- This topic has 18 replies, 12 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-28/cost-insurance-about-jump
Per the article:
<u>The take-away? It’s going to become increasingly hard for people living in disaster-prone areas to insure their stuff. </u>And this trend might not be gradual. Note the term “non-linear” a couple of paragraphs above. This refers to the tendency of markets in times of stress to suddenly jump to dramatically higher or lower price ranges. For homeowners insurance, that could mean Floridians or Californians paying two or three times more than just a few years earlier – at a time when property taxes are also rising due to clean-up costs of past disasters.
-
-
-
The insurance companies have already begun to require Wildfire assessments in areas like ours. We’ve had personal experience with that. Property owners in the case of wildfire, can do some fire mitigation that might satisfy the insurance companies. But some cannot get insurance at all…..without penalty prices.
Log homes. The formerly-popular shake shingles [most dangerous part during wildfires!] Trees close for shade. All are forbidden. Whole subdivisions in towns are changing the ‘rules’. Stucco and cement walls are encouraged. Metal, cement, or tile roofing materials really do help. Shut up those vents under the roof overhang if fire threatens. Sprinkler system on a well if you’re allowed. Don’t stack firewood near the house. Trim up trees to eliminate ‘ladder’ fuels. Lots of things to improve the chances.
However….areas with hurricanes, constant flooding, etc. Not sure how much mitigation can be done in the large magnitude events. Some river towns have simply moved their whole town up hill when they’d been flattened too many times. for hurricanes, I’ve seen Caribbean homes that are cement domes..on higher ground. Metal shutters have become popular. Well, maybe that would be a smart trend to start before the insurance companies force people into it.
Tornadoes and earthquakes are hard to forecast. { shrug }
Insurance companies are about profit….
OldMtWoman…. “climate change” …lol, can’t miss with that nebulous phrase!
-
If we stop to consider it, the denial of insurance could be used as a tool to make citizens compliant on things they ordinarily would never consent to. For instance, insurance could be denied if you own firearms and do not keep them locked up in “approved” safes. Or, insurance could be denied if you own firearms at all! Sounds extreme now, but think back to how things have changed up to now.
I was on North Topsail Island in N.C. shortly after Hurricane Florence came ashore. The only roofs I saw without wind damage were the houses with metal roofs. Costs more to install, but I’m sure the owner’s were happy with their investment.
-
-
-
After a series of floods in the 90’s we experienced at our old place, we got these little notices from the insurance company in the tiniest print (no kidding I needed a magnifying glass to read it ) they would no longer cover Acts of God including earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes and oh yes floods. Mind you there hadn’t been any floods in the area for decades and we were not on a flood plain. It was just a way to get out of future “problems” for them not us.
-
Reading through these post. I must agree. The insurance companies are getting way to high for coverage. We are not in a flood zone nor has it ever flooded in our area and they want over 850 dollars for flood insurance. Just found out a few days ago they no longer cover for earthquakes. Though we have never had one here, they did have one in Northern VA that effected us but no damage. This was the one that damaged the Washington DC monument. Now I need to find out what it would cost for earthquake insurance. Sometimes I feel like we are paying for disasters that happen in other places and not just for us.
On another note. Homeowners insurance is not the only thing going up. Went to get hubby’s Rx filled and they wanted $664 for a 3 month supply. new RX insurance. Can’t change it for a year so I called them. This one put it in a tier 4 classifying it as non preferred. So since this is what I went through working for a doctor. I called the insurance company. Got the price down to a tier 3 and the price for 3 months cut in half. Just goes to show you how much insurance companies are ripping we the people off. I get so tired of hearing they are buying our politicians for their political agenda.
-
-
-
Insurance is so tricky. About 2 1/2 years ago, I had a huge claim (over $250k) at my Philadelphia PA area house. I was in Up State NY overseeing the building of my new house. A pipe burst in my PA house! Yikes! I was glad I had really good insurance through USAA. They covered almost everything, but the process was a little rocky. It took two years to get my PA house redone and back to normal!
