In 2016, State Farm did not allow us to renew Homeowner, Auto, and Umbrella policies. They did continue our jewelry policy. We had State Farm Homeowner’s Insurance for over 30 years with prior home as well. Agent was furious. We had one rather small water claim, and one roof claim. Typical auto claims (nothing major). Thankfully we were able to qualify for USAA. Called Geico (since we had auto with them before) and when I asked about homeowner’s the first question they asked is about a water claim – would not quote if a water claim within 5 years.
I asked USAA about our now two current homeowner claims, and he assured me that he has seen homeowners having 20 or 30 claims on a home and not get ‘cancelled’.
Homeowner Insurance is getting very tricky, and it has been in some areas where they have had area disasters on more than one time within several years. Friend is new homeowner in CA, and w/o prior continuous CA home ownership, is having to have insurance with $15,000 deductible.
As I stated on this thread with a different post, we were very grateful we were able to get USAA insurance. We got Homeowner, Auto, and Umbrella phased in on the ‘end dates’ from State Farm (when State Farm chose to no longer insure us on these three policies). We also have $100 in a savings account with USAA to gain the extra discounts on insurance.
Everything by phone. Since we were in a bind, it was not a matter of ‘comparing prices’, but I don’t remember us having any higher premiums on all 3 of these items.
But I believe this was in 2016, and the paradigm on insurance changes a lot. Our contractor for home repairs under insurance says it has cycled about 3 times since our insurance work on this house in early 2014.
What state you live in could influence on your homeowner’s or auto insurance. I know DD who lives just outside of Orlando has much lower Auto insurance rate with USAA than if her address said ‘Orlando’ (her address is Altamonte Springs, which is probably blocks away from an Orlando address).
Look at your homeowner’s policy very carefully and understand it. When we got a notice in 2022 about a special roof endorsement available in our state, we signed up for it – it was $90/year more, but that is paying off for us as we are getting a really good roof that will be able to withstand higher winds than our current roof.
Auto is easier to look at and understand.
Since your insurances all do not typically line up at the same time for renewal, you just have to decide – and I believe the homeowner’s is where you make the decision first. I don’t recall if we had homeowner’s end first (our date is April for annual), or just went to USAA homeowner’s along with the $100 savings account, and then added USAA umbrella and auto when those end dates for us came up (since we were canceled from all 3 by State Farm). We have auto payment on monthy basis set up with USAA. I believe with State Farm we had quarterly payments of everything together.
Some people do everything electronically, but I would probably miss something w/o us receiving paper on everything. And at this point, I don’t get charged for getting paper info from USAA. Our insurance claims stuff is online except they mail the check payment on claims.
There is a lot going on with Homeowner’s, that is for sure.
IDK if you can find a way to get on homeowner’s with USAA. We were able to do so in 2016 by having a small 6 month jewelry insurance policy for my father-in-law (who was active-duty military in the 1950’s) and then DH, DD1, DD2, and I all were able to get USAA numbers and be able to have USAA insurance. My dad was also active-duty military in the 1950’s, but he was deceased when we were looking to get insured by USAA. IDK if any of their rules have changed. Our son-in-law is active duty Army, and they have USAA insurance and also use their financial services.
You can get a special roof endorsement so your out of pocket for the roof would be a $2,000 deductible (for example, that is what we have with USAA under special endorsement). Yes the ‘standard’ has gone to that percentage figure, so a homeowner with a roof claim is out a significant amount of money.
What a story on Farmer’s - and I can understand the stress on your poor dad.
I have personal experience from many years ago to ‘steer clear’ from All State on auto. We had an almost new car, and they were in collusion with a large car dealership in Houston, putting used parts on things that needed new parts (door hinge for example). The tow guy probably got a kickback for having our car towed there (he recommended to me at accident site). It turns out that the car leaked water into the door and the back floor area, which we discovered later (and we moved out of state). In new state, we switched homeowner’s from All State to State Farm.
In talking to a local roofing guy (in AL), they have trouble with All State on roofing claims/payments.
When you see all the advertising for various insurance companies, think about the money they are putting into advertising, and what they are spending on claims.
You are fortunate! We pretty much are on ‘set it’ with USAA, but our homeowner’s major insurance claims have us being very sensitive on having the current work done, and reviewing what we might need to upgrade. I do believe we need to bump up our Coverage A, Dwelling Protection on our homeowner’s, but will find out from our contractor (rough overall number based on home construction in our area to build a home like ours). Not typical to have a major loss (fire) - our home won’t flood (on a significant elevation) - but the cost for the right amount is ‘peace of mind’.
