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Home Owners Insurance


eSJayDee

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Anyone else experience this?

Policy went for $363 to $459 even after removing a couple of riders they wanted to add.

I think if anything, my house went down in value. I don't see any other changes.

Comments? Personal experiences/observations?

TIA

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Anyone else experience this?

Policy went for $363 to $459 even after removing a couple of riders they wanted to add.

I think if anything, my house went down in value. I don't see any other changes.

Comments? Personal experiences/observations?

TIA

 

well, although you believe the value of your home decreased, the cost of rebuilding your home probably increased.

 

furthermore, check your deductible. if you carry a 250 or 500 ded and have had no claims in the last 5 years, you are throwing away money. increase it to 1000 to see an average savings of about $125 per year.

 

your agent or broker should be talking to you about this.

 

most of the policies i sell and service (at least 90-95%) got decent decreases in premium this year. and they are going to see another decrease in 2010.

 

anything below $500.00 a year for homeowners premium is usually good price as long as it gives you at least 300k liability, 5000 medical payments to others and replacement cost on the dwelling and contents. most of mine come in at $350-500.

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well, although you believe the value of your home decreased, the cost of rebuilding your home probably increased.

 

furthermore, check your deductible. if you carry a 250 or 500 ded and have had no claims in the last 5 years, you are throwing away money. increase it to 1000 to see an average savings of about $125 per year.

 

your agent or broker should be talking to you about this.

 

most of the policies i sell and service (at least 90-95%) got decent decreases in premium this year. and they are going to see another decrease in 2010.

 

 

Shop it - I make a rule for myself to shop my insurance every other year - don't always catch a break but at least I know that my rates remain competitive.

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furthermore, check your deductible. if you carry a 250 or 500 ded and have had no claims in the last 5 years, you are throwing away money. increase it to 1000 to see an average savings of about $125 per year.

 

Already have $1000 deductible, which I found out this yr. 1st opportunity for a claim - a pane on a sliding glass door"spontaneously" broke. Unfortunately, insurance will only cover the cost of replacing the pane (~$500, so no coverage :wallbash: ). 20 yr old door, so I ended up replacing the whole thing (~$1400) myself.

 

Thanks for the definitive info Loyal, perhaps it's time to go shopping again.

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Already have $1000 deductible, which I found out this yr. 1st opportunity for a claim - a pane on a sliding glass door"spontaneously" broke. Unfortunately, insurance will only cover the cost of replacing the pane (~$500, so no coverage :wallbash: ). 20 yr old door, so I ended up replacing the whole thing (~$1400) myself.

 

Thanks for the definitive info Loyal, perhaps it's time to go shopping again.

 

 

thats the rub with insurance. although the company didnt pay out, they may be rating for a claim made which caused the increase.

 

any claims on record not wheather related will make it hard for you to shop.

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I read an interesting article regarding this. Insurance companies logically figure in the chances of your home being saved or destroyed in an emergency. Seeing local governments have cut back on services the chances of your home being saved in an emergency has decreased so the insurance companies risk has risen. How do insurance companies combat risk? Raising premiums. Pretty good business practice if you ask me.

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Already have $1000 deductible, which I found out this yr. 1st opportunity for a claim - a pane on a sliding glass door"spontaneously" broke. Unfortunately, insurance will only cover the cost of replacing the pane (~$500, so no coverage :wallbash: ). 20 yr old door, so I ended up replacing the whole thing (~$1400) myself.

 

Thanks for the definitive info Loyal, perhaps it's time to go shopping again.

 

Well, that was mistake #1 son.

 

NEVER file penny-ante claims like that even if you think it is a lot of money. Homeowner's insurance companies have two categories - those who file claims and those who don't. You are now one of those guys who file for anything small, thus your premiums are up.

 

Only file claims when you absolutely have to - like $10k or more... or you run the risk if premium hikes or being dropped all together.

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Well, that was mistake #1 son.

 

NEVER file penny-ante claims like that even if you think it is a lot of money. Homeowner's insurance companies have two categories - those who file claims and those who don't. You are now one of those guys who file for anything small, thus your premiums are up.

