When buying a home in Florida, the subject of wind mitigation is bound to come up. As a result, you may be wondering if a wind mitigation inspection is required in Florida. It is not. It is not required by the state, your insurance company or your mortgage lender.

However, for those who are planning to live along the coastline, please allow us to explain why you should at least consider a wind mitigation inspection. In short, it all starts and ends with our incredible locale.

Florida’s vast coastline boasts beautiful beaches, an abundance of outdoor activities and glorious breezes. Our state is a tropical paradise, and that’s mostly a good thing. Except for the hurricanes.

Even so, the Tampa Bay area has been extremely lucky when it comes to hurricanes. In fact, our area has not been hit by a major hurricane since 1921.

But although we’ve avoided mass destruction from being hit straight on, we’re not immune to a hurricane’s side effects. For Florida in particular, the wind is a concern. It’s nothing new, we’ve been experiencing heavy winds for many years. However, everything changed after the hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005…

Hurricanes Ivan, Charley, Rita and Katrina caused significant damage in various areas throughout Florida. Many insurance companies struggled to come up with the funds required to pay off the sizeable number of subsequent claims. This unfortunate situation triggered a number of insurance companies to drastically raise their windstorm insurance rates.

In response, the state of Florida (or more specifically, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation) established a law allowing homeowners the right to receive reduced insurance rates on the wind portion of their policy. In order to receive this reduction, the homeowner must first improve his or her home with certain components designed to withstand the damage caused by high winds. This is what’s known as wind mitigation.

Another condition to collecting this discount is a wind mitigation inspection by a home inspector along with a report of the findings. A qualified home inspector knows exactly which items to check to meet the requirements of your wind mitigation discount.

Does your home require additional protection from the wind? Contact us to schedule your wind mitigation inspection today!