Security First Insurance in Florida
Security First has written Florida homes — and only Florida homes — since it opened in 2005, led by the family that founded it and headquartered in Ormond Beach in a building the company owns. It also spent 2024 through 2026 announcing rate decreases across five different product lines — while growing to 156,000 policies. This page covers who runs it, how it’s rated, what it writes, and how to put its quote beside 20+ other Florida homeowners carriers before you commit to anything.
Security First at a glance
Carrier ratings verified directly with each rating agency.
Twenty years of Florida — and only Florida
Security First opened its doors in 2005, founded by Locke Burt — a former Florida Senator who still chairs the company — and built around one idea: write Florida homes, and nothing else. The state’s own examination report puts a fine point on that focus, noting the company holds insurance licenses in 38 other states and writes in none of them. The Florida-only book is a choice the company keeps making, twenty years in.
It’s a family company in the operating sense, not just on paper. Burt founded it and remains Chairman and CEO; his daughter, Melissa Burt DeVriese, joined in 2009 and has served as President since 2020 — the company notes she is among the few women leading a Florida homeowners insurer. Around 400 employees work from an Ormond Beach headquarters campus that Security First owns, and the company describes itself as family-owned and operated — a second generation running the business the first one started.
The company’s registered tagline is “storm after storm, year after year®,” and the two decades behind it were not quiet ones: Security First has written through every Florida hurricane season since 2005, including Ian in 2022 and Helene and Milton in 2024. In marking its twentieth year, the company put a number on what staying meant — by its own count, twenty other Florida homeowners insurance companies went bankrupt over those same two decades while Security First operated continuously. Today it carries the state’s 13th-largest residential policy count (Florida OIR data, May 2026), more than 156,000 policies in force — a book that grew across the same years its rate decreases were filed.
The rate story: decreases across five product lines
Between 2024 and 2026, Security First filed rate decreases on homeowners, condo, renters, and both dwelling-fire forms. In a market where rate news has mostly traveled in one direction, that streak is the most useful fact on this page — so here it is in full:
- May 2024 — its first HO-3 homeowners decrease in nine years, 5.2% on average, with renters down 5.9% and DF3 dwelling-fire down 2.5%, effective at the end of that August.
- May 2025 — the new Signature+ HO-3 program launched at an average 10.6% rate decrease and introduced the disappearing deductible.
- October 2025 — the company announced an average 8% statewide decrease on its legacy HO-3 program, with condo down 3% and renters down 5%, effective that December — noting at the time that it had taken no rate increases since 2023.
- January 2026 — Signature+ rates cut a further 5.2% for roughly 11,000 policyholders.
- April 2026 — landlord (DF3-DL) rates cut 16% on average across roughly 17,800 landlord policies, alongside wider eligibility for short-term rentals.
- July 2026 — DF1 down 5.6%, expanded eligibility on owner-occupied dwelling-fire, and the disappearing deductible extended to dwelling-fire policies.
Now the honest companion fact: a falling rate level does not guarantee a falling bill, and Security First says so itself — the company published its own explainer, quoting President Melissa Burt DeVriese, on why premiums can rise while rates fall. The mechanism is arithmetic, not fine print. Your premium is the rate applied to your Coverage A rebuild limit, and that limit adjusts upward with replacement-cost inflation — the price of materials and labor. When the limit grows faster than the rate falls, the bill still rises. If your renewal moved in a direction the headlines didn’t predict, that’s the first place to look — our guide to why Florida home insurance premiums move walks through every driver, and working with your agent, a renewal review puts your rate, your rebuild limit, and your discounts side by side so the number makes sense before you pay it.
One more thing these filings are — and one they aren’t. A carrier cutting rates across five lines while its policy count grows is telling you something about the strength of its position, and that’s evidence worth weighing when you choose who insures your home. What a statewide average is not: your quote. Every home prices on its own facts, which is exactly why we put Security First’s number beside 20+ other Florida homeowners carriers and show you where your home actually prices.
How Security First shows up after a storm
Here is the storm-response record, in dated specifics. When Hurricane Ian came ashore in 2022, Security First had field response teams operating in Port Charlotte and Fort Myers by October 3 — within days of landfall, in the hardest-hit communities. After Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024, the company reports 6,411 customer homes restored through its First Choice Repair Network® — a roster of vetted, licensed contractors Security First organized in 2020, built in part as an anti-fraud measure: known, credentialed repair crews instead of the unsolicited repair pitches that circulate after Florida storms. The company also runs an annual Storm Response Showcase for the network; its third drew 46 vendors and a live burn-house demonstration.
