Home Insurance Increase

16 years ago

We just got our home insurance bill and it went from $365 to $525. We called our State Farm agent and she said everyone's rates have gone up.

Did your homeowners insurance go up?

DH and I are going to look at other companies to compare prices. I don't mind it going up a few dollars but $160 is a bit much.

SamKaren

your resident DJ

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

socks
16 years ago
Definitely do some comparison shopping. I don't know if ours has gone up.
monica_pa Grieves
16 years ago
Three big factors in Home Insurance prices:

Current market value of structure
Crime rate in area
Recent claim(s) history

Your increase does sound unwarranted.
Related Discussions
Home Insurance - Recommendations and Feedback
Q
Comments (6)
Check with any associations, alumni groups, trade groups, etc. that you belong to. They often have agreements with insurers for 10%-20% discounts for members. Even if you don't go with that insurer, you can sometimes use this as leverage with your existing insurer. Standard practice for most insurance companies is to allow you to cancel your policy at any time during the policy term by sending written notice stating the date of cancellation. Your insurance policy does not necessarily terminate at the end of each policy term, so it isn't safe to assume that you can just cancel by failing to pay your next bill. If you don't send notice of cancellation, your insurance company will automatically bill you in advance for the next term's premium payment. If you don't pay it, they'll cancel your policy and it will go on your credit report. Don't expect this information to be made explicit in your policy; while insurers are quick to inform you that your coverage will terminate at the end of the policy period if you don't pay your next premium, they don't always inform you of the repercussions you may face for not giving formal notice of your policy termination. If you decide to switch, call your insurer, let them know that you want to cancel your policy and give them an effective date. They will then send you a cancellation request form - review this form carefully before you sign and return it to your insurer. Links that might be useful: 10 things about home and property insurance you should know www.bankrate.com/brm/news/insur/20020305a.asp Top things to know money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/lesson19/index.htm
...See More
where does money come from?
Q
Comments (57)
Happymary: I myself am frequently astonished at the incredible amounts of $$ people spend on remodeling. Truthfully, when I see some of the posted pics, many of the expensive new kitchens, baths, etc. look much alike, not much individuality evident. Anyway, I am in the central TX area (N of Austin). We are in the process of remodeling an old TX farmhouse while living in another house that I am also trying to update in preparation for selling when the other house is ready to move-in. DH and I are both "of an age", and he will be eligible to retire in 4 years if he wants and he is adamant about not having a mortgage or similar payment post-retirement. Perfectly understandable. I teach part-time so we live modestly and frugally. We bought the TX farmhouse for cash (due, in part, to the sale of DH bachelor house) plus savings. We are financing our remodel with our savings, too. Thought about a construction loan, but are trying to do the pay-as-you-go thing. We are acting as our own GC (another cost savings) and the crew doing the framing are also doing the metal roof on both the new part and existing house. DH will do the electrical himself, as he is skilled in that area although we probably will hire an electrician to check his work at the end. After the framing, roofing, and electrical are done, we will re-evaluate our finances to see the next step, likely plumbing which could get complicated as we are doing a rainwater collection system that will be pumped back to the house for use in the new bathroom. We don't want to deplete our savings entirely for our remodel as everyone needs an emergency fund for those unexpected expenses (car, medical, hail damage, etc.) Much work on the existing house needs to be done, but we've prioritized our primary objectives (that is, what absolutely needs to be done before we can move in), then our secondary objectives (sadly, the awful, but functional, kitchen fits into the second category). Absolutely, do not bankrupt yourself to do a remodel. Sometimes there are creative and innovative ways to make your existing home more pleasant and livable without spending a great deal of money. I reiterate what many on this forum have said; be creative and research, research, research. By the way, the place in Gonzalez is called Discovery Antiques and they are quite pricey (cater to the Yuppies in Houston and Austin, I think). A better bet is the Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores. I've been to the one in Austin on Comal St. and surely there must be one (or more) in the San Antonio area. They often have the old longleaf pine flooring, solid wood doors, and other materials that have been removed from the tear-downs of old houses in the area. Also, salvage yards, if visited frequently, can provide a lot of materials. I recently bought 10 boxes of white Daltile subway tiles for $7/box (each box covered 10 sq. ft.) at a salvage yard. I redid the bath surround in my current house with those. IMO, especially in light of today's housing market, no remodel is worth going into debt for.
...See More
100% increase in dental insurance
Q
Comments (18)
The state of our postal service? You do realize WHY the Postal service is going down right? it is solely because of Reich wing loons, Tpublicans that back in about 2006 decided to destroy the post office. http://crooksandliars.com/kenneth-quinnell/more-details-emerge-republican-as """"It's almost hard to comprehend what they're talking about, but basically they said that the Postal Service would have to fully fund future retirees' health benefits for the next 75 years and they would have to do it within a ten-year window," There is not a single business today that could survive that, NONE, that would collapse Walmart. They did this in order to privatize it and to get as many "Public Employees" laid off as possible. They are disgusting. The Post Office was doing great up until 2006. Universal Healthcare works fantastic in every other country on the planet, not "cheaper" health care which is all Obamacare is trying to do, but basically FREE healthcare. It would free up businesses to hire several more employees and pay them better, the economy would be booming and everyone would have healthcare and not have to worry about going bankrupt because they got sick. It will HAVE to happen sooner or later because our current system is simply not sustainable, not even close. So best to do it now and plan for it, implement it properly instead of waiting until we absolutely have to do it and do it in a hurry. What scares the heck outa me is Obamacare NOT being implemented and I have the best insurance available in the USA at the cheapest price you can get it. The government is not the problem, it is the Tpublican congress which BTW hate government and are constantly trying to destroy it from within. If people would simply stop voting these loons into power we would be doing ever so much better. Here is a link that might be useful: The Poison Pill to kill the Post Office
...See More
Combining house and auto insurance into one company?
Q
Comments (49)
We use American National for everything - home, auto and umbrella. (Our umbrella policy is under $300/year, iirc -- and there's no $500K deductible, though we do have to keep the limits on our auto and home higher than the minimum since those pay first-- I suspect that is what the scenario above is saying -- the $500K "deductible" on the umbrella is actually the $500K that the auto policy pays, then the umbrella kicks in for anything over that. So the mimimum auto liability has to be $500K even though the state only requires $100K) At any rate, I've not had to file a claim but when I was rear-ended, they were helpful in dealing with the other guy's insurance. However, like someone above said, I really do think you need to switch often to get the best rates -- they have steadily jacked my rates every year in spite of not having any claims. I shop once in a while but they make it hard to compare because they give you a cash-back rebate of 20% of your premium every year after you've been claim-free for 3 years. After the cash back is taken into account, they are always the cheapest....but if we ever file a claim, we lose the cash back for 3 years. It's actually genius on their part because it discourages us from filing little claims -- we get anywhere from $700-800 back every year so losing 3 years of that would cost us around $2400 in lost cash back -- ergo we wouldn't file a claim for anything under that. That said, we are going to be adding a new teen driver to our policy soon so I fear our claim-free streak may come to an end. Anyone have any good experiences with insurance companies that don't eat you alive when you add a teenage driver????
...See More
socks
16 years ago
How about the deductible? If it's higher, it could help on the premiums.
liljunkr
16 years ago
We just got a marvelous 20% discount for installing Miami/Dade rated hurricane shutters on our windows.
There are a number of things a person can do in the way of home improvements to get home insurance rates reduced.