 

Only file claims when you absolutely have to - like $10k or more... or you run the risk if premium hikes or being dropped all together.

 

Also, i think I read somewhere where the claims now go into a dtatbase similiar to Carfax..so that when you go to sell the home the buyers will be able to request a history of all the insurance claims...so just be wary of that when filing

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Just to clarify, I did NOT file a claim. AFAIK, the Ins Co has no rcd of the incident.

 

When it occurred, I called my (independent) agent. They state that I have a $1k deductible and that they would only pay to replace the pane.

After getting quotes to replace it, I realized the most prudent choice was to replace the entire door. (Further, the cost to only replace said pane would've been substantially less than my deductible ergo no reason to file.) All done at my out of pocket expense.

 

And to add, I do realize that it was not necessarily prudent to make claim that on something that is only slightly > my deductible.

i.e. $1100 claim - $1000 deductible = $100 cash -> $100/yr increase in premium = dumb.

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Just to clarify, I did NOT file a claim. AFAIK, the Ins Co has no rcd of the incident.

 

When it occurred, I called my (independent) agent. They state that I have a $1k deductible and that they would only pay to replace the pane.

After getting quotes to replace it, I realized the most prudent choice was to replace the entire door. (Further, the cost to only replace said pane would've been substantially less than my deductible ergo no reason to file.) All done at my out of pocket expense.

 

And to add, I do realize that it was not necessarily prudent to make claim that on something that is only slightly > my deductible.

i.e. $1100 claim - $1000 deductible = $100 cash -> $100/yr increase in premium = dumb.

I got that, but just wanted to pass on the database info, and that was news to me when I read it. So say you have a leak and get water damage to your house for 3K, and you have a 1K deductable..i would say shoot, file the claim.

 

But now, when you sell the house that water damage is going to show up on the report, increaed srutiny on the inspection, buyers have stronger bargaining position etc, may end up costing you way more than the 2K in the wrong run.

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the issue is not so much 1 claim, as this article states, but the propensity for multiple claims.

 

insurance companies risk models take into consideration that the average homeowner files a claim every 10 to 15 years.

 

and the first occurance of a claim, whether covered or not increases the propensity to file another.........

 

or so the statistics show........

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Anyone else experience this?

Policy went for $363 to $459 even after removing a couple of riders they wanted to add.

I think if anything, my house went down in value. I don't see any other changes.

Comments? Personal experiences/observations?

TIA

Mine went from $339 to $429. I'm with Allstate & they sent me a letter trying to explain why homeowner's insurance went up, but I don't remember what the letter said. I got the letter along with another one & I responded to the other & increased some things on my car insurance. When I called my agent she immediately started to ask if I was calling about the price increase, so she must have gotten a lot of calls about homeowner's insurance increases.

I don't know if it's a local thing around Bethlehem or all over.

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the issue is not so much 1 claim, as this article states, but the propensity for multiple claims.

 

insurance companies risk models take into consideration that the average homeowner files a claim every 10 to 15 years.

 

and the first occurance of a claim, whether covered or not increases the propensity to file another.........

 

or so the statistics show........

 

Yep...risk models...like for health coverage. Well, that's to be soon over... :rolleyes:

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the issue is not so much 1 claim, as this article states, but the propensity for multiple claims.

 

insurance companies risk models take into consideration that the average homeowner files a claim every 10 to 15 years.

 

and the first occurance of a claim, whether covered or not increases the propensity to file another.........

 

or so the statistics show........

 

 

any guy that files a claim for "spoiled food" on his policy is definitely in the group of "those who file claims"... He's lucky they bothered keeping him at all.

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any guy that files a claim for "spoiled food" on his policy is definitely in the group of "those who file claims"... He's lucky they bothered keeping him at all.

 

 

sds,

you'd be suprised how many people we had claiming no physical damage to their home but filing for spoiled food after the october storm.

 

i think the local news telling everyone they could file a claim for spoilage cause a mad rush to grab money.

what the news did not tell them is the impact the se small claims could possible have...

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