Day to day, claims go in by phone, by text, through the mobile app, or through the online policyholder portal — and the company says the app was engineered to keep working even when other lines of communication are down after a storm. File with the carrier directly — that puts the claim in front of an adjuster the fastest. The agency’s part is the groundwork: coverage limits, deductibles, and how the policy is built are conversations to have with your agent before a storm has a name, and 813.920.8181 reaches us for exactly those. Coverage on any claim is a function of the policy’s own terms, so reading yours together is part of the process from the start.
How Security First is rated — and what stands behind the rating
Security First carries a Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional) from Demotech, affirmed in June 2026 — and the company states it has held Demotech’s A continuously since it opened in 2005. Demotech is the agency whose reviews cover most of Florida’s specialist homeowners carriers, and an A sits high on its scale.
There is no AM Best rating, and if you’ve compared Florida carriers before, you’ve likely noticed that’s typical here rather than a warning sign: the national agency’s model has rarely fit single-state catastrophe writers, so Florida’s homeowners specialists are mostly rated by Demotech instead. The useful questions stay the same for every carrier — who rates it, at what grade, affirmed when — and those answers ride along with every quote we hand you. For how each agency grades Florida carriers, see our guide to Florida home insurance financial strength ratings.
Security First is an admitted Florida carrier, which means its policyholders also have the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association — the statutory backstop that stands behind admitted insurers — under them.
On capital, the company publishes its own storm-season arithmetic: $113 million in surplus, backed by a $1.27 billion reinsurance program the company reports is placed to a 1-in-236-year event. One institutional detail worth knowing: an Everest Re Group affiliate holds a 9.99% minority stake per Florida OIR’s examination report.
What Security First writes in Florida
The product shelf covers most Florida households:
- Homeowners — two active programs: Premier, the HO-5 form, and Signature+, the current HO-3 program. The earlier Signature HO-3 continues for existing policyholders but is closed to new business.
- Condo unit-owners (HO-6) and renters (HO-4) — both lines included in the rate decreases above.
- Dwelling fire and landlord — DF1, DF3 for owner-occupied homes (DF3-DO), and DF3 for landlords (DF3-DL), with short-term rentals eligible down to two-night stays.
- Optional endorsements — equipment breakdown, service line, and identity theft, each subject to the policy’s terms.
The feature Security First promotes hardest is the Disappearing Deductible, and its mechanics deserve a precise telling: on eligible policies, the all-other-perils and water deductibles drop 20% for each consecutive claims-free year. Two boundaries matter. The hurricane deductible is not part of the feature and never reduces. And availability and mechanics depend on the product and your eligibility, so confirm on your own quote how it applies to you.
The discount list runs deeper than most people check: new-home discounts up to 20%, credits for military members and first responders, smoke detectors, water leak-detection devices, and carrying multiple policies. For homes five years old and newer, Security First waives wind-mitigation inspection proof. The company also reports opening eligibility in areas it previously didn’t write — appetite moving in the buyer’s favor. Each credit is real money only once it’s on the policy, so collecting everything your home qualifies for is part of every quote we build with you.
If your Citizens policy got a Security First takeout offer
Security First participates in the Citizens depopulation program — the state-designed process that moves policies from Citizens, Florida’s insurer of last resort, back into the private market. Participation runs through Florida OIR: regulators approved Security First to assume up to 20,000 Citizens policies in late 2023, assumption rounds followed in February and May 2024, and Citizens’ own statistics show 23,945 policies assumed in 2025. Worth saying plainly: the OIR order behind a takeout is an approval to participate — the state authorizing a carrier it has vetted — not a disciplinary action.
If a takeout offer with Security First’s name on it arrived in your mailbox, here’s the useful way to read it: a private carrier reviewed your file and chose to compete for your home. What the offer can’t tell you is whether it’s your best available option — so before the response deadline, bring it to us. We compare the same home across 20+ Florida homeowners carriers, Security First included, so you answer the letter with the whole market on the table.
Two ways to use this page
Already a Security First policyholder?
You’re with a rated, Florida-committed carrier whose 2024–2026 filings moved in policyholders’ favor — and your renewal still earns a yearly look, because rebuild limits, discounts, and home updates only help once the policy reflects them. Share your current policy through Canopy Connect, the secure link that pulls your declarations page so nothing gets retyped, and working with your agent, you’ll see where your coverage, credits, and price stand against the rest of the market.