For homeowner’s - on our USAA policy we have a one page with ‘summary’ – look at Section summary with Coverages and amounts of insurance (Section 1) and Section II - coverages and limits of liability. Then deductibles (we have wind and hail $2,000, and all other perils $1,000). It then lists out policy premium, credits and discounts, other coverages and endorsements. Our printed policy is 19 pages, but one only looks at key things. In my current claims communication, I remind USAA about specific things in our policy. We have a one page “Alabama Policyholder Bill of Rights” siting the specific law.
Since we are in the middle of insurance claims, no ‘executive summary’ - but have been thoughtful in what I have posted.
We are looking at investment residential condos and townhouses. I was able to get lists of properties that are not 100% insured for hurricane (a risk in our state). One list us from my insurance agent and one us from our real estate broker.
My relative who is attorney for local bank says properties w/o 100% coverage can’t sell their mortgages to FannieMae and FreddieMac, so local lenders aren’t loaning for units in those buildings. It narrows the list of properties we will consider.
Is there an assurance that these insurance policies can’t be canceled or have their rates jacked up in the future ?
I’m conservative but personally fearful of investment properties - this looking at stocks that own them - like Invitation Homes. There’s just so much I don’t know and am concerned about a hugely wrong move or transaction that I’d rather trust those that own thousands of properties - not that they are necessarily great either.
No assurances about the future, but we are looking at places that we believe are well managed, low density, in desirable developments. If we don’t swap current properties and sell them, we’d have to pay huge capital gains, as the properties have appreciated over the decades we have owned them.
Of course, insurers are able to charge whatever rates the state insurance commissioner allows and people are willing to pay. Its a risk of owning property but it’s diversifying investments outside of stock market.
I’ve called USAA as well as AFI (Armed Forces Insurance)–my H was in the military. USAA wasn’t helpful at all. The rep at AFI spent more time with me and asked for detailed information, but as it turns out, AFI isn’t covering my state for now.
Our claim with Chubb was not weather related and it was four years ago. We had to replace our heating system. Chubb covered most of it and then dropped coverage for our main house. They still cover our vacation place as well as cars and an umbrella liability policy. We’re stuck with LLoyds of London–which is expensive and requires payment upfront. I have called a number of home insurers/agents and I get the same answer. From what I’ve gathered after five years (which would be in 2025) we will have four years without a claim and should have more options. We engaged a lawyer and have started a lawsuit against the heating company because the damage resulted from the company’s failure to maintain one of the condenser units. The heating commpany has cost us thousands of dollars.
It’s just wrong that you pay for insurance, use the insurance and then get dropped. There should be laws against this and restricting rate increases to a certain percentage.
The game is rigged. You buy a product and use it and then you’re not allowed to use it again.
And that’s why I’d personally be afraid to do what @hlmom is doing. She is braver than me - especially when she noted not all properties are 100% insured and the federal agencies won’t buy the loans on those properties.
Real estate is a way to wealth I know. have many co workers with 2nd homes - one in Maui, one in Central California, several on the Georgia coast. They rent them out.
It has just always scared me - and when she was discussing the nuances of homes that are insured vs those that can’t get insurance - I just don’t have the stomach for that.
I feel sorry for anyone who loses insurance, especially from one claim. We are about to claim our 18 year old roof and we are hit with a 14k deductible. The insurers keep raising the deductibles.
I hope I’m not next (for dropping) but insurers are leaving my area unfortunately.
I hope it works out for @hlmom. Of course they have experience in this so I’m sure it will.
But the reason I asked the question is she noted some homes currently are 100% insured. What if next year that home loses coverage. And she can’t get coverage from another. Can the lender then call the mortgage because a stipulation on a loan is having insurance. If so, then what ?
It’s why I’m so uncomfortable. I prefer to pay to go (ie hotels).
We are comforted by the fact that if we swap older existing properties for these newer ones, they will be available if we decide our 60+ year old house is too much for us to maintain but will allow us to still have ownership of where we live.
Landlords can make you move when it suits them, when you’d really rather stay put. They also control what can and can’t be done to their property. They also have a voice in the Association—renters don’t.