home owners insurance

I thought I was being pranked when I opened my escrow account notice.

Out of control is an understatement.

MX1825 wrote:

I agree everything has gone up but 40%. Has the value of your house gone up 40% in 1 year?

I hope so. I’m selling (putting on the market) my lake house in Grand Rapids in about a month.

MX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Karl Hungus wrote:</div>
Yup…I feel your pain. Ours went up like 40% I think. We’d been with them only 1 year. Our HO, auto and umbrella all went up but somehow it averaged a 25% increase. Not sure how that works but that’s what all the premiums combined went up. Our agent said the same thing. Our financial advisor told us a few weeks ago that some carriers were not even taking on new clients and will not quote new policies. She said she’d heard of 75% increases on some carriers/policies. Unbelievable. Now my wife is mad at me because I just want to pay it and not waste time getting quotes again! Marriage is great…

That’s what your Insurance Company is hoping. I’m shopping mine EVERY year anymore.
You pay and pay and pay. If you have an accident or house damage they try and talk you out of turning it in. If you do turn it in the next year you get a HUGE premium raise or a cancelation notice. You never hear of an insurance company going bankrupt.

Insurance companies are just a business and go under every day. Scottsdale just closed one of their divisions/company about a month ago.

For those who have received their new paperwork, how much did the value of your property go up vs the amount they are charging?

On the news the other day they said Minnesota is second to California in weather related claims. The also said covering town homes is down to 3 companies and going to really get out of hand. Seems like we can never catch a break. Hurts even more if you’ve never made a claim in years of paying your premiums.

100 year storms are happening every couple years… if the last few years are any indication of whats to come, get ready for a wild ride. I hope I’m wrong but this year is shaping up to be a perfect storm for wildfires.

Its not you, its everyone else. 20% of people do not carry car insurance, have fun when they hit you while talking on the phone.

JEREMY wrote:

My truck insurance from state farm went up 25% in july and 25% again in january. Had them for 32 years. They told me I could save 10-40% if I connect truck to their drive safe and something BS. I said aint zero claims in 32 years not safe enough. He laughed. I said im not fuching joking.

Lots of changes coming to the insurance world soon. Mostly on the home side. Changes to how roof losses are settled, Forced % deductibles, Changes to wind and Hail losses, ect. Some of the changes are well over due. The purpose of Insurance is to make a person whole, Not gain or lose. Putting a new roof and or siding on a persons home when their current roof or siding is 25+ years old is not making them whole. That person is Gaining at that point. People also forget that the insurance industry is regulated by the Government. Companies can not raise rates without giving notice and receiving permission from the government. They have to show proof of the reason for the increase. Insurance companies are also required to have enough money in reserve to be able to pay large losses when they occur. When more money is paid out that taken in, those reserves get depleted and are required to be replaced, Only way to do so is rate increase. Most if not all insurance companies have lost money the last 3 or so years in Minnesota. Better hope more insurance companies don’t start pulling out of Minnesota altogether, Some already have. Many of the largest companies have already pulled out of business in states such as Florida and California. Minnesota in one of the highest states for insurance losses in the US. One of the top for deer collisions and lately one of the Highest for hail losses. Add in the whole icy road conditions most winters and you can see how. For those people who say they have never had a claim you may want to look at increasing your deductible. If you don’t have a loss, it doesn’t matter how high your deductible is. Higher deductibles = lower rates. The other cost in insurance rate increase on homes is the current material and labor cost on home construction. If you look closely at the Dwelling amount ( Reconstruction cost on most policies ) you will probably also see that that $ amount has also risen a lot in the last 4-5 years. If the amount a company would need to pay out in a total loss goes up, the cost of the premium also goes up. Many companies offer 2 different type of policies. The most common one is a replacement cost policy. The other one is a stated value cost policy. If the replacement cost policy type you have seems like way more $ than necessary, look into a stated value cost policy. Not everyone would need or even want the same home rebuilt if it was destroyed. With a stated value policy you decide what you think your home is worth to you. You can take the money and do whatever you want with it. Keep in mind the land is also still yours after a total loss and you can still sell that for its value.

Many of those devices you plug in screw up the cars too. I know a couple people with Progressive that had to plug that in for a while and their computer shorted out.
I think much of the problem, no offense to FT here, is the agents themselves make a killing. I got an estimate from my agent that I have been with for a few years on a vehicle and they deal with multiple companies including Progressive. My son got an estimate on Progressive.com (as a 22 year old) and it was like $800 cheaper A YEAR for the same car with him on it. How is that possible? Same carrier only difference is he went on the website vs me going through an agent.

CaptainMusky wrote:

no offense to FT here, is the agents themselves make a killing

Oh I wish I was making a killing. They have cut our commissions 4 times since I became a agent. They had not cut commissions in like 20 years before that. As far as the issue with progressive and you and your son – I have no idea why the rate would be that different. Independents agents life in a whole different world than Captive agents do

Tread carefully if you have State Farm. Just dealing with them, only Home Owner’s Claim ever. I am switching companies.

Rodwork wrote:

Some religions view insurance as gambling and gambling is against their religion. So what do they do for insurance?

If you own you home you do not have to have any home insurance, Now there is a Gamble. Some homeowners are going that route. That is a huge gamble with one of their biggest assets.