Shopping and seeing Security First quoted?
Seeing its name is common — the state’s 13th-largest residential book turns up in a lot of comparisons. Keep it in the running and widen the field: one entry with us returns Security First’s price beside 20+ other Florida homeowners carriers, with the same coverage questions asked of each and a licensed Florida agent explaining the differences that matter to your home.
Security First Insurance: your questions, answered
How is Security First rated — and why is there no AM Best rating?
Security First holds a Financial Stability Rating of A (Exceptional) from Demotech, affirmed in June 2026, and the company states it has carried Demotech’s A since opening in 2005. There’s no AM Best rating, which is the norm among Florida homeowners specialists — the national agency’s model has rarely fit single-state catastrophe writers, so Demotech is the standard rater in this market. As an admitted Florida carrier, Security First’s policyholders also have the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association behind them, and the company reports $113 million in surplus backed by a $1.27 billion reinsurance program.
Is Security First really family-owned?
Yes — in the operating sense, not just on paper. Locke Burt, a former Florida Senator, founded the company in 2005 and remains its Chairman and CEO; his daughter, Melissa Burt DeVriese, joined in 2009 and has served as President since 2020. The company describes itself as family-owned and operated, employs roughly 400 people, and owns its Ormond Beach headquarters — a second-generation leadership team working from a building the company holds outright.
Why does Security First only write in Florida?
By choice, not by limitation. The state’s examination report notes Security First holds insurance licenses in 38 other states and writes solely in Florida. For twenty years the company has kept its underwriting, pricing, and claims operation pointed at one market — the focus its registered tagline claims: “storm after storm, year after year®.” For a Florida homeowner, that means the carrier’s entire attention, and its entire storm record, is in the state where your house stands.
Did Security First really lower rates — and if so, why did my premium go up?
The decreases are real and filed: HO-3 cuts announced in May 2024 (its first in nine years) and October 2025 (an average 8% statewide decrease), the Signature+ program launching at an average 10.6% decrease in 2025 with a further 5.2% cut in January 2026, condo and renters decreases, a 16% average landlord decrease in April 2026, and a DF1 decrease in July 2026. A premium can still rise while rates fall because the premium is the rate applied to your Coverage A rebuild limit, and that limit climbs with replacement-cost inflation — Security First has published its own explainer making the same point. Working with your agent, a renewal review lines up the two forces so you can see which one moved your bill.
How does Security First’s disappearing deductible work?
On eligible policies, the all-other-perils and water deductibles drop 20% for each consecutive claims-free year. The hurricane deductible is not included and never reduces, and availability and mechanics depend on the product and your eligibility — so confirm how it applies on your own quote. Since the feature rewards claims-free years, it’s worth knowing what a claim costs in Florida generally: a prior claim does not raise property rates, but it can limit which carriers your home is eligible with, and it costs the claims-free discount — typically 2–10%.
How do I file a Security First claim?
By phone, by text, through the mobile app, or through the online policyholder portal — and the company says the app was built to keep working even when other lines of communication are down after a storm. Where your agent fits comes earlier: before any loss, talking through deductibles, coverage, and where the policy’s protection starts and stops — call or text 813.920.8181 with those questions any time. Coverage on any claim is governed by the policy’s own terms, so reviewing yours together is the first task.
Do I have to use Security First’s repair contractors after a claim?
First Choice Repair Network is Security First’s roster of vetted, licensed contractors, organized in 2020 in part as an anti-fraud measure — and the company reports 6,411 customer homes restored through it after Helene and Milton. How the network applies to your claim is set by your policy’s own repair provisions, which vary by product and endorsement — so the time to read those provisions is before a storm, not after. Bring your policy to us: working with your agent, you’ll know going in how repairs are handled under your contract.
Security First sent me a Citizens takeout offer — do I have to accept it?
A takeout offer means Florida OIR approved Security First to assume policies from Citizens — the approval is the state authorizing a vetted carrier, not a mark against anyone — and the carrier selected your policy to compete for. Florida’s Citizens eligibility rules add the detail worth knowing: when a private offer comes in at a premium no more than 20% above your Citizens renewal premium, staying with Citizens may no longer be an option. So treat the deadline on the letter as a comparison deadline: working with your agent, price the offer against 20+ Florida homeowners carriers and answer it knowing where your home stands.
