New insurance company writes wind policies in South Mississippi
the Al & Dee Real Estate Group at RE/MAX by the Gulf 

   

Insurance Update  - WLOX reporting a Breaking News Alert!

 

 GULFPORT, MS (WLOX ) - Gulf Coast residents now have an additional, local option in obtaining insurance.  Coastal American Insurance Company is privately-held, Mississippi-owned and managed company, formed by a group of Mississippi investors. The company will begin writing a limited number of homeowners and flood policies on the coast.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney announced the new company Wednesday. "It is particularly gratifying that this is a Mississippi owned and operated company," Chaney said."

Coastal American Insurance Company will specialize in personal residential property insurance through homeowners and flood insurance policies. The company will begin writing a limited number of policies immediately.

"The addition of Coastal American to the list of companies willing to come and write policies on the coast is yet another step toward the return of available and affordable insurance in the six coastal counties," Chaney said.

Independent Insurance broker Dave Treutel, a member of the Mississippi Windpool told WLOX News, "I'm happy to see it. It shows that some of the things we've been working for in the Windpool are paying off."

Treutel says the Coastal American will offer a new choice for some of the 45,000 Mississippians currently insured by the Windpool. "Those policy holders would like better rates," Treutel said.

At the time Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, just six insurance companies wrote 90% of the homeowners policies in Mississippi.

After the storm, several national insurance companies have dropped customers along the coast and added policy limitations to reduce coverage and risk. Those changes left thousands of homeowners without private insurance for wind coverage and forced them in to the state-run Windpool at higher premium costs.

Leaders across south Mississippi have pointed to insurance hurdles as one of the main delays in storm recovery and redevelopment.

The law governing the Mississippi Windpool was changed in 2007 to allow the Windpool to offer incentives to companies to come to Mississippi to write homeowners polices on the coast. Treutel says the addition of Coastal American comes on the heels of SafeCo re-entering the Mississippi insurance market and Republic Insurance expanding its reach to write a limited number of wind policies on the coast.

Treutel is part of the network of agencies that will offer coverage Coastal American Insurance will be available through a network of agencies. That network includes; Fox-Everett, Hancock Insurance Agency in Jackson, Lemon-Mohler Insurance Agency in Ocean Springs, Mattina Insurance Agency in Biloxi, Stewart Sneed Hewes in Gulfport and Treutel Insurance Agency in Bay St. Louis.

NEED A CMA? Or do you know of someone who may need to know their home's worth? Perhaps you would like to know what the home down the street sold for? Regardless, give us a call and we'll get right on it. Call us at 228.374.0880 or send us an email and we'll call you right away.

Contributed by Al & Dee Allegue
Contact Us | (228) 374-0002 | www.alndee.com
Complimentary Mississippi Gulf Coast Real Estate Search 

Mississippi State of the Union
the Al & Dee Real Estate Group at RE/MAX by the Gulf 

    

Mississippi Legislative Update  - Hank Zuber, Mississippi State Legislator always keep us posted on new happenings with our Mississippi government affairs. Here is his latest update.

•  Twin Creeks Technologies, a venture-backed solar technology company, is locating a solar panel manufacturing facility in Senatobia, Miss.  The production facility will create 512 jobs, in two phases, over the next five years and represents a company investment of more than $175 million. This facility will be the first renewable solar technology production plant in the state. Twin Creeks was the first major economic development project to utilize Mississippi’s new clean energy incentives program, which will hopefully open the door for new job opportunities in the clean energy sector for all Mississippians.
Gov. Barbour announced this week while he was on the Gulf Coast that a Montreal-based company named Enerkem is planning a $250 million municipal waste-to-ethanol plant in Pontotoc.
Although Mississippi is experiencing a general decline in state revenue and consequently having to make some tough budget decisions, Mississippi is much better off financially than most other states. You may be asking yourself how we are able to attract these new state of the art manufacturers during these times and when we are in competition with other states and countries. One reason is that capital (job creation) will flow to the location where it can get the greatest rate of return (lowest tax structure). In MS, we have one of the lowest tax burdens in the country.
Concerning the budget, there is an agreement the FY 2011 general fund has been set at $5,496,403,758.00.  This amount includes Federal stimulus monies, “rainy day” reserves, and other one-time funding sources. However, as I have tried to warn everyone for about two years now, this budget contains roughly $400 million in one-time Federal stimulus monies which will not be available next year.   Some good news is that there will be an additional $187 million for Medicaid. However, at this time, we do not know when this amount will come down from DC. On March revenue coming in, corporate tax collections were $30 million, or 22.8 percent, above the estimate, while gaming revenues were $3.2 million or 20.4 percent over the estimate. Of extreme concern, Sales taxes and individual income taxes continued below the estimate for March. Year-to-date, we are $216.9 million, or 6.5 percent, below the estimate.
Here are some not so good news... K-12 public education has suffered budget reductions, and virtually all of the state’s 152 public school districts will have to confront budget concerns/issues in the next school term starting this fall. Some budget restorations to K-12 were made late in the session as the House and Senate agreed to put $30 million more into the FY 2011 budgets, bringing that spending plan to just over $2.11 billion. The Legislature also agreed to put $25 million into education budgets for the teachers around the state who have been designated as National Board Certified teachers. These teachers went through a rigorous course – and spent some of their own money – to attain this certification, and they are considered some of the brightest minds in our classrooms. Some surrounding states have eliminated the extra pay for their nationally certified teachers.
Late in the session, Legislators passed dozens of what they call “general bills,” dealing mostly with policy matters such as public education, health and welfare, public safety and judicial issues. Some of these proposals will result in totally new laws, while others merely update or “tweak” existing laws. A bill already signed into law and that drew major attention of the media and the public was HB 512 which will require a doctor’s prescription for the purchase of pseudoephedrine, a major ingredient in the making of the illicit drug crystal meth. This was backed by all of the major law enforcement agencies and officials who are trying to reduce the scourge of crystal meth production that affects so many lives in our state.

   

NEED A CMA? Or do you know of someone who may need to know their home's worth? Perhaps you would like to know what the home down the street sold for? Regardless, give us a call and we'll get right on it. Call us at 228.374.0880 or send us an email and we'll call you right away.

Contributed by Al & Dee Allegue
Contact Us | (228) 374-0002 | www.alndee.com
Complimentary Mississippi Gulf Coast Real Estate Search