking. Many people buy the property for personal relaxation. They want to go into the rural area and just spend some time there. For some it is a way to stay on their own without the bustle of the city. They will buy the farm and then use it as residential facility. Usually these places will be close to the business or work place so that they can retire three in the evening. The existence of the farm will just serve as a kind of leisure for him.
Many people like to live in the west. For them it is a great pleasure to be very close to nature and then have your past time. They would usually want to own large properties but plant some crops to keep the vegetative cover intact. Some will even plant trees to provide shade. For many the hobby farm is one place to which the will retire from work. When they reach old age, they will like to go back to the rural area from which of them come from originally. They will want to do the same kind of work that they used to do when they were kids. So it is like going to back to childhood days for them. On farms with small livestock, these owners will be happy to tend the animals and take them to pasture.
Still more, you have the opportunity to pursue your outdoor sports that have rural settings. Most notable amongst these are fishing, hunting, kayaking, hiking, mountaineering, walking and horse riding.
All said a hobby farm affords much leisure and serves a perfect past time. But there are some challenges posed by this choice. One of them is water management. Not many of the properties have water bodies close by. The cost of drawing water from these could cost a fortune so there have to be other ways to get water for the property that may be situated far way from urban supplies.
One solution that comes to mind is water harvesting. Simply put, water harvesting is the process of gathering water from occasional sources such as rain and then storing that in reservoirs or other suitable receptacles for future use. In some cases the water will be led to a dam where a large pool will be collected to irrigate the farm or provide drinking water for the animals.
For a hobby farm without much need for water, you can use simple rain harvesting methods. You can construct rain gutters on the roof of the buildings and then place rain barrels at the base of these roofs to collect the water during rain. From time to time, the barrels can be emptied into a bigger reservoir or just left there and the water fetched from it when the need arises.
In a more sophicated case you can dig paths on the ground for the water to follow onto a determined place. Tis works best if you have a sloping landscape. As soon as rain falls, it will follow the ways you have and fill a reservoir located on the slope.
Many people use another method whereby earth mould is constructed and then covered wit plastic sheets. The moulds will help the water flow to a particular area and the sheet will prevent the mould from getting muddy and then been washed away.
Many people also use underground water storage tanks. They will direct pipes from the initial way to the tanks.
If you have a lot of run off water in your hobby farm, you can direct them to the crops for natural irrigation.
Related items
Many people question the rationality of searching for a nationwide farm loan lender instead of approaching the local bank for farm credit. Looking objectively into the issue, a host of reasons can be found that make a nation wide farm loan lender a much better choice for a borrower than his local banker. Among the foremost reasons, a few like relationships, expertise in farm credit and longer repayment schedules stand out prominently in favor of a nationwide farm lender.
As a farmer or farm owner, it is necessary for you to share a good and close relationship with your lender. There can be many instances where it will be advantageous for you to have an established relationship with your creditor in order to have the financial work related to your farm smoothly disposed.
If you require a farm loan having decided to expand by purchasing another farm in a different geographical area, your local bank may not be in a position to help you, as their operations may not extend to the new place. This means that you will need to look for another lender, freshly introduce yourself, and once again obtain credit as a new borrower as the lender goes about seeking fresh financial information about you. You will also be unsure of receiving fair and honest treatment. This can be a big problem. When you deal with a national farm loan lender you benefit from your earlier relationship and reputation that you have built over time and can confidently go ahead to select farm property/equipment anywhere in the country. Imagine the convenience of reduced hassles.
Then your local bank’s familiarity with farm loans may be restricted to dealing with only the type of produce or farm(s) in the region e.g. wheat farms. If you decide to switch/diversify in some different type of farming, they may lack the necessary expertise to offer you advice on the pros and cons of your new venture. A nationwide farm loan lender has exposure to and knowledge of different farm loans – vineyards, strawberry farms, wheat farms, dairies, hog/cattle farms, hobby farms, gentlemen farms or any other type. Therefore, whatever be the type of your fresh agricultural venture, a nationwide farm loan lender will be the ideal choice for you.
The size of a loan and the rate of interest for the loan are potential factors that will influence your choice of a lender for your farm loan. Banks located in rural areas are relatively small in size with much less capital as compared to nationwide lenders. Interest rates for all loans are subject to fluctuations. Fixed rate farm loans are difficult to obtain. Even if one is made available by a local bank, it is usually for a short period of not more that five years. With nationwide farm loan lenders, it is possible to negotiate and obtain fixed interest rate farm loans repayable in twenty to thirty years on interest rates comparable with rates applicable to five year fixed interest rate loans offered by local banks.
There are multiple advantages of taking a farm loan from a nationwide farm loan lender. You must give careful consideration to them before you actually secure credit for your agricultural needs.
Related items
Farm land for sale in Texas is a highly prized commodity. Texas’ increasing popularity along with the reasonable pricing of Texas farm land has brought many people to the Lone Star state in search of the perfect piece of land. Those in search of land for sale in Texas have found some of the sweetest little treasure just waiting for new ownership.