1. installing fire extinguishers in every room (the ABC's)
2. installing alarm systems for fire, plumbing leaks and burglary. Even the battery operated smoke alarms in each room will give you a break as long as they work at inspection every time. Test them regularly. Don't just push the button (that only shows the battery is charged and the alarm sounds. Blow some smoke into them to make sure they work.
3. changing from fuse box to circuit breaker
4. update to code all switches and outlets
5. exchanging regular outlets with in 2 feet of all water lines to GFI outlets
6. changing the water inlet hoses to the commodes regularly.
7. having window and door regular glass replaced with the un-breakable or burglarproof glass.

If you have, a fire hydrant with in 300 feet of your home that gets you a small break in your rates, having cars and homes with the same insurer can also get your rates reduced.
You will have to endure an inspection occasionally so it can be a bit inconvenient but saving money in this day and age is not easy.
Five yrs ago when we purchased this house the insurance cost us $1,798.43 a year. With all the upgrades and work we've done our rates have gone down 40%.
Try talking with your insurers agent and ask what you can do to get discounts.
If you don't ask they wont tell you.

LIL
azzalea
16 years ago
State Farm has been on shaky financial ground for years now. They had to completely pull out of my state, because of their practices.

You may want to try a real insurance agent--the kind who represents many companies, who can do the leg work for you. I have an excellant agent, who has always gotten us great deals. I've comparison shopped on my own from time to time, and there's no way I can get anything close to the wonderful rates she gets us. A good agent will know your specific situation, and will get you the best deal, with the best company for YOUR specific situation. Every person is different and can have differnt insurance rates. Example--we have one company for our auto insurance. There's no way we can possibly get a lower price. DD had them for a while, and had a pretty good rate, but one year when money was tight, asked our agent if she could find a better price--which she did. I thought, hey, maybe we can do better, too. So asked for a quote from the 'new' company. Because of our different situations, they were good for DD, but would have been more expensive for us. It really does take an expert to navigate the various options and prices. Good luck

Just had dh check ours, as we just got the bill for it. Went up only $40 this year.
kacram
16 years ago
yep, ours went up. has gone up every year. Not quite that much though
bigfoot_liz
16 years ago
since 2004 my rate has gone up 400%. actually from 2005-2008 it went up 400%, 2009 was only 20%. in 2004 orlando was hit by 3 back to back hurricanes. i had filed a claim after the first hurricane, Nationwide sent a sissy CA boy to check out my roof who whined about the humidity and didn't want to get up on a ladder to check my very damaged roof. they rejected my claim saying my roof wasn't damaged enough & that it was old. hmmm...you've been insuring it since 2000... anyways that taught me that you MUST have $10,000 in cash ready & waiting for hurricane season because insurance companies are only crooks.

here in FL you can be dropped for no reason, have your rates go up constantly, your company can up & leave FL and you can't dare complain. everyone i know who owns a home, lives in fear of being dropped, once you are, you are open to paying whatever insurance companies want just to be lucky to get coverage that will not pay you anything. for years i've been saying, just wait till the rest of the country's insurance companies start trying to pass off inceased costs on them. here in FL costs are by law contained w/in this state. that means that if we are hit by 4 hurricanes all costs to insurance companies are spread only to it's FL customers. i think it should be that way for ea state...we had no hurricanes at all last yr and our costs should go down. ~ liz
monica_pa Grieves
16 years ago
I just asked...ours stayed the same this year.

Home Insurance Increase

Comments (8)

socks

monica_pa Grieves

Related Discussions

socks

liljunkr

azzalea

kacram

bigfoot_liz

monica_pa Grieves

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US