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Homeowner's Insurance through the roof


sidegate

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I have modest three bedroom Montrose bungalow that sustained no damage in either Allison, Rita nor Ike, and for which I have never a claim since moving in nine years ago. My latest policy premium from State Farm arrived yesterday and was a 20% increase over last year's, which was itself up 20% from the previous year. Now I tend towards loyalty in these matters and have been a State Farm policy holder for over 12 years (counts for little apparently), but this is getting out of hand, my agent won't return my calls of protest so, enough is enough, I'm shopping around. Anyone have any recommendations? GEICO? All-State?

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Not sure if you qualify for USAA, but after the sticker shock of a 13% increase after Ike, I received a pleasant surprise last month, when the policy DROPPED 15%. In addition, they expanded coverage for some items, most notably my detached garage, at no extra charge. Because of that, I did not need to add a rider for my much bigger and newer garage. Very happy about that.

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I have casualty insurance through Kemper and it has gone up only 2% in 7 years. I have a 1% deductible on a $400K house.

Sometimes it is better to call an independent agent that can go to market for you and check out multiple carriers as opposed to going to an agent for a particular carrier.

Also, give some thought to what it is you are actually insuring. Most people just think of structure replacement / repair and give no thought to contents replacement, temporary living allowance if a whole house re-build becomes and issue and other issues.

One size does not fit all.

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I have modest three bedroom Montrose bungalow that sustained no damage in either Allison, Rita nor Ike, and for which I have never a claim since moving in nine years ago. My latest policy premium from State Farm arrived yesterday and was a 20% increase over last year's, which was itself up 20% from the previous year. Now I tend towards loyalty in these matters and have been a State Farm policy holder for over 12 years (counts for little apparently), but this is getting out of hand, my agent won't return my calls of protest so, enough is enough, I'm shopping around. Anyone have any recommendations? GEICO? All-State?

I got popped with that increase when Ike came through. I switched to Amica.... they have been awesome. I suggest giving them a shot, the 4 guys i work with and my boss have all switched over in the last 3 years.

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I have been renewing mine... I currently have 9 policies and some are barely less than what a lender would force on you if you let your policy lapse.

I use Nationwide which has really good rates for Homeowners, but they have been getting more and more picky over the years with rental policies. Plus they won't insure more the 5 properties... too much business must be a bad thing?

Anyway, Nationwide will probably beat your State Farm quote buy $400... check it out.

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Third for amica...I switched last year and couldn't be happier. My homeowner's insurance cost was virtually cut in half (of course, that was after a 50% hike from nationwide)

I also got a nice reduction in auto, and the service was excellent in a recent claim that we had

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So looks like overall with my auto and homeowner's combined (with the same or greater coverage levels), I can cut my premiums by a third with Amica. And the State Farm rep STILL didn't get back to me so.....that's it.

Thanks for the tip fellow HAIFers...!!

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So looks like overall with my auto and homeowner's combined (with the same or greater coverage levels), I can cut my premiums by a third with Amica. And the State Farm rep STILL didn't get back to me so.....that's it.

Thanks for the tip fellow HAIFers...!!

Sidegate, I'd like to know what is up with State Farm. They cancelled my homeowner's policy last month. My house is near Galveston Bay but west of 146. I was told the line (for properties they would no longer insure) was redrawn after Ike and my house falls within that zone. I've had SF homeowner's for 25 years with absolutely no claims. We came through both Rita and Ike unscathed. I've had automobile insurance with them for 34 years with a few claims and they've always handled those to my satisfaction.

Unfourtunately, the quotes I've been getting from other insurance companies have ranged from 100% to 175% more than what I have been paying. Yes, you read that correctly. My premiums will at least double! To add insult to injury I will lose my multi-policy discount on my auto insurance because State Farm will no longer have my homeowner's policy.

Several of the other major insurance companies have also told me "thanks but no thanks" when I told them where the house is located. I had not thought of Amica before. I'll give them a call.

I admit that I should be paying more for windstorm insurance than if the house with the same dollar amount coverage was located say, inside the beltway. I'm not asking for others to pay for my living close to the water. But a double or three-fold increase in the premium is hard to take. I'm considering paying off the house early and just getting a policy for liability. Has anyone done something similar to that?

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We have State Farm and ours went down this year.

We did shop around for other deals last year (post Ike), and many of the firms we talked to said they aren't writing ANY new policies for certain areas. Even state farm said this about locations - I think south/east of 59 was their boundary. One of the companies we talked to urged us to not drop State Farm, saying there is now way you'll do any better.

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not sure what's up with SF, but annual 10% increases while filing no claims, ever - just had enough. Amica's quotes are based partly on credit, so maybe that's got something to do with their ability to offer lower rates. Another advantage of Amica is that they bill monthly, whereas SF bill annually for homeowner's and semiannually for auto. There's nothing to prepare you for the sticker shock that you get when you open the envelope every year, you've no idea what it's going to be.

Interesting fact: Amica's full name is Amica Lloyds, State Farm's full name is State Farm Lloyd's.

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not sure what's up with SF, but annual 10% increases while filing no claims, ever - just had enough. Amica's quotes are based partly on credit, so maybe that's got something to do with their ability to offer lower rates. Another advantage of Amica is that they bill monthly, whereas SF bill annually for homeowner's and semiannually for auto. There's nothing to prepare you for the sticker shock that you get when you open the envelope every year, you've no idea what it's going to be.

Interesting fact: Amica's full name is Amica Lloyds, State Farm's full name is State Farm Lloyd's.

We pay monthly for auto and yearly for homeowners. We were given the choice to roll it all monthly but didn't want to. I think you just have a lazy agent. Switch, see if another agent would appreciate you more.

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Even if you pay off the house, keep the insurance, unless you are willing to pay for a rebuild out of your pocket after a fire or storm.

Oh, I would definitely keep insurance on the house - especially liability. If someone gets injured on my property he could sue for expenses.

I would hope, by not having a mortagage company to appease, I could negotiate a policy that would have a lower premium. I could tolerate a higher deductible for fire or storm damage for example. My parents' house flooded in Allison and burned about thirty years before that so I am aware of the expense involved.

Lower premiums are tied to good credit because people with good credit tend to be more responsible and keep their property in good repair and alleviate dangerous conditions. Lower premiums are not just a "reward" for paying bills on time.

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I live in Katy.....I have Farmer's Insurance and they came up with a new policy this year called Texas Next Generation.......mine went up 22%.

I have house and atuo combined and have used Farmer's for 20 some years.

Quote on cover letter I received....."Recent hurricanes have caused greater damage then we anticipated. In order to keep premiums affordable, we must balance the rates we charge with the coverage we provide".

I now have a new Tropical Cyclone deductible and all my deductibles went up and this new Cyclone deductible is twice my other deductibles.

My house is only 6 yrs old.

I will be looking around as this is getting a little out of hand.

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  • 2 months later...

I just got my renewal and it was up 35% from two years ago, this is with Farm Bureau. Both the rates and the value they calculated for a rebuild were up and our agent said every single policy was going up like that, we are in Katy with no claims. So, we are switching to Amica as well. Our quote was similar to what we were paying with Farm Bureau two years ago.

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You can thank law firm's like Mostyn for your rates going up. Most insurance companies are too cheap to properly defend themselves against lawsuits and try to quickly settle. In many cases the damages are mostly due to homeowner's neglect to properly maintain their homes &/or have little to nothing to do with real damage caused by natural acts. The insurance companies are literally push-overs and the plaintiff billboard's metastasize the scale of fraud.

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