Home insurance rate increases

California home insurer raises rates 15% to avoid leaving the state

A big deal with a 15% increase in California? My rate in Oregon is up 40% from 2023. $870 4 years ago is now $2,251.

I'm in Florida. Our rates have skyrocketed. Nothing you can do but pay it. Too many hurricanes to give insurance companies the middle finger.

I know plenty of people that didn't have insurance when hurricane Michael came calling back in October of 2018. They. Lost. Everything.

What is sad is there has always been storms, no increase over time like we have been lied to...I can except a 10% or less increase but 59%??? Only gets my blood boiling...we are being Raped I tell ya...

Down in Texas we have always had Flooding, look up songs from the 70s, lol. It is just part of life here.

Again NO VALID REASON to have this high of Increase...

If I had a mortgage this increase would be hard felt on the monthly mortgage payments...

We were forced into the State agency due to the age of the home.

If they were to jack that too much we would drop coverage, pay for contents-only coverage and take our chances. Replacement cost here at the Swamp (other than the Million $ view out back) is minimal. An advantage of downsizing and putting our money into something other than a big/fancy house. It was hard to walk away from the last one, we loved that place, but 2 years later, it was the best thing we ever did. Of course those with kids or locked into low interest mortgages are kinda screwed until rates come back down.

bigredfish said:

We were forced into the State agency due to the age of the home.

If they were to jack that too much we would drop coverage, pay for contents-only coverage and take our chances. Replacement cost here at the Swamp (other than the Million $ view out back) is minimal. An advantage of downsizing and putting our money into something other than a big/fancy house. It was hard to walk away from the last one, we loved that place, but 2 years later, it was the best thing we ever did. Of course those with kids or locked into low interest mortgages are kinda screwed until rates come back down.

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Yeah we made our move last year to a very Wooded country home. We were a bit concerned at the time because now a days you have to make decisions immediately or you will lose out on the purchase of a home. Hate being rushed into a decision. We had 2 others bidding so it was not that bad, in the city it can get crazy.
Bottom line, we were also happy with our other house but Location, Location, Location. For us we Love it here. Being in the middle of Everything in the City was nice when you are young and into your careers but not for this Semi-Retired person, I would never want to have to go back to the Rat Race...

bigredfish said:

We were forced into the State agency due to the age of the home.

If they were to jack that too much we would drop coverage, pay for contents-only coverage and take our chances. Replacement cost here at the Swamp (other than the Million $ view out back) is minimal. An advantage of downsizing and putting our money into something other than a big/fancy house. It was hard to walk away from the last one, we loved that place, but 2 years later, it was the best thing we ever did. Of course those with kids or locked into low interest mortgages are kinda screwed until rates come back down.

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The problem is could you afford to either rebuild or buy another home if you got wiped out? There isn't a house for sale in my county that is less than $300k. It would be like us starting over if I dropped insurance and had to buy a new house again with no equity or insurance money from this one.

What is the cost to build a new home nowadays? $250 sqft+?

Oh hell no. And dont plan on it. But I can buy a manufactured house on the water in a quiet, crime free neighborhood for about $100K and pay cash tomorrow.

We no longer feel the need to maintain a 2000-3000 sq ft house with a 1/4 acre+ yard in a neighborhood with HOA fees more than lot rent. No property taxes helps too. There's lots of things I can do with that 1/2 million$ besides sink it into another house

186 Woodland Dr, Leesburg, FL 34788 | MLS #11199962 | Zillow
6437 Golden Nugget Dr #517, Orlando, FL 32822 | MLS #11244286 | Zillow

So do you pay the DMV and have a license plate on your home?

bigredfish said:

Oh hell no. And dont plan on it. But I can buy a manufactured house on the water in a quiet, crime free neighborhood for about $100K and pay cash tomorrow.

We no longer feel the need to maintain a 2000-3000 sq ft house with a 1/4 acre+ yard in a neighborhood with HOA fees more than lot rent. No property taxes helps too. There's lots of things I can do with that 1/2 million$ besides sink it into another house

186 Woodland Dr, Leesburg, FL 34788 | MLS #11199962 | Zillow
6437 Golden Nugget Dr #517, Orlando, FL 32822 | MLS #11244286 | Zillow

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For all the money we have paid over the decades for Home Owners Ins. we could buy one of those homes...

My Father lived in a Community like that for his last 20 years. His Park Model was I think around 800 sq. ft. I think he had to register his since I believe it might of been considered a mobile home, yet I don't remember any axles or a license plate. I know his yearly property taxes, due to it's small size, was under $50 a year. He was Single...he loved the Winter Texans who came from all over the country to their Park. He told me he did not have to travel since they come to him. He was a retired Truck Driver that has been to more places than everyone on this Forum added together I bet. Only problem he said is it wasn't extended stay so he did travel around our Beautiful Country and go back to places he wanted to visit longer. Being Single and still driving, he was King there. All the women would have him drive them to their appointments and shopping. He told me once that he has not had to make a meal in the last 3 years, hahaha I think he said it was like 20 to 1 single widowed and divorced women there, lol

He did say his monthly lot fee was only $200, I bet he did not even spend $300 a month living there. I think all Utilities minus Electricity was included in that $200...

