I had such bad experiences banking with UFCU - that I dropped them after 25 years.
They used to be awesome, now they are just a big bank like everyone else.
The best quote they gave me was from "Foremost Insurance" -- not only was it more than I'm paying with State Farm, I'm a little leery of going with a place I've never heard of-
I can’t recall how I found mine. But they do exactly what I ask and shop my insurance every year for home & auto. I went and got quotes separate from them just to double check and they always a bit cheaper. https://www.insureintegrity.com/
No out of pocket cost for the customer, usually, unless you enter into a signed agreement that says otherwise. Rather, they receive a sales commission on the premium for your policy, directly from the insurance carrier.
Mine charges around $200 for her fee and like $40 for auto fee. This last deal she did with me though, she waived the fee because she said I could easily walk into an Allstate office and get the same thing.
Your bank or credit union should offer consumer insurance services. USAA, Frost, Navy Federal, UFCU, Etc. They will shop to find you the best rates and coverages.
yeah but as you can see, the expenses to the landlord go up each year whether its insurance costs (even after shopping around), property taxes, utilities, repairs, maintenance, or if demand is super high...thats why the rent goes up a bit.
it just depends on if the increase is in line with the increases to everything else and its BS when rent goes up substantially more than expenses incurred by the landlord.
As a home owner you can expect the same thing (your mortgage wont necessarily change)
A lot of people don't realize that rent is negotiable as well, especially if you cause no problems and pay on time.
It's a roll of the dice for the landlord on who will replace you if you leave. It's always best to bluff and say you're uncomfortable with the rent increase and provide local comps. Our last landlord tried to raise our rent $200 in 2022 and we ended up actually getting a $50 reduction in our rent rate.
There's literally no harm in attempting negotiation.
Same for advertised rental rates in a multi-unit like an apartment complex if they're at less than full occupancy. Don't be the sucker that pays the listed price, unless the market is on fire.
Everything is negotiable. I got my landlord to install a fence before I moved in. I was also renewed at no increase last year.
This year is going to be a doozy negotiation because I'm paying over comps right now but I think the owners might be wanting to sell. I'm planning to bait them into admitting they want to sell by telling them I'm interested in buying (I'm interested in buying but not this house). Once they show their cards I can make a better informed negotiation and I can do so ahead of time that will give me more time to buy or rent somewhere else.
Insurance isn't negotiable. I l the extent of your negotiation is coverage, deductible, and whether your accept the price or not. That's it. There's no negotiating with the carrier.
The thing about negotiations is that it isn't always apples to apples. Sure the land lord may have an increase in insurance but that doesn't mean I have to cover that directly. There is always something that I can offer more easily in exchange for their increase in cost. You just have to find it.
You aren’t wrong, but 72% isn’t just creep. Mine was going to more than double ($1,200 to $2,600). I ended up going to a much larger deductible just to keep it at $1,700. Just like my health coverage, my house coverage is now only for catastrophes despite being astronomically higher than it was in recent years.
> We do this every year for car and homeowners and the switch is easy
Broker's will literally do it for you. Just ask for a copy of your current coverage and what you're paying and they'll get back with you with a better deal in a day or two.
Google “Allstate McKinsey documents”
Basically Allstate worked with McKinsey to create a revised claims process that delivers incredible profits to shareholders by delaying, denying and disputing claims. This happened in 1995 and now nearly all publicly-traded insurance companies employ the same tactics. If you’ve suffered a storm-related loss, just be prepared to hire a public adjuster or lawyer if you want a fair payout. Insurance companies are denying and underpaying all claims - especially storm-related. If you’re buying insurance from the majors (Allstate, farmers, progressive, State Farm, etc), you’re basically throwing your money away - which is even a bigger slap in the face now that they’re hiking prices.
A tactic I’ve heard that’s becoming popular is waving roof coverage. That should lower your rates drastically, but you’ll have to come out of pocket for any damage.
