This is my very first blog entry, but if you have lived in florida for any amount of time, you have experienced the pain and mystery of hazard insurance.  The leglislative changes that occurred at the beginning of this year affect every homeowner and investor in the state.  As of 2008 large Auto insurers will no longer be able just to write your auto if they offer homeowners insurance in other states.  Hello Geico and Progressive!  This will force them to be competitive against the stalwarts that have continued to write.  State Farm and Allstate.  Reforms to the catastrophic fund helped to shore up help for smaller insurers that wanted to get into the market and proof that this has already worked lies in a condo I invested in in 2005.  Our premiums for 160 units went from $104,000 annually to $325,000 last year.  When my former agent finally responded to my urgent requests for the reasoning on this,  I was as one of my favorite friends say "he gave you a dumb look for free".  But no real answer.  This condo was new construction, concrete block and in the center of the state.   I am a Realtor and an investor.  I am NOT an insurance agent.  I turned to the Florida Association of Realtors Vice president of Public Policy and was immediatley drafted onto the insurance subcomittee and the governor's task force for helping find a solution to this mess.  I was given a quick baptism by fire and learned more about insurance than I will ever want to know.  Our homeowners association took quotes from 4 other agents with pretty much similar results.   I attended a christmas party and met a life insurance agent that then referred me to my current agent.  After the legislative changes my new agent came in with a quote of $105,000.  This is on a larger scale but understand while an independent agent can shop many different companies, it is your job to shop a few independent agents for quotes, to insure you get the best deal.  Please feel free to e-mail me at sunnyflcyn@yahoo.com with any questions about Florida real estate.