ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — “Ludicrous” is how on St. Augustine resident describes a bill she received for her homeowners’ insurance.

Susan Gregory lives in a historic home, but the bill for her homeowners’ insurance renewal is 12 times what one local insurance agent says it should be. First Coast News is on your side asking why her bill is so high and what you can do if this happens to you.

Gregory’s homeowners’ insurance renewal rate was nearly $36,000. That’s over 300 percent more than she used to pay. 

“I thought this was my forever home,” Gregory said. “It can’t be my forever home if I can’t afford it.”

Gregory lives in St. Augustine’s historic Abbott Tract district. When her insurance company United Property and Casualty went insolvent earlier this year, her homeowners’ insurance policy was taken over by the new company Slide and her bill went from $8800 to almost $36,000.

“For that amount of money, I could replace my roof,” Gregory said. “I could do all kinds of improvements on my house that would actually make it safer from hurricanes and storms.”

Gregory says her two-bedroom home has never flooded, is 120 years old and its roof is original. These last two factors are likely the reason for the increase, according to Jacksonville Insurance Agent Matthew Carlucci, Jr. 

“I see this every day,” Carlucci said. “Everybody who was with UPC and now they’re with Slide, they’re getting their renewals and they’re 10 times as much, sometimes they’re 20, 30 times as much. It’s really incredible.”

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He says not to panic if this happens to you; ask your insurance agent to shop around. That’s what Gregory did. She says some of her neighbors ended up paying their expensive bills and she worries about future price increases.

“My house, which I wanted to stay in forever, is also my biggest asset,” she said. “If I can’t insure that or if I have to pay $36,000 a year to insure it, then I will quickly be bankrupt. I can’t afford that.”

 The legislature passed several reforms in the past year but did not promise lower rates and many homeowners have seen steep increases.

First Coast News tried multiple times to reach Slide, but has not heard back.