Ask your neighbors and family.  Ask your agent to give you more than one quote with more than one carrier.  Call the Florida Department of Insurance to get useful information on the Florida insurance carriers.  They can tell you if there sre  complaints against a specific carrier or what there financial stability is.   Remember, price alone is not enough.  You want to make sure that if you have a claim, that the carrier will pay promptly. 

2.  Your deductible limits can greatly affect your premium.  The deductible is the amount that you will be out of pocket before the insurance carrier will pay.  The higher that your hurricane deductible and other peril deductible is, the lower your premium.  The most affordable and common deductibles for Florida Homeowners Insurance are 2% for wind/hurricane and $2,500 for any other perils.

3.  Insurance is for replacement cost, not market value.  With all of the foreclosures and short sales nowadays, many people in Florida are getting great deals on homes.  People call the office all the time and want to insure for what they paid for the house or what the house would sell for.  WRONG.  Insurance is the cost that it would be to rebuild to the same condition it was before it was damaged. 

4.  Get the credit for your roof and opening protection.  In Florida, there are wind mitigation forms that can be completed by a wind mitigation company.  They will evaluate the roof, the roof cover, the code that iis applicable and the opening protection on all openings, including the garage.  These upgrades can decreasae your policy by thousands of dollars.

5.  Make sure that you tell your agent that you have a security systyem for fire and burglar alarms if you do.  If you live in a condominium, tell them if you have a sprinkler in your unit. 

6.  Try to maintain a credit score that is solid.  A good great score can get you a better rate with some of the Florida insurance carriers.  All of the Florida homeowners insurance carriers will not allow you to purchase a convehtional HO3 policy if you have a bankruptcy.

7.  Review the limits on your policy each year.  Make sure that you are insured correctly for your personal belongings.  Tradionally, the contents portion of your policy is 50% of the dwelling amount, however, if you lower that amount, again, you could save hundreds of dollars.

8.  Most importantly, when you are making the purchase of a new home, be sure to evaluate the cost of insurance that you will absorb due to the age and structure of the home.  Frame vs. masonary; hip roof vs. gable. 

Be aware that flood insuranc3e is not part of a homeowners policy.  If your home is in a flood zone area, you must purchase a flood policy from FEMA if you want to be covered in the event of a flood.