A relaxed retirement in friendly Florida?

The traditional trip to family Christmas?

Another car to replace the aging flivver?

No on all counts, not now, and maybe never, say some South Hillsborough residents whose dreams have been dashed, sunk by the rolling wave of high homeowners’ insurance premiums hitting Florida’s shores in the wake of two destructive hurricane seasons.

They were events long planned and eagerly anticipated. Now they’re replaced by the reality of suddenly doubled, tripled, even quadrupled premiums, often in the form of up-front cash outlays imposed by the few insurers still providing coverages for West Central Florida homes.

For Diana Miller, Florida’s current insurance climate is "a big shock to my system." Her solution, stated with exacting emphasis: "I’m not staying here."

Miller, 62, single and a financial advisor for the last quarter century, suffered a heart attack last year while living in Oregon. Seeking a commodious new home with desirable services nearby, she bought a comfortable waterfront house in Sun City Center.

The first annual homeowner’s insurance premium came to $968, she recalled this week. "I thought that seemed a little high but then I thought, well , it’s Florida. Things cost less in the West," she said. Miller paid the premium without protest.

Then, earlier this year, she received the same notice that was alarming thousands upon thousands of other Florida homeowners: the policy would not be renewed. Consulting her insurance agent, she was told the best option was coverage by Citizens Insurance, the state-operated insurer of last resort – with one distinctly different detail. The annual premium more than quadrupled, she said, to $4,700. She protested and, again, paid it.

But, thoroughly dissatisfied, Miller said she began shopping for a replacement the next day. What she found is an acceptable alternative, she added, if not a satisfactory solution. With the help of a Brandon agency, A & B Insurance, she got sufficient coverage through Universal Insurance for $1,950, she said. The rate still is more than double last year’s premium but a significant savings over the Citizens requirement. "I stopped payment on the Citizens check," she added.

Miller, however, is not content. Her home is for sale and her focus is Florida in her rear view mirror. "I’m not poor," she pointed out, "and I cannot afford to live here."

What’s more, the financial consultant does not see a rosy future here. "These are serious times we’re in," she noted, ticking off such concerns as rising real estate taxes and energy costs, endangered social security and forthcoming impact on financial markets as the massive baby boom generation turns 70, beginning the mandatory liquidation of certain retirement accounts.

Miller, who has lived in several European countries, said she’s not sure where she will settle. It well could be outside the United States, she said, in any of a number of countries where living costs are lower and standards of service remain adequate.

Barbara Goetting, proud owner of a historic Seminole Heights bungalow in Tampa, shares concern about the future. Goetting and her partner, who have been restoring the 78-year-old home, have been forced through sometimes "absurd" hoops by their insurer and, of course, charged a doubled premium in the process, she said this week. "At this rate," she noted, the situation "could get out of control." Tighter regulation is required, she said.

The age of their home makes it difficult to gain coverages, Goetting said, and several years ago they became customers of Citizens. Subsequently, their policy was "sold" to another insurer called Gulf Stream, she added, which has made their lives more difficult. At one point, they were advised at 4 PM on the day a hurricane was moving northward through the state that coverages were not applicable, she asserted. Their annual premium was $1,200.

Goetting, in her 40s and employed in environmental science, said that to regain coverage, the property had to undergo a "four-point inspection." One of the issues raised related to the unpainted garage which was being sanded and prepared for repainting. "What does an unpainted garage have to do with risk and insurance?" she asked rhetorically.

Ultimately, the insurance protection was restored, Goetting added, at double the previous rate. The annual premium now is $2,800. It’s such expenses, she summed up, that keep her working a second job each week.

For retirees Carmen and John Andrews another job is not the answer. Cutting back is. Every year, the Sun City Center couple travel to El Salvador to spend the Christmas holidays with her large family. It’s a tradition.

Living on a fixed income, each year they plan for, save for, look forward to this joyous reunion. After all, who knows how many more years there could be. This year, the Andrews will not be able to make the trip. They had to pay a radically increased insurance premium.

Their neat little home, a short distance from a fire station in a community which has not sustained hurricane damage in its history, situated on land relatively high for a Florida site and far from a water body, is 41 years old – one of the first built. For the last 14 years, they’ve paid the Auto Owners Insurance premiums, the last one $890 in 2005. This year, Auto Owners served notice of non-renewal in September.

They shopped for another carrier, Mrs. Andrews said. The agents responded that only dwellings built in 2003 or later could be covered, she added. The Andrews took the only option they could find: Citizens at more than twice the former rate - now $2,006 per year, paid in advance.

Andrews’ home is not mortgaged and therefore no lender can mandate homeowner coverages. The couple could assume the risk of loss. That’s what her sister living in her Ft. Lauderdale condominium did, Mrs. Andrews noted. Then an East Coast storm came ashore, damaging both structure and contents. Today, her sister still pays a monthly maintenance fee for a home she cannot live in as she resides first with one child and then another. "I don’t want to be like my sister," Mrs. Andrews declared softly. Better to face the choice between family holidays at the ancestral home and paying for insurance.

As far as Jay Saracino in Apollo Beach is concerned the situation has sunk to the point "you wonder why you have insurance."

Saracino lives in a home bordering a canal – not a bad way to live, until the insurance comes due. His former carrier kept increasing the annual premium – from $1200 to $1700 and then to a whopping $4,800, he said.

At this point, Saracino went shopping and learned he could get like coverages from Citizens for considerably less: $3,200 a year. But, indicative of a freewheeling marketplace, one agent told him he was not eligible for Citizens because his coverages obtained in the private sector had not been cancelled while another agent agreed without hesitation to arrange the Citizens protections.

Sandra Pullaro, another Sun City Center retiree, shares the frustration of shopping different agents in search of the best option. "It’s just crazy," she said, it’s become a matter of "living to live or living to pay insurance."

And she’s disappointed that long-time business relationships no longer count. Pullaro has been an Auto Owners customer for 37 years, she said, faithfully paying premiums and making perhaps two or three small claims during nearly four decades. The 2005-06 premium was $1,023. But Auto Owners will not renew that coverage in November – the end of the current hurricane season

Pullaro, nearly 70 years old, said she expressed her frustration to the office of Florida’s insurance commissioner. The best advise from that quarter was "look in the yellow pages," she said. And that’s what she’s been doing. The best quote for new coverage so far is $2,000, or about twice what she paid last year. She’s still looking.

She’s also, she added, considering how best to "tighten the belt."

On the other hand, Jane Sulier knows what she’s going to sacrifice. The widow in her 70s wants to replace her 14-year-old car in the near future. But, she acknowledged with regret this week, it just may not be possible.

Twice in the last five years, the Sun City Center resident has received notices of cancellation. And, "I’ve never had a claim," she stated. She’s now a customer of Citizens and looking at a tripled premium. The coverage that she paid $665 for last year is $1,996 at present, she added.

Summarizing the frustrations of so many, it’s "ridiculous," Sulier summed up, "just ridiculous."