Florida insurance & lending
The paperwork says homeowners insurance. In Florida it means wind, flood, and a roof inspection.
No insurance, no closing. That rule is national, but in Florida the policy itself is a different product: separate hurricane deductibles, mandatory flood zones, roof-age underwriting, and premiums that can move a monthly payment by hundreds. Here is what lenders actually require and how to get ahead of it.
In short
Key takeaways
- Lenders require replacement-cost dwelling coverage including wind; flood coverage is federally mandatory in FEMA zones A and V, and NFIP dwelling coverage caps at $250,000, so larger homes often need excess flood.
- Florida policies carry a separate hurricane deductible, typically $500, 2%, 5%, or 10% of the dwelling limit. The percentage options are of coverage, not of your claim.
- A wind mitigation inspection (form OIR-B1-1802, valid 5 years) earns premium credits Florida law requires insurers to offer. It is the cheapest lever most buyers never pull.
- Citizens, the state-backed insurer of last resort, shrank from a peak of 1.42 million policies in October 2023 to under 400,000 by the end of 2025, and regulators approved an average statewide premium decrease of 8.7% for Citizens policyholders for 2026.
Written and reviewed by the Intel Loans, Inc. lending team · NMLS #2858705Updated July 2026
The requirements
What the lender actually requires, line by line
| Coverage | Required? | What lenders look for |
|---|---|---|
| Dwelling (hazard) | Always | Replacement-cost coverage on the structure, generally at least enough to rebuild or to cover the loan. The lender is named as mortgagee and receives lapse notices. |
| Windstorm / hurricane | Always | Included in most policies, but some coastal carriers exclude wind and a separate wind policy fills the gap. Lenders check that the wind peril is covered somewhere. |
| Flood | In FEMA zones A & V | Federally mandated on loans secured by homes in special flood hazard areas. NFIP residential coverage caps at $250,000 dwelling; bigger homes add private excess flood. |
| Deductibles | Reviewed | Florida's separate hurricane deductible runs $500, 2%, 5%, or 10% of the dwelling limit. Some programs cap acceptable deductibles, so the cheapest quote isn't always usable. |
| HO-6 (condos) | For condo units | Interior unit coverage stacked on the association's master policy; the master policy itself gets reviewed before the building can be financed. |
| Escrow | Usually | Most Florida loans escrow insurance with the payment. First year's premium is paid at closing, plus a cushion into the escrow account. |
Requirements summarized from federal flood statutes and common agency and non-QM investor guidelines as of mid-2026; individual programs vary. Liability and contents coverage protect you, not the lender, and are generally not lender-required, which does not make them optional in any practical sense.
Four-point and wind mitigation: the two inspections that set your premium
Two inspection forms dominate Florida homeowners insurance, and buyers mix them up constantly. The four-point inspection answers whether a carrier will insure an older home at all: a licensed inspector documents the roof, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, and carriers use it to screen out homes with polybutylene pipes, aging panels, or roofs at end of life. Most carriers ask for one once a home reaches a few decades old; the exact threshold varies by company.
The wind mitigation inspection answers how much you pay. It documents the features that help a house survive a hurricane: roof shape, how the roof deck is nailed, roof-to-wall clips or straps, secondary water resistance, and impact-rated windows or shutters. Florida law (Fla. Stat. §627.0629) requires insurers to give premium credits for these features, the standard form (OIR-B1-1802) stays valid for five years, and on newer construction the credits are often already baked in. On older homes the inspection routinely reveals credits the current owner never claimed. The savings direction is one-way: an inspection can only add credits, never raise your premium.
The roof rule Florida buyers should know by heart
Since the 2022 reforms (SB 2-D), a carrier cannot refuse to write or renew a policy solely because of roof age when the roof is under 15 years old. Once a roof passes 15, you have the right to provide an inspection showing at least 5 years of remaining useful life, and with that documentation age alone cannot be the reason for refusal. In practice, a house with an 18-year-old shingle roof sits on the edge of insurability: budget for either the inspection or the replacement, and remember the roof also feeds the four-point and the wind mitigation credits. When we quote a payment on an older Florida home, the roof conversation happens in the first ten minutes.
The state backstop
Citizens is the insurer of last resort. By design.
Citizens Property Insurance is Florida's state-created carrier for homes the private market won't take. It peaked at 1.42 million policies in October 2023, then depopulation offers moved hundreds of thousands of policies back to private carriers, and by late 2025 the count had fallen under 400,000, the fewest since 2019. For 2026, regulators approved an average statewide premium decrease of 8.7% for Citizens policyholders, the first broad relief in years.
Two things matter for your mortgage. Citizens policies are accepted by lenders, so there is no financing penalty for landing there. But under the 2022 reforms, Citizens policyholders with wind coverage must also carry flood insurance regardless of flood zone, phased in by home value since 2024 and covering everyone by January 1, 2027. If your quote is a Citizens quote, the flood policy belongs in your payment math from day one.
