From Florida Realtors
Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty has received an extension from the office of Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater to complete a study about why property-insurance premiums have not come down along with reinsurance costs.
On Oct. 29, Atwater requested that the study by the Office of Insurance Regulation be completed by Dec. 18. However, on Dec. 12, McCarty wrote Atwater that an extension would allow the inclusion of additional company rate filings.
"An extension of the due date of the report to Jan. 15, 2014 will afford adequate time to accomplish this goal," McCarty wrote.
Atwater's request came two weeks after Jack Nicholson, executive director of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, said the state-created fund — basically a public pool that provides insurance for insurance companies — has been able to build its largest cash reserve ever, at nearly $10 billion.
Reinsurance is backup insurance for insurance companies, and in the past, insurers often pointed to high reinsurance costs as a rationale for increasing consumers' rates.
In August, Atwater asked McCarty to explain why property insurers hadn't reduced premiums at a time when reinsurance costs had dropped, on average, 15 percent to 20 percent worldwide.
McCarty responded at that time that insurance companies might be increasing the amount of reinsurance they purchase rather than reducing rates, and that not enough time may have passed for the lower reinsurance costs to result in lower customer premiums.
Also, he wrote that reinsurance only accounts for a portion of a rate filing — that some companies have tried to spread the cost of reinsurance over a number of years to lessen one-time hikes on policyholders, and that not every insurance company is seeing a drop in reinsurance costs.
AOL loses listings
Move Inc., the San Jose, Calif.-based company that operates realtor.com, has ended its agreement to supply realtor.com listings on AOL's real estate portal.
Since August 2011, Move has provided AOL Real Estate with its listings data through its syndication platform, ListHub. Listings that have appeared on AOL Real Estate include homes for sale, foreclosures, short sales and new construction.
In a public statement, Move says that both parties mutually agreed to end the partnership, and Move plans to put more focus on driving traffic directly to realtor.com® in the future.
"In 2014, Move will be focused on connecting more directly with consumers through realtor.com and empowering real estate professionals with the opportunity to engage more directly with consumers," the statement reads. "We are continuing to invest in and optimize efforts we believe will not only provide traffic, but most directly result in reaching consumers closer to the verge of moving."
In particular, Move said it plans to continue partnering with NAR to develop consumer marketing campaigns, including radio and television advertising; to beef up content on realtor.com to attract and retain more consumers; and to continue investing in the design and branding of the realtor.com website.
State gets big settlement
Floridians are expected to get the "highest principal reduction relief in the country," after the nation's largest non-bank mortgage loan servicer agreed to a $2.1 billion settlement to resolve allegations of misconduct, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi announced last month.
Ocwen Financial Corp. of Atlanta and its subsidiary, Ocwen Loan Servicing, agreed to the joint state-federal settlement with Bondi, 48 additional states, the District of Columbia and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Floridian's share of the $2 billion in first-lien principal reduction relief – an estimated $342 million – is the nation's highest, Bondi said.
Owners of more than 26,000 foreclosed Florida homes will be eligible to receive a cash payment as part of a $125 million pool. The payment is projected to exceed $1,000; it depends how many apply with valid claims, said the Florida Attorney General's office.
The settlement resolves allegations of mortgage servicing misconduct by Ocwen and two companies later acquired by Ocwen, Homeward Residential Inc. and Litton Home Servicing LP.
The company was accused of "premature and unauthorized foreclosures, violations of homeowners' rights and protections, and the use of false and deceptive documents and affidavits, including 'robo-signing,'" according to Bondi's office.
Joseph A. Smith Jr., monitor of the earlier $25 billion National Mortgage Settlement that is funded by the nation's five largest mortgage lenders, will oversee the Ocwen agreement's implementation and compliance if a federal court approves it.
Sinkhole responses sent
Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the Florida-owned company, began sending letters last month to hundreds of policyholders who are disputing repair recommendations surrounding sinkhole claims.
Of the 2,100 disputed sinkhole claims, 1,329 deal with disagreements over repair methods.
The proposal encourages policyholders to have necessary repair work completed on their claim in accordance with an original engineer's recommendations, but it also offers an alternative resolution process for cases in which engineering opinions differ.
As required by Florida law, Citizens requires sinkhole repairs to be completed in accordance with a qualified engineer's recommendation, and the insurer makes payments after a contractor has been employed and work begun.
Under the proposed settlement agreement, homeowners disputing the original engineer's recommended repair method can bring their recommendation to a neutral evaluator, who will review the repair options and render a decision. Citizens says it will abide by the evaluator's determination.