Home Owners Insurance went up 20%

[tosugrad]

Just got my renewal notice. I have been with State Farm for 15+ years and have 4 lines of insurance with them. Not one claim, ever.

We have had no major disasters in the area.

Agent could not give me one reason (good or bad) why this is the case. States its "market value". Funny because the "value" of my house probably went down 10% over the last year.

Anyone else seeing big jumps like this in homeowners policies?

 

[chado]

Stop it your scaring me! :frown:

 

[Da Hapa]

Mine went down.

 

[Hothonda]

Just got my renewal notice. I have been with State Farm for 15+ years and have 4 lines of insurance with them. Not one claim, ever.

We have had no major disasters in the area.

Agent could not give me one reason (good or bad) why this is the case. States its "market value". Funny because the "value" of my house probably went down 10% over the last year.

Anyone else seeing big jumps like this in homeowners policies?

Start shopping around.......

 

[heySkippy]

Hah, buy a house in Florida and go insurance shopping.

Wheee!!!!!

 

[steveny]

borrow on the house to the max then let the insurance laspe but keep making the payments. When the bank sends you a letter that the insurance needs to be paid tell them to STFU or foreclose on a house that is worth way less than what is owed on it OR they can work with the insurance company to get a reasonable price for insurance. :biggrin:

 

[JonBoy]

Mine has stayed the same but my property taxes were assessed at 28.7% higher this year! I got them talked down to a much more reasonable number, though...

 

[nsxtasy]

Start shopping around.......

There are some significant reasons not to change insurance companies any more often than necessary. They can give favorable treatment and cut slack for long-time customers when any issues come up. All the more so if you take advantage of multi-policy discounts and have your auto insurance with the same carrier.

Mine has stayed the same but my property taxes were assessed at 28.7% higher this year! I got them talked down to a much more reasonable number, though...

I suspect the assessment process is very local. I could write a book about the process where I live. In a nutshell, the assessed values are only a small fraction of the actual market values, so you have to do comparisons with similar homes in your neighborhood. They re-assess every three years, and it seems like they pull the numbers out of a hat. And there is a big business among a handful of law firms staffed by former members of the assessment review board, who file appeals on behalf of homeowners. You can also do it yourself. At least this has become much easier now that all the assessment information is available on the internet.

 

[Big_D]

Edit... I see your in MN, sorry I was going to recommend someone. Keep shopping around!

 

[crxracer64]

Agent could not give me one reason (good or bad) why this is the case. States its "market value". Funny because the "value" of my house probably went down 10% over the last year.

If your agent told you that your rate increase was due to 'market value' then it's time to find a new agent. They are full of crap.

Your rates are determined by the reconstruction cost of your house. Even though the market value of your home may have gone down, the cost to rebuild it may have well gone up.

In general, it is expected to see about a 4-5% increase each year on your home insurance premiums but definitely not 20%. Some companies are starting to introduce more detailed rating systems that go more in depth as to the build materials in your home. Instead of say your kitchen being classified as 'custom' and giving an average rate for a 'custom' kitchen, they go into more details such as counter tops (wood vs. granite vs. marble), type of wood the cabinets are made from, number of ovens, etc. This can impact your rate as well.

Also, some companies are just taking rate in effort to pull out of certain states. State Farm and Allstate have done so here in CA as they are trying to pull back and keep most of their business in the Midwest.

The average cost to rebuild a home (here in CA at least) runs from $275 for Standard homes to $325-$350 per sq. ft. for higher end homes. I'm sure it is different in MN but I would look into it and make sure that your coverage limits are correct. Also, make sure that you are maxing out all available discounts including things such as alarms, gas shut off valve, professional discounts, etc.

And shopping around is not always a bad thing as long as you can bring all of your business to the new carrier so you can again, max out all available discounts. Might I suggest another 'Farm' related company... :wink: