A wind mitigation inspection documents the features of a Florida home that help it hold up in a hurricane. The inspector records them on the state's Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form (OIR-B1-1802), and insurers use that form to apply windstorm discounts. On many Florida homes the wind portion is the largest part of the homeowners premium, so this short inspection can lower your monthly mortgage payment.
What the form records
The inspector checks the house in person, takes photos and marks what it has in each category:
- Building code: whether the home was built to the Florida Building Code standard the form recognizes.
- Roof covering: the material and whether it meets current wind standards.
- Roof deck attachment: how the plywood or decking is nailed to the trusses.
- Roof-to-wall attachment: toe nails, clips, single wraps or double wraps holding the roof to the walls.
- Roof geometry: a hip roof, which slopes down on all four sides, earns more credit than a gable roof.
- Secondary water resistance: a sealed layer under the roof covering that keeps water out if shingles blow off.
- Opening protection: impact-rated windows and doors or approved shutters.
The revised form also records FORTIFIED Home certificates and the home's wind-speed region.
Why insurers have to honor it
Section 627.0629 of the Florida Statutes requires every residential property insurer's rate filing to include discounts for features that reduce windstorm loss, including roof strength, roof-to-wall strength and opening protection. Section 627.711 requires insurers to accept the form when a qualified inspector signs it. Each insurer sets its own discount amounts, which is why the same report can save more with one carrier than another.
A worked example
A homeowners quote comes in at $4,200 a year, and $2,800 of that is the wind portion. The house has a hip roof, clips at the roof-to-wall connection and impact windows. Suppose the insurer's credits for those features cut the wind portion by 40%.
- Savings: $2,800 × 40% = $1,120 a year.
- Monthly effect: $1,120 ÷ 12 = $93.33 off the escrow part of the payment.
- On $5,000 of gross monthly income, that's 1.87 percentage points of debt-to-income ($93.33 ÷ $5,000).
- At a 5.75% rate, each $100 of monthly payment supports roughly $14,000 of FHA price, so $93.33 is worth about $13,000 of buying power.
The 40% figure is only an illustration. Your insurer's credit schedule decides the real number.
Getting one when you buy
Ask the seller for an existing wind mitigation report; one completed in the last five years on an unchanged house often still counts. If there isn't one, have it done during your inspection period, in the same visit as the four-point inspection on an older home. When the Legislature funds it, Florida's My Safe Florida Home program has offered free inspections and matching grants for upgrades such as shutters and roof straps.
Enter the lower insurance figure in the mortgage payment calculator to see your new payment. AAA Capital Funding at 888-601-8344 can rerun your approval on the discounted quote before you go to contract.