What kind of car insurance do you have? Do you have life insurance? My brother and I have State Farm car insurance, and when we bought our house, State Farm let us add homeowner insurance to the policy. If you have an established relationship with an insurance company, it will probably be easier. You can also contact your Realtor for for recommendations.

If you paid at least 20% down or have equity, you might not be required to have homeowner insurance. We paid less than 20% down because we didn't have $122,000 in cash and were required to buy mortgage insurance, which is a big pain.

This post was edited by publickman on Wed, Oct 15, 14 at 16:00

We bought a 1910 Edwardian. The bank that holds the mortgage has an insurance company they work with that insures our home.
Don't know if this is a bank by bank, state by state thing or not but you might talk to your mortgage holder because believe me they want you insured. So if they do have an insurance co. they work with they can get your home insured. HTH

Some years ago I changed ownership of my house from a relative's name to mine. I had been making payments and paying for homeowners' insurance for more than 10 years. The insurance had been in my name.

When we made the change Allstate did a drive-by inspection and saw that there were no rails on the original 1913 steps and bulkheads and they cancelled my policy. Luckily I had the policy through an agent. I called and yelled at him (nicely) for awhile (they had been insuring the same house, same condition, same name, for X years, why now? etc) and he fixed it.

If you've used the same insurance company for awhile, even for car insurance, maybe that tactic would work. And maybe you want to have the branches cut away from the house. Squirrels can do some ugly damage.

Surprising to see that without inspection or info on items insurers don't want to see. Here, it's knob and tube wiring, galvanized plumbing lines and old fuel oil tanks, whether in use or not.

Seek out an insurance broker, who should be knowledgeable about insurers willing to cover similar homes in your area.

This is becoming more common. Katrina, Sandy, forest fires, etc insurance carriers are shedding load. Here in CA it is difficult to insure any home in the country. My duaghter is a realtor here and said many people are having to go to Lloyd's of London for coverage.

You just have to remember that insurance is not for you, it is for them!

Also, check with an independent insurance agent. They can write coverage for several smaller companies and may be able to find something for you. I had several older (1920s) houses and was covered through ANPAC (American National).

If you have a military connection, try USAA.

Did you try calling the company that cancelled and asking if you could be reinstated if you fixed the house to their specifications?
All they can do is say no but they might say yes.

Don't tell prospective insurance companies that you've been cancelled! Red flag for them.
Did your company give you any warning or was your first notification just a cancel?
Sue

We had insurance for 20 years without a claim and the company threatened to cancel because the trim was peeling and some of the downstairs porch rails were missing (not required by code, less than 30 inches off the ground). These things were part of the plan we just hadn't gotten to them yet. My husband sent a long letter outlining everything we had done and were doing and where the trim re painting and new porch rails fit in the plan. He also took pictures of many porches without rails. I think they were overwhelmed and left us alone for a while unti lthey left the state. New insurance company had requirements which we fulfilled because luckily we were ready to do what they wanted..
Work with your local agent is my suggestion and be pushy if you have a chance to be before they cancel.
The insurance companies have gotten jumpy and are picking on older homes. We used to have knob and tube in some areas and some was "new", done before we bought the house. An electrician told us that our knob and tube had been much more skillfully done than the newer work and was actually safer! Its all good now fortuntately!
Kathy

We own an 1820s/30s age home, and were discussing how an elderly friend who owned a very modest but rather old home (in decent repair) had her policy canceled for no other reason they gave her was that it just was old and somehow didn't fit their criteria. I thought she misunderstood what they told her but my agent said it wasn't so unusual. He said another name for insurance for our house would be 'white elephant coverage'. Laughing here, but he explained that even though in good repair, out home because of it's unusual age was built in a way and of materials that no way/no how could an insurer duplicate for the market value of the structure. They will not let us take out insurance to cover the kind of repairs we'd expect, or replace because it would exceed the market value of the home, and if they based their payout on the market value of the home again we'd never be able to move into anything nearing the size or quality of what we live in now. It just falls out of the norm. His company is insuring it, we have all our insurance home/business/car/etc through the same carrier and he's an independent broker and they give you a little more slack. Only had a couple minor claims over the last three decades, so they made money on us and we are a good risk and a good, long-standing customer...otherwise I understood that they might not have done it.