Escrow shock: how a premium jump hits the payment
A Cape Coral homeowner escrows insurance. At renewal, the premium moves from $2,900 to $4,100. The loan itself does not change at all. The servicer's next escrow analysis does two things:
After the shortage is repaid, the payment settles about $100 a month above the old level, until the next renewal. Hypothetical example for illustration only. This mechanism, not rising loan rates, is why so many Florida payments jumped between 2022 and 2025.
Before you sign
Five quotes and lookups to get before the contract, not after
Florida contracts move fast and insurance is the slowest variable. Everything below can be done in two or three days, in parallel, before you commit.
Get a bindable wind quote
A real quote from an agent on the actual address, with the hurricane deductible you can live with. Ballpark figures from a listing sheet are how escrow surprises happen.
Look up the flood zone
Check the address on FEMA's flood map service center. A zone starting with A or V means flood insurance is mandatory on the loan; get that quote too, and ask about an elevation certificate.
Ask the roof's age in writing
Roof age drives Florida insurability and price more than any other feature. On a roof past 15 years, plan for an inspection documenting at least 5 years of remaining life.
Order the wind mitigation inspection
For most homes the inspection fee pays for itself in credits. The OIR-B1-1802 form is valid for five years, and sellers sometimes already have one you can reuse.
Condo? Pull the master policy
The association's coverage decides whether the building can be financed at all, and your own HO-6 policy stacks on top of it. Both belong in the budget before you offer.
What it costs: the trade-offs nobody itemizes
The premium is only the visible cost. The percentage hurricane deductible is the hidden one: on a $450,000 dwelling limit, a 5% hurricane deductible means the first $22,500 of storm damage is yours before the policy pays, and choosing 10% to shrink the premium doubles that retained risk. Some loan programs cap the deductible they will accept, so the cheapest possible policy is not always a closeable one. At the closing table, the first year's premium is due in full plus an escrow cushion, which is real cash on top of your down payment; our Florida closing cost calculator keeps those prepaids separate from taxes and title so you can see each pile. And on investment property, every insurance dollar directly shrinks the DSCR ratio lenders qualify you on, which is the entire second half of our Florida DSCR guide.
Questions we actually get
Is flood insurance required outside a FEMA flood zone?
Federal law only mandates it inside special flood hazard areas, but that is not the whole picture. Lenders may require it based on their own risk review, Citizens policyholders must carry it regardless of zone as the 2027 phase-in completes, and FEMA has long noted that a meaningful share of flood claims come from outside high-risk zones. In much of Florida a preferred-risk flood policy is inexpensive relative to the exposure. We treat it as a budgeting question, not a checkbox.
Does the insurance premium change how much I can borrow?
Directly. The premium sits inside your monthly housing payment for debt-to-income purposes, so every dollar of insurance is a dollar of payment capacity you cannot spend on principal and interest. On investment property the effect is even sharper, because the premium sits in the PITIA denominator of the DSCR ratio. We show that math with a worked example on the Florida DSCR loans page.
What exactly is a four-point inspection?
A short inspection of four systems: roof, electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. Carriers use it to decide whether they will write a policy on an older home at all, and most Florida carriers ask for one once a home is a few decades old, with the threshold varying by company. It is a carrier underwriting tool, not a lender requirement, but without a policy there is no closing, so it functions as one.
What happens if I let the policy lapse after closing?
The servicer buys lender-placed coverage on your behalf and bills your escrow for it. Lender-placed policies cost far more than market coverage, protect the lender's interest rather than your contents or liability, and the premium hits your payment. If a nonrenewal notice arrives, start shopping immediately and call us if the escrow math gets ugly; a forced-placement spiral is avoidable with a few weeks of lead time.
How does condo insurance split between me and the association?
The association's master policy covers the structure and common elements; your HO-6 policy covers the interior of the unit, your contents, and liability, and lenders require the HO-6 to be sufficient to restore the unit's interior. In Florida the master policy is also the make-or-break document for financing the building itself; underinsurance at the association level is the top reason buildings fail agency review, as we cover in the Florida condo financing guide.
Price the payment with real insurance in it.
Send us the address. We'll build the full payment picture, insurance and escrow included, before you're locked into anything.
This is not a commitment to lend or an offer of credit. All loan approvals are subject to credit review, underwriting, and property evaluation. Programs, terms, and conditions are subject to change without notice.
Intel Loans, Inc., NMLS #2858705. Licensed in Florida. Verify our licensing at nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Equal Housing Opportunity.
Insurance information on this page is general education about lender requirements, not insurance advice. Confirm coverage details with a licensed insurance agent.
Citizens policy counts and the 2026 premium change are from Citizens Property Insurance Corporation announcements and Florida news reporting as of December 2025; figures change as depopulation continues.