Fortunately, the majority of land for sale in Texas is still being sold to people interested in farm land ownership rather than development. While this is backwards in comparison to most of the rest of the country, it’s becoming a basic snatch it while you can mentality.
Due to increasing popularity, the land in Texas currently is bound to increase in price over the next several years. This is in part due to the quality of land, and in part due to the pristine environment associated with most of Texas. Texas offers a varying landscape, untouched territory, peaceful communities, and quiet retirement, a little something for everyone regardless of age or walk of life.
The faster individuals snatch up the land for sale in Texas, the harder it will be for the developers to get their hands on it. Texans are quite serious about keeping their valuable property away from the developers. This is of course a natural inclination of farmers everywhere, but somehow Texans seem just a little more devoted to their cause.
Fortunately snatching up land in Texas is momentarily not that difficult. With the price of properties currently more than reasonable and the market fairly good for farm land, there are also ample farm properties for sale in Texas. A quick internet search reveals several mortgage companies who offer flexible payment plans and mortgages that are more than fair even for people with less than perfect credit. Keeping the land in Texas as farm land is really that important to Texans.
The majority of land has been farmed by members of the same family for multiple generations. Selling this farm land is not an easy decision. Often this land ends up for sale due to the loss of a generation to pass it on to. Some of it is a lack of interest by younger generations in farming as they have left behind the farming way of life for careers and an urban lifestyle.
Buying a piece land is actually like purchasing a piece of living history. The families which own these farms have had generations of babies born in the bedrooms and often die in the same bedrooms. They have had grandfathers, fathers, and sons, all work the farm side by side, and mothers and daughter pass on generations of family secrets. This is certainly worth more than the sale of the farm land in Texas to the developers of a Wal-Mart.
Seeking the perfect land in Texas is a journey of discovery, as each farm comes with its own history, its own story, and of course, its own sense of pride. With every prospective buyer, the farm land for sale in Texas creates a story all its own that can never be recreated once it is sold. It is a beautiful experience, and one that can only be truly appreciated when in the hunt for that perfect piece of farm land for sale in Texas.
Owning farm land in Texas is like a badge of honor, as if owning the piece of history makes you part of it somehow. Living smack dab in the middle of the history, you are free to add your own legacy to the story, whether it is a new generation born in the bedroom or the passing of a generation in the bedroom across the hall. Each piece of land is simply waiting for a new writer to take up the story and create the history which will someday turn to legend.
The land for sale in Texas at this time is workable, cherish-able land. Anyone who is looking to make a new start in a place that is completely unique unto itself is looking for land in Texas, whether or not they know it. This is the state with everything to offer. From its land to its cities to its coastline, Texas is considered the most unique and diverse state in the country. Anyone can find lifelong happiness in Texas.
Related items
Countryside living has become very popular nowadays. More and more people are considering farms and lake side properties not as vacation spots but places to build their homes. There are many benefits that you can enjoy from countryside living especially if you will settle on Virginia farms or Virginia waterfront properties. However, always remember that there are special things you need to consider when buying farms and waterfront properties in Virginia. Here are some practical tips which could help you in choosing the best countryside property in Virginia.
First, if you want to buy Virginia farms or Virginia waterfront properties, make sure that you can look for financing as early as possible. In fact, before you look for a waterfront property or vacation ranch, you should ensure that your credit rating is good and you have a pre-approval. Waterfront properties and large tract of Virginia farms are more expensive than standard homes. You will need a so-called jumbo mortgage loan to acquire such properties. Because of the amount of loan, banks and lenders would be very apprehensive to extend credit if you do not have excellent credit rating. Approval for jumbo loan takes a very long time also. So if you want to enjoy a trouble free purchase of waterfront and farm properties, always ensure that your financing can be settled as early as possible.
If you are buying a Virginia waterfront property with existing structures, make sure that these structures can withstand the special weather conditions in the area. This is also true if you are buying Virginia farms. Specifically, you need to find out if the structures on the property are wind proof and totally secured from water seepage or infiltration. Check also if there are adequate dikes or tree lines that can protect the structures. Living in the countryside is a very pleasant and enjoyable experience. But you have to ensure that your country homes are well protected from the elements. Besides, you can get favorable home insurance premiums if your properties have adequate protection.
Finally, you must consider the basic amenities and public utility services that are available for the properties. If you are going to buy a secluded Virginia waterfront property, make sure that you have easy road access and there are available transportation to and from a nearby city. If you are going to buy Virginia farms, you need to check if there are nearby schools, fire stations, and police offices in the area. You must also ensure that your countryside properties can be serviced easily by power and water utilities. These basic services are important for your daily life. Make sure that you can have easy access to these services from your farm or waterfront house.
Virginia farms and waterfront properties are ideal places to raise a family. You can enjoy clean environment, peaceful surroundings and stress free living if you have Virginia countryside properties. However, be sure that you can get adequate financing for such properties as early as possible. It is also important to ensure that you can enjoy basic services so your life in the country would be pleasant.
Related items
Posted in farm property | Tags: Countryside, Enjoy, Farms, Living, Properties, Virginia, Waterfront | 
No Comments »
