Florida Underwriter spoke with Dale Hammond, president and CEO of HomeWise Insurance Co., a new Citizens Property Corp. take-out company enjoying its first quarter of official existence. It is geared up to receive the first batch of 75,000 wind-only policies coming into its new book of business from Citizens' High Risk Account (HRA). The company is temporarily located in Pinellas Park.

Q. As you were rolling out your services in early March, Poe Financial Group in Tampa announced its companies will no longer write homeowners' in Florida and are non-renewing thousands of customers. Meanwhile more sinkholes have opened up (six over one weekend) in the risk-laden central West Coast of Florida, and the next hurricane season is fast approaching. Any second thoughts about entering the market?

A. No. Florida residential property is a very complex situation, but we understand that managing hurricane risk is the nature of our business. Although there are other challenges in the Florida market, such as sinkholes, HomeWise's policies provide only windstorm coverage.