Well in the one scenario there was no agent at all. He just signed up on the website. He technically does have someone representing him I suppose or just calls the 800 number if he has issues, but he has never actually spoken to anyone.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Rodwork wrote:</div>
Some religions view insurance as gambling and gambling is against their religion. So what do they do for insurance?

If you own you home you do not have to have any home insurance, Now there is a Gamble. Some homeowners are going that route. That is a huge gamble with one of their biggest assets.

If you have a mortgage, they require insurance or some type of bond or something to protect their investment.

fishthumper wrote:

If you own you home you do not have to have any home insurance, Now there is a Gamble. Some homeowners are going that route. That is a huge gamble with one of their biggest assets.

That’s a common thing in FL. I just learned that. Up here in MN being “self-insured” is unheard of. In FL, very common. I had no idea. I was blown away when I was doing all my homeowners stuff down there.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

If you have a mortgage, they require insurance or some type of bond or something to protect their investment.

That’s what is killing to mortgage industry in FL. A lot of companies simply will not write new policies and the gov’t option is ridiculous. I keep hearing stories of $10,000 -$15,000 per year for home owners. And on top of that, $5000-$12,000 a year for auto insurance. Regular autos like a burb and a pickup in the driveway, not some super car.

Wade, what lake is your house on in Rapids?

Netguy wrote:

Wade, what lake is your house on in Rapids?

Splithand

Not surprising at all that Florida and California have extremely high rates. Natural disasters seem to occur at catastrophic levels in those two states.

I can’t imagine going without homeowners insurance. That seems like an unnecessary gamble, even if the cost of the policy is high. If you can afford the house, you can afford the insurance.

If no one is willing to insure you, that’s another story.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

If you have a mortgage, they require insurance or some type of bond or something to protect their investment.

Yep if a mortgage they will require it. If you own it, Insurance is not required

Wade Boardman wrote:

That’s what is killing to mortgage industry in FL. A lot of companies simply will not write new policies and the gov’t option is ridiculous. I keep hearing stories of $10,000 -$15,000 per year for home owners. And on top of that, $5000-$12,000 a year for auto insurance. Regular autos like a burb and a pickup in the driveway, not some super car.

Yep, If state pool insurance is the only option, The Cost is real high and the coverage is really crap. About the same as flood insurance. Thats why everyone here in Minnesota better hope it does not come to that.

fishthumper wrote:

The purpose of Insurance is to make a person whole, Not gain or lose. Putting a new roof and or siding on a persons home when their current roof or siding is 25+ years old is not making them whole. That person is Gaining at that point.

I can get on board with this change under one condition; since my roofs value is depreciating and thus the amount of a claim to make me whole is decreasing, then so should my premium. That’d never happen though. Insurance companies can’t have it both ways.

gimruis wrote:

Not surprising at all that Florida and California have extremely high rates. Natural disasters seem to occur at catastrophic levels in those two states.

I can’t imagine going without homeowners insurance. That seems like an unnecessary gamble, even if the cost of the policy is high. If you can afford the house, you can afford the insurance.

If no one is willing to insure you, that’s another story.

Insurance for high $ boats in a hurricane area is off the charts. Even millionaires often go without insurance in those areas. That is why when I see pictures of Boats stacked up like cord wood after a hurricane I just cringe.

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

I can get on board with this change under one condition; since my roofs value is depreciating and thus the amount of a claim to make me whole is decreasing, then so should my premium. That’d never happen though. Insurance companies can’t have it both ways.

Here where I work, I can move someone who qualifies for full replacement cost on their roof from Replacement cost to scheduled / Depreciated cost and their rates do go down. On policies that are changing from full replacement cost coverage to schedules replacement cost coverage the rates are less than they were prior to the change. Now with the rate increase to recover from recent years losses, the rates may still go up, but not like they would have at full roof replacement cost

Gitchi Gummi wrote:

I can get on board with this change under one condition; since my roofs value is depreciating and thus the amount of a claim to make me whole is decreasing, then so should my premium. That’d never happen though. Insurance companies can’t have it both ways.

If you policy has full replacement cost on roofs, I’d call your agent and ask if switching to a depreciated or scheduled cost is a option and ask what the premium difference would be.

Thanks for the advice thumper. I have a metal roof. In theory those really shouldn’t depreciate like a shingle roof, right? Unless they’re damaged via Mother Nature. Or at least they have a much longer life.

Insurance = Legalized Theft IMHO

Mark Uidenich wrote:

Insurance = Legalized Theft IMHO

Then don’t buy it. Insurance is risk transfer. If you think it’s theft maybe you would be better off rolling the dice and retaining all of your risk. Saves a lot of money until it doesn’t…

Buy stocks in your insurance company. Then you’ll make money on their profits.

Did you guys know the X Prize in 2004 was a hole in one insurance policy? $1,000,000 in premiums with a $10,000,000 payout. Wanna bet those crooked INS companies passed on that loss to us?

“The Ansari X Prize was a space competition in which the X Prize Foundation offered a US$10,000,000 prize for the first non-government organization to launch a reusable crewed spacecraft into space twice within two weeks. It was modeled after early 20th-century aviation prizes, and aimed to spur development of low-cost spaceflight.”