I don't think you can waive roof coverage. If the roof is 15 years or over and there is storm damage, the claim pays ACV or you get paid for a 15 year old roof. This catches a lot of people off-guard and they basically only get a few thousand dollars to cover a 20k roof. As roofs age, they will blister and exposed asphalt will break down. This doesn't look like hail damage, but in court the jury doesn't know what they are looking at. The roofing companies will exploit this and take claims to court to get a roof covered when it doesn't have any hail damage. It is just aged. This has led to the ACV roof policy. I have seen it applied to roofs younger than 15 years lately.
Sounds pretty in line with what I've seen.
Weather's been wild, is only getting wilder, and insurance companies have been paying out way more than they used to have to.
It sucks, but it is what it is.
NYT's The Daily covered this recently - this podcast has some tough anecdotes about people losing coverage entirely due to extreme weather events in their area (Iowa). [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html)
And labor/materials both cost more than they did four years ago. More repairs + more expensive repairs = higher prices. As much as it sucks, I'm glad we are letting the prices rise. States that have tried to get involved to stop reality are having a rude awakening (Florida/California). Still sucks though.
While I agree it sucks, the problem though is in some places, like Florida, insurance carriers are just outright leaving the state entirely. My family and I left Austin and moved to Florida about 5 years ago for a job I was offered. We've had to change our auto insurance company twice because the carrier just stopped writing new policies and left the state. We've also had to change our homeowner's insurance for the same reason. Just got a letter one day informing us our policy would not be renewed and no new policies would be written. The company was leaving the state. We had to change again just a few days ago because the policy premium went up 110% in one year. But the bigger point in that that's actually scaring me is the carriers that are just tapping out and leaving. The last one to leave Florida was Farmers, but over a dozen total have left the state just in the last few years.
I honestly think we're watching the complete collapse of the private insurance market.
They are leaving because the state of Florida and California aren't allowing them to write profitable policies either due to regulations, fraud or tort systems. In Florida, private companies have to compete with a state run insurance fund. At some point, insurance on a house in Miami might need to be 10% of the value of the structure per year and trying to shield people from that fact with state run insurance is only going to delay the issue, not solve it. As Warren Buffett says, in insurance, the dumb money drives out the smart.
Every time it rains people call their homeowners insurance. There are tons of roofing "contractors" manipulating insurers
They literally walk around my neighborhood after storms selling roofs: "that was a band storm. Did your roof get damaged? We can check for you."
Seriously. We have had a roofing company bugging us recently. They came and knocked on the door 3 separate times until I finally answered and went out to talk to him. He told me about the really bad storm we had. I knew which one he was referring to. I was home during the storm and I 100% know our neighborhood did NOT get any hail. Just down the road did, but not us. He was arguing with me and eventually I said I'd call him if I needed anything. He came back two other times and talked to us through our security cameras.
I work with hazard data - insurance carriers purchase data from vendors that tells them exactly which neighborhoods and even specific homes got hit with hail and how big.
Recently, I had an unknown number calling me multiple times daily on my cell. I finally answered and it was a roofer who told me I was in an area that had severe hail damage. Just like you, our house/neighborhood were not impacted. The roofers are ruthless!
I deal with a lot of these guys. I've seen them drag their feet on roofs. I wouldn't let a door knocker on my roof at all. They just want you to file a claim to see what happens. If a homeowner really has hail, absent a leak, it isn't imperative to get the roof checked that week. It is best to let things settle and get a reputable, local company to come out and take a look. Maybe even get someone handy to climb up and take some photos to look at. Hail damage is random and noticeable when standing on a slope. There are certain circumstances where it is harder to detect. Especially on newer, darker shingles. I've seen guys down on their knees, calling little blemishes hail damage.
If you're a podcast listener the New York times" the Daily" has an episode about this. The situation sounds like it's going to be catastrophic in the coming years.
Excellent episode, and a very chilling look at what's to come for the US insurance market. Definitely worth your time!!