I heard horror stories from my contractors about other insurance companies and how little these insurance companies would pay, denials, etc. After the loss, people found how little they had insurance for and all those exclusions!
Prior to Sandy, I was the only one in my neighborhood that had flood insurance. USAA recommended it and it was about $250 a year. I just added it. Sandy pounded our area. I had a loss of about $30k due to trees, etc. Almost all of my neighbors had losses ranging from $10k-100k, mostly due to flooding. Now that same coverage is about $600 annually.
Then after a loss or an event in your area, the cost of coverage sky rockets! It doesn’t surprise me to hear insurance coverage costs are jumping.
It’s a case of where you need to decide whether to take your chances or buy coverage. I was happy to have the flood insurance.
-
-
@namelus. Certain insurance companies are better than others. I have had USAA for over 30 years and have been mostly satisfied with USAA. I pay a little more in premiums, but they have never denied my claim. Due to it’s history and being member owned, USAA be a bit different.
I do agree that most insurance companies are pretty shoddy. I also think it is a case of “sometimes you get what you pay for” being very true with insurance.
I so agree with your last sentence about building.
-
<u>If </u> you need a builder at some time, watch for the guys who are so proud if building to code. Code is the LOWEST STANDARD of competency before you fail and get a lawsuit. If you are building, go to LEED standards, I would suggest minium gold level. LEED gold will save you 20 percent or more on energy consumption, the buildings last longer, builders will only do this for a client never in premade buildings/homes, as they will go cheap on everything if not for how cosmetically looks. If code is highest they aspire to they are incompetent.
When built to LEED standards insurance goes down, and repairs if any have to bring it back to the LEED standards, no insurance cost cutting.
-
Hello to all, I am new here. This thread caught my notice b/c our home insurer just went belly up – no notice, no suspicion of anything wrong at all. They were “A” rated, we checked Demotech and very little detail was provided with the bankruptcy filing. So me being me, I went to the public records – bankruptcy filings, etc… and it looked like a case of fraud by insiders. Not embezzlement, but omission and misstatement of fact covering up the true state of affairs in company’s state-mandated filings. So, how much “due diligence” can one do on any insurer when the very people responsible for the filings are lying? I’m laughing out loud.
When we asked, we were told that the number of hurricane damage claims put them into the red – well, that coupled with already low premium reserves. Turns out one needs to be a forensic accountant to assess the “heatlh” of one’s home insurer! Its premiums weren’t any lower than 3 similarly-rated companies. I suspect the biggest contributing factor to soaring insurance costs in my community is mass, uncontrolled tract home development in a highly disaster-prone area. We’re getting out as the number of homes occupying this area is on an unsustainable trajectory – the PTB are working furiously to quadruple the number of homes.
-
-
I’ve been watching for this pattern to emerge. Insurance companies must offer insurance in disaster-prone areas otherwise they’re denied access to the rest of the state, but the old pattern of charging more to cover less is emerging. Some say it’s market forces at work, but insurance is one of those things that underpin the financial system. If insurance is not affordable, people won’t originate mortgages to build or buy in high rate areas. This kills real estate activity, which kills property values, which kills property tax revenue.
Drops in property tax revenue drive all kinds of bad behavior at the municipal level, from truly creative fines and fees in the courts and other revenue generating departments, to starvation of infrastructure maintenance and direct reduction of administrative and maintenance personnel.
The end result is really aggressive policing, infrastructure degradation and failures, accompanied by population flight triggering more declines in property values. It’s a vicious circle that can be triggered by lack of credit or lack of insurance. In this case, it’s insurance.
There are a whole lot of “new” disaster-prone areas. They are about to become ghost towns. Most people are asleep at the switch.
If you live in an area that has had more than two “500 year” events in the last decade, get out now. You’re about to be living in a ghost town.
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.