I just purchased a 1939 colonial. My insurance company that insures my current home (built in 2005) and my cars, wouldn't touch it. They said it is because I won't be living it while it's being renovated, but I wondered if it was the age of the house.

I went to another agency, NC Farm Bureau, that my son uses and they were happy to insure my 1939 house and call it a "seasonal" home until the renovations are finished and I move in. I went in and talked to the agent in person, rather than dealing with a big company over the phone. It think having a local agent you can meet with face-to-face helps with these matters.

That said, the house is insured for the value of the structures, not including the value of the land. Therefore, the insurance isn't the full amount of my purchase price.

Lots of great suggestions in this thread! I just had a similar experience in that my insurance policy that I've had for eight years was about to renew and they sent an inspector out to look at the property. Due to the carriage house in the back yard that is in desperate need of repair, they decided not to renew my policy. Nevermind that the carriage house was there in the same condition when they initially insured me. So, I called up the broker that found the first agency and they hunted and scoured and came up with no one willing to insure me. I contacted the insurance agency that carries my car insurance and it was a good new/bad news kind of deal. The good news is they were willing to insure me with the carriage house in its current state. But, my old insurance coverage was, basically, for the cost of what I paid for the house. In the event of a complete disaster, it would have been enough to buy a fixer-upper in another neighborhood and make a few repairs/updates. The new insurance company will only do full replacement value so in the event of a complete disaster, I could build a whole house. Of course, that means my policy increased from $300/year to almost $3000/year. Since no one else was willing to insure me, I just feel lucky to have insurance.

$300 A YEAR? Holy smokes. I'm paying almost that a month. I gotta fix this. I hate insurance.

Dirt_cred, I will also be paying almost that much monthly now. I'm looking at the bright side and saying that I am now fully covered. Should my home be completely destroyed, they will pay me over ten times what I paid for it, allowing me to build a new home. After a kitchen fire, I have a new appreciation for insurance. I'm glad you were able to work it out with your insurance company!

I had to deal with this same issue recently. Bought an 1895 Victorian and doing interior cosmetics and adding a bathroom before we move in a few months. Insurance person drove by and saw the lock box on the door and a few other minor things, and said our policy will be cancelled for being "vacant." Insuring a vacant house during a renovation was something like $1k per month!

Our local broker was very helpful. We fixed one of the minor things that needed doing anyway (removing an old tree). Then we sent a few pictures showing the house had just enough furnishings to "spend one day and night." So I brought over an air mattress, some linens, and a lamp, put a few cloths in the closet, and set some things on a temporary dining room table. Job done.

Might be worth asking your broker if that will satisfy the swines at the big insurance company...

Jackie - who's your carrier and did your rates go up?

Fireman's Fund. Our rate did not go up, but the value of the building did. This was fair, as they spent over $150k on the claim, and of course it was "new for old" work, and much stuff taken up to current code - new double paned windows, etc. Also we ploughed all of the extra cash we got back into the upgrades on undamaged parts of the building, such as the kitchen.

There are other companies such as Chubb which also have good policies for antique houses - I can not stress the importance of using a good broker to find you coverage.

Jackie

Wow. Very happy son didn't buy a 1950 home he looked at. Plumber mentioned the steel pipes should be replaced eventually. Nobody mentioned potential insurance issues. Other things might have been a problem but he wouldn't have figured on doing the pipes soon.

Jackie - thanks for the advice. I have to re-do all my insurance and I'm pretty sure I'll use a broker. I've had Allstate forever and while they're good on claims they're costing a fortune.