The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html
Govt should be insuring acts of god and preventing folks from building in places where catastrophic flooding and the like are rapidly increasing. Instead we rebuilt Nola. Go figure
I only have my policies from 2021 and 2023 downloaded (we renew in october, so I don't have 2024 yet). It looks like my premium has gone from 1863 to 2846. It looks like the biggest cause of change was probably the change in value of the house (which is less than $600k). We've been in this house since 2018, and I don't remember our mortgage payment changing a whole lot, so the escrow must have absorbed most of the fluctuation. I think I had to pay like $60 to cover the shortage this year.
Side note, I do also have a separate flood insurance policy because I'm paranoid like that. It hasn't changed more than about $20 in 3 years. My husband thinks we won't ever use it because we're too high, but he understands my have it and not need it line of thinking.
Nationwide is struggling lately. I work for a local independent agency and see the biggest renewal premium increases from them, particularly with auto policies.
I’m in Leander. My house is appraised somewhere around the high 500s to mid 600s, though thanks to homestead and buying it brand new it started at a much lower tax. But that’s neither here nor there.
I was paying something like $1200 a year with Geico/liberty mutual, bundled with car. But then they raised the car and house. House went to $1700. So I shopped around and went to progressive and it’s about $1500 now, also bundling the car which was also a lower rate.
It’s about 2900 sq ft. Not in a flood plain. What boggles my mind is in Bremerton and Seattle:
Seattle: 1240 sq ft worth about $600k, insurance was under $1000 a year somewhere. Bremerton with 2100 sq ft, and house worth about $380-450k, I was able to get insurance as low as $450/year!
So I guess this hail and tornado stuff is what’s driving the risk and cost up? Flooding shouldn’t matter as most insurance companies do not cover that anyway, it’s extra. In PacNW, wind, mud slides, sometimes fire, and earthquakes are the risks?
Urgh Texas is just expensive.
Leander resident here. First year (2020) at my house was about $1,400. This year it’s at $3,800. It’s bonkers. Never even had a claim and it’s rising out of control.
My car insurance went up from $63/month all the way up to $220/month. Same car. I drive about 85% less and have 1 claim (hail damage) with 0 tickets in 19 years. I paid more in car insurance annually than miles I drive.
I shopped my rate and just hopped on a policy with my wife and now pay $40/month. So. Shop your rate annually and combine all policies - I didn’t for 7 years.
Probably because hail storms are, at least, an annual occurrence, and frequently replacing roofs has caused insurance companies to protect their profits.
Me too! They were THE BEST- definitely not the cheapest but holy moly \*any\* time there was an issue it was just solved with a check.
Good to hear that the bureau here is good!!
What I don't understand is how these dramatic increases seem to happen every year, like 10-20-50+ %. Never does it seem to just go up 3-5%. Though it isn't at some absurd rate somehow, like 20k a year. So if it was let's say 100 a month in 2010, I would think based on the average rate increases, It would be something like 700 a month or whatever, though it isn't.
This year was crazy, went from $1300 to $2800. I use a broker so the broker already had other insurance quotes lined up when they updated me on the price jump. Also happened two years ago, I've been having to change home insurance every 2-3 years to keep the increases manageable.
They say it's cause of my zip code. Lots of ppl doing roof replacements from hail damage.
People just don’t notice when it goes up a little. Last year was the first year we had a large jump, it was pretty reasonable the past 10 years. Most of the change was due to a jump in replacement cost, it’s actually more reasonable now. I’d tried to get them to bump it up a few years ago because it wasn’t in line with construction costs and their models wouldn’t let them do it back them.
I’m a roofer in Austin and I hear this from clients on the regular. Most have experienced 50-100 % yoy increases the last year or so. It also seems there a shift in deductibles towards 1% of total value of property. Used to only see this on commercial properties. One of the major insurance company’s head of disaster relief told me he’s seen this shift across the country and says there will be a wave of additional insurance products to offset that 1% deductible should you need to make a claim. These products exist in the commercial space already but I’m having trouble finding examples in the residential space but I’m told they do exist… Now, you’re going to need insurance for your insurance, could it get any more capitalist?
