The sky darkens for the 250,000 Quebecers who spend the winter in Florida. A “perfect storm” makes life difficult for snowbirds : with inflation and climate change, which cause hurricanes on an unprecedented scale, some are questioning their annual stay under the sun.
“For sale” and “for rent” signs are springing up in front of mobile homes and condo buildings on both coasts of Florida. Several of these owners are packing up because of a series of hard knocks. Everything costs more: gasoline, food, electricity — which inflates the air conditioning bill. Inflation was 9.9% in 2022. Interest rates, property taxes and condominium fees are rising. Retirees report significant increases in the cost of health insurance for their stay under the sun.
Home insurance premiums have also skyrocketed in areas hit by hurricanes last fall. Some homes, now considered to be in a flood zone, are no longer insurable — or are prohibitively expensive.
“Insurers have become very strict. We understand that they no longer want to insure our homes,” says Denis Roy, who owns a mobile home in the Deerfield and Pompano Beach area, on the east coast of Florida.
His home insurance premium jumped 25% this year, from $2,900 to $3,600. Next year, his insurer has warned him that it will be $2,000 more. The bill will have almost doubled in two years.
Insurance companies now consider Denis Roy’s house to be in a flood zone because of the torrential rains that come with hurricanes. The Quebecer does business with Citizen, a government corporation that insures homes that private insurers do not want.
Denis Roy does not regret having invested in real estate in Florida four years ago, despite the significant increase in the annual bill. “We’re lucky to be financially well off, but I have friends who are starting to think about selling,” he says, having a drink on his terrace in the sun.
Michael Friz also received a hefty bill to insure his condo in the Lighthouse Point area, near Pompano. His home insurance premium has just increased by 65% to $1,100 per year. This $500 increase is due to the risk of flooding, even though her apartment is on the third floor. Condominium fees have also increased by $76 per month to reach $452, which is creating tensions among the owners of the building complex.
“It’s tiring to have increases like these, but we’re going to cut elsewhere. We will go less to the restaurant, we will have barbecues in the courtyard, ”he explains.
A sought-after destination
Life remains good under the sun of the southern United States, but you must have good financial means to spend the winter in flip-flops near the sea, underlines Denise Dumont, editor-in-chief and general manager of the newspaper. The Florida Sun.
It confirms that the rise in the cost of living is beginning to weigh heavily on the morale of snowbirds. “It becomes too expensive, too heavy for some. There are many who prefer to rent for a few months instead of owning a condo or a townhouse,” explains this attentive observer of the world of Quebecers in Florida.
Even the cost of transporting cars on a truck — for retirees who don’t want to travel two days from Quebec to their winter nest — has doubled in recent years, reaching up to 2,500 $, according to her.
Florida remains a popular destination for international investors despite the explosion in the cost of living. Foreign buyers, including those from Canada, acquired 9,400 residences in South Florida in 2022, up 25% from the previous year, according to the Miami Real Estate Board.
Denise Dumont believes the pace of sales has slowed since the start of 2023 due to inflation and economic uncertainty. The “for sale” signs remain longer than last year, explains the journalist.
A barrier to mobility
Beyond inflation, health insurance costs may discourage long stays of snowbirds. Esther Castiel, a retiree who has spent her winters in Florida for a dozen years, had a big surprise at the start of 2023. Her travel insurance bill for a three-month stay went up from $2,500 to $4,000, because her husband suffered a pneumothorax in November 2022. This “pre-existing” medical condition for less than six months is considered a risk factor by insurers.
The retired couple had to shop around to find $4,000 insurance for three months. One of the bids was for $9,000. The pill is hard to swallow.
“We bought a condo at a low price when the market plunged, 12 or 13 years ago. We have worked all our lives, we are trying to escape winter for a few months, but we may not be able to go there anymore because of the cost of travel insurance, ”explains the 71-year-old retiree.
Alerted by Esther Castiel, Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy protests against the “exorbitant” prices of travel insurance for people with a health problem. “It is an obstacle to freedom of movement. It almost becomes discrimination against the elderly,” she says.
THE snowbirds are often middle-class employees who have saved all their lives to afford a little heat in winter, underlines the MP.
Tona Cantu, director of development of the Tugo insurance company in Quebec, recalls that travel insurance premiums are determined according to risk. “If the client has a pre-existing medical condition, the risk increases,” he says.
The client’s age, state of health, length of stay abroad and the type of protection offered influence the cost of insurance. “You have to be careful about what is covered, because a medical emergency can easily cost between $200,000 and $300,000 in the United States,” he adds.