Does Anybody Go Without Homeowners/Property Insurance?

[spokane 1]

I am having a terrible time finding insurance for my 4 bedroom home on 10 acres.
I am letting a friend keep his 3 horses in my pasture and he is maintaining the pasture and fence. He feeds them daily and I provide water.
Insurance companies say I am running a horse boarding business!
Horse owner has a million dollar rider on him homeowners policy for the horses.
I bought the property 2 years ago and they want to know how old is the roof. ???
It is in decent condition but no permit was pulled on it. My best guess is 10 years old.
If I had to rate the home on a 1-10 I would give it an 8 based on repairs/upgrades I have completed.

Im finding this out as well about insurance people....(you have a preexisting condition somewhere). either the old owner had a claim or even a question can trip the alarms of these insurance idiots into refusal of a policy. This crap lodges in the computers mainframe and its very hard to get it out.

roofing quality and durability is their Number one cry in the last 2 years all insurers ask this question.

Just reply you have had the roof looked at by a certified roofer (or actually send the insurer a durability report done by a reputable roofer).

horses, pools, high crime reports,trees,renters,no building permits,cracked windows,non certified stoves,or even wood heat or for that matter wood heat with electric back-up heat. are alarms for other insurers.

I was refused by the hartford for not having baseboards in every room along with wood fired heat. (even with the explanation that the property location rarely dipped below 50 degrees and the home rarely needs heat)


heres the problem with insurers....their computer programs to write a policy will not allow they to proceed to the next page they have to answer stupid national questions.like are there alligators, and hes writing a policy for Alaska?

One insurer bowed out on me because they needed a certificate to the wood stove....(like this is a 65 year old wood stove it burns perfectly for 65 years) none of the labels had certificates he needed to pass to the next page.

another saw a ounce of moss on the roof and was gone in 2 seconds.

another saw a flogged window in the back of my house seal was broken ...he was gone in 5 minutes.

I finally went to 20 different insurers to get covered.

i found the easiest way to get coverage was online...and with the crappiest company possible. Geico. (they had the fewest questions the easiest quote) but they have the worst reviews.

 

[rekees4300]

It's all about money ... insurance companies use a technique called "price optimization". Basically they charge loyal customers more because they are less likely to leave. In other words they are considered to be SUCKERS.

Price Optimization and the Schmo Tax - Consumer Reports

 

[ultrarunner]

A lot of us lost coverage with Fireman's Fund... zero claim history in the group.

Fireman's simply said they had a 500k minimum policy and most of us were in the 350 to 400k range so all were non-renewed.

My elderly neighbor was non renewed... she has been in her home 50+ years and zero claims... her agent died and her business was transferred to another Broker... someone drove by her home and noticed she had 4 steps from the walk to the porch without a railing... none was ever required... I tried to help but was told she would need to apply as a new customer...

So far the CSAA Auto has been good... a little more expensive but don't here of arbitrary cancellations...

Almost the entire family was cancelled years ago when the company pulled out of California as we all had the same coverage.

I guess is would be hard for the California Auto Club to pull out of California and so far so good.

 

[DeereWimberley]

I am having a terrible time finding insurance for my 4 bedroom home on 10 acres.
I am letting a friend keep his 3 horses in my pasture and he is maintaining the pasture and fence. He feeds them daily and I provide water.
Insurance companies say I am running a horse boarding business!
Horse owner has a million dollar rider on him homeowners policy for the horses.
I bought the property 2 years ago and they want to know how old is the roof. ???
It is in decent condition but no permit was pulled on it. My best guess is 10 years old.
If I had to rate the home on a 1-10 I would give it an 8 based on repairs/upgrades I have completed.

Insurance companies get harder and harder to deal with every year. The short answer: I have a rental 3/2 doublewide which I have covered for liability only. The insurance company did not like my roof either. Turned out, they were right...I had to replace it a year after they denied. Nevertheless, I still did not insure it beyond liability. I have standard coverage on my other properties though...but they are conventional homes worth much more than the doublewide.

Longer story:
When I was young (a long time ago) I took all of my business to State Farm. Then back in 87 when I built a log cabin, they gave me a bunch of crap about this and that so I went with a different firm. Took my auto business from them as well. Back then, probably no big loss to lose little old me. Ha, I own many properties now as well as a number of vehicles. State Farm gets none of it from me or my progeny. Too bad for them.

While I am on the topic of insurance...I told BCBSTX that they could shove it where the sun don't shine. I canceled my health ins with them this year...after another 27% boost in a crappy 10K deductible policy. They were gonna charge me $12K per year for a $10K deductible. I am pretty healthy...once a year for a checkup. My insurance increased 3X after ACA. Screw 'em.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Thankfully I haven't had many problems with USAA for nearly 40 years.

 

[TomSeller]

. My insurance increased 3X after ACA..

That is a cryin' shame.

 

[TheMan419]

For those of you using the same insurance company for decades.... why? Do you shop your insurance periodically for a better deal? Many companies will give you a better rate to attract your business then raise it a couple years later. If you change every couple years you keep on the cheaper rate.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

For those of you using the same insurance company for decades.... why? Do you shop your insurance periodically for a better deal? Many companies will give you a better rate to attract your business then raise it a couple years later. If you change every couple years you keep on the cheaper rate.

Because it's a pita to shop it.

 

[skipmarcy]

I doubt your neighbor has insurance coverage away from his property.

Homeowner's insurance is normally limited to the property's boundaries, that is the boundaries of your neighbor's property.

If Homeowner's insurance was not property limited some would do risky commercial work then file claims on non-commercial Homeowner's policies for big $$$. Commercial insurance is much more expensive than Homeowner's insurance because risks are unknown to both operator and insurance provider.

I'm not sure that's true. My homeowner's policies have covered our belongings in storage when we have moved a couple of times over the years while not even owning a house!! The last time was 11 years ago when we sold out in Florida to come back home to TN. here. I took 10 months to build my house and everything in storage and all we had with us at a rental was covered by our policy from the Florida house as long as I kept the premiums paid.

 

[square1]

After 12 years with FB (2 houses, 3~4 autos), never late on premium payment except once when the due date was moved up due to "paperwork", they hung me out to dry by giving a 30 day cancellation if the roof on one house wasn't replaced in JANUARY in MICHIGAN. Shoot, I couldn't find a reputable roofer willing to install and warranty a roof in JANUARY in MICHIGAN. Didn't matter.

Took everything to Auto Owners, added a boat, and have much higher replacement amounts on both houses for $150 more a year.

To the OP, I couldn't sleep without liability coverage. Don't heed the suggestions to hide info, you're rolling the dice and may get unpleasantly surprised by not having coverage when you need it. You may as well pocket the premiums and buy sleeping pills with the savings