1,200 sq ft is very livable for a couple. My wife's sister and her husband, 2 years ago, bought a Condo in Port Aransas. Very nice small coastal town. Their Condo is 1,200 sq ft., it is 3 bedrooms. It is beachfront so they have an awesome ocean view. Not Hawaii or Pacific awesome but nice for the Gulf
But it cost quite a bit to live there, they mentioned 4 Insurances plus maintenance fees. But most coastal living can be very high...

Oh one last thing, where my father lived there was a couple who bought two Park Models, snoring was never a problem with them, haha.

We would have never considered it in PA where we grew up or Texas where we lived for 25 years. But in FL its quite common and very convenient for retired folk. I really dont miss taking care of a 10,000 SQ ft lot.

We have accommodations on a mountain in PA as well, so if we need to escape we have options, as well as very good friends with a small farm 30 minutes from here. We've already planned and invested with them as an alternate base if things were to get ugly.

My homeowners insurance dropped 10% this year for no apparent reason. However, I will learn in August or so if I am one of the "lucky" ones getting dropped in part because the idiots at CAL FIRE rezoned a bunch of areas to put them in the "severe" fire risk area in order to build their empire.

David L said:

So this increase, according to our Agent, is a Nationwide increase from most if not all the Major Insurance companies. Agent even said they are not even writing new Home Owner polices or renewing polices unless you bundle your vehicles with them. Only good news I was told is prices should come back down next year, but we have all heard that before.

So our Home Owners Ins. for our house in Harris County, Houston area, went up 59% from last year. Zero changes in policy... Agent told me Harris County, Fort Bend & Montgomery counties All saw this increase...from what our Agent was told is most all the major cities or high population counties across the nation this happened to...

Our new home we moved to last year went down 15% And our Car Ins. went down 10%...

Still in the negative though because of the Harris County house...I assume if we had our Car Ins. in that county it would of increased too...

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Iirc insurance companies recording good profits during this earning season .. I should double check this ..

Know there are issues reported in some states by those I know in insurance business ..

Also probably does not help that there are a number of poor quality home builders who are skimping on quality assurance checks ..

One thing to consider, especially in Harris County TX, is the age of the roof. When we replaced ours this February, I got a $2k refund in the mail from the HOI company. Seems that as the roof gets beyond 10 years, they up the premium.

samplenhold said:

One thing to consider, especially in Harris County TX, is the age of the roof. When we replaced ours this February, I got a $2k refund in the mail from the HOI company. Seems that as the roof gets beyond 10 years, they up the premium.

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Yeah I’m at 12 years now and it has gone through a few hurricanes and patch jobs re-adding shingles that were lost. Not looking forward to a $10k roofing bill when the times comes.

Did the new roof thing after the hurricane (forget which) in 2017. Paid the $2000 deductible, insurance paid the rest.

samplenhold said:

One thing to consider, especially in Harris County TX, is the age of the roof. When we replaced ours this February, I got a $2k refund in the mail from the HOI company. Seems that as the roof gets beyond 10 years, they up the premium.

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Yeah I got a one time discount from our Ins. company too back 7 years ago when we replaced our roof. Did upgrade from a 20 to a 30 year...
Only had one roof with hail damage where the Ins. co. split the cost. That was back when roofs cost under $5k. Heck my first roof replacement was only $2,600 back in the 90s and that was going from a 20 to a 30. I usually do enhancements like better Wider Valley Liners, Wider Flashing, Preformed Ridge Shingles (much better than letting the Roofers use shingles to cut/form their own), Starter Strips (Instead of turning shingles around and used for starter strip), Ridge Vents if applicable (most of the time you can get rid of roof attic fans if you have enough area for Ridge vents), improved Chimney Flashing (Usually Step Flashing), Vent Boots (Beware of Lead if you have alot of squirrels). I am sure I forgot some things. I will say on a composite roof I always consider the weight of a bundle of shingles. My last Roof replacement I went with CertainTeed instead of GAF because the bungle weight was much heavier than the GAF which means more material. Also I would check each company product for Law Suits. There are many out there for materials not lasting...keep in mind it does not mean all of a companies products are bad...

tigerwillow1 said:

Are others of you seeing the same increase that I am?

2023 rate increase 42%, after 16% last year and 9% the year before. This is in Oregon, not in a flood zone, not near the ocean, and not close to the Portland utopia.

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Our homeowners increased 48% in April, I was told this is industry wide.

gwminor48 said:

Our homeowners increased 48% in April, I was told this is industry wide.

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Ours went up about $30, $565, where we live now no HOA...

Wow, I must be real tired, went back to ask myself why I wrote about our HOA instead of homeowners Ins. Yesterday was a fun day long day for us. Trying to get our house ready to sell and AC decided to go out. It was just the contacts at the Compressor but AC guy came out late...then my night drive back home, plus we have our daughters dog who played with our puppy all night, so no sleep, lol

Mine has gone up about 17% in the last 2 years, Insurance Guy blamed it on Inflation and price of materials, so has my car Insurance..I'm getting a few quotes now. In 2020 when I switched to them, they saved me about $600 a year between car and auto bundled.