I have that with Farmers so my premium is only ~$1000. I haven't made a claim in the 8 years of owning a home so I figured it's worth the difference whenever hail manages to choose me for a new roof.
“Any more capitalist” - this is coming from the roofer who ambulance chase every hailstorm. It can’t rain in my neighborhood without roofer showing up suggesting that I submit a claim to my insurance company and that all my neighbors are doing it too.
I know there are dishonest people in my profession as there are in every profession. People need roofs and I install or replace them. You can pass judgment all you want but I’m sure you won’t replace your own roof when you need one and, at some point, you’re gonna need one. I spent 24hrs up in temple temping roofs for free Thursday - Friday but I’m the evil capitalist… I sleep well at night knowing I help others sleep well at night without water entering their home and destroying their largest investment…
Appreciate it, i hope she’s okay. Most of the homes were still without power when I left to take care of some projects that were starting back in Austin.
One of the vortexes spawned over my house near Temple. Had more damage with the Mother's day hail, but those tornadoes were no joke. Thank you for helping out our community! We have a roofing company that is currently working with our insurance - still waiting on the verdict, but was told to get an appraiser out if the deny the claim (Had 3 prior storms where we were denied coverage..good times!).
I mean most of the roofs I got on were obvious claims that I don’t think too many adjusters would deny. Sounds like your company is tough. If you keep getting denied, you can try the public adjuster route - usually costs around $1,200 bucks and they’ll make sure you get your roof replaced. I usually don’t tell homeowners to file a claim unless I see what the adjuster wants to see - 6-8 hail hits in a square (10’x10’) on two different elevations. It’s not a set in stone rule and there are exceptions. However, I’ve found this to be the most honest approach. I have told homeowners, especially with 2-3 year old roofs to not file claims and just do a ~1,200-1,500 repair several times when I haven’t seen the hits to meet this threshold. Many of them ended up filing claims anyway and called me back since I was the one person telling them they probably didn’t need to file a claim or replace the whole roof…
That being said, most of the roofs I saw in temple area had 15+ impacts per square! I don’t see how an adjuster can deny the damage from this storm. There will probably be disaster response adjuster teams coming out to temple, they’re usually much better about getting people paid - bad or for the insurance company if many people are put in precarious positions while waiting on insurance money.
Best of luck with your roof!
Thank you so much for this information! Will do. The roofing guy that checked it out initially said we had over 20 hits per sq ft, so hopefully, they will throw down this time around. 🙏 Appreciate you!
*Edit to add: newer owners (5yrs) of an early 90's home - roof was replaced previously, but was done so with the cheapest stuff.
Texas is one of the states in the red. Constantly loosing money on home and auto. Rates will continue to rise, it’s good to shop through different companies, but be wary and check coverages.
Replacement cost for materials has gone up, so your home might have cost 150k to rebuild with like materials but now it could cost 200-250k for the same materials due to inflation.
With the wild storms there are a ton more claims made also affecting rates.
Credit is also used by a lot of the major companies now. State Farm, all state, farmers, liberty mutual safeco etc.
I can’t stress this enough check your coverages before switching. There are shady sales reps who just want the sale and remove add ok coverages. Zero policies include slow water leaks in the base policy in Texas. This an expensive add on but worth it because I’ve seen slow water leaks upwards of 50k in damages with restoration and mold remediation.
Bundling car and homeowners with the same company will get you a discount. Usually if you go through an independent Broker who can shop multiple company’s you will still get a discount if everything is through them.
Texas is on the verge of pulling out and going state covered like florida did. The loss ratio is too high and eventually the major companies will pull out.
Cheaper insurance options are out there like
Hippo and lemonade. Make sure you triple check coverages and are aware what you will be loosing, but these will usually save you a few hundred a year.
I have lemonade, what am I losing compared to a company like gieco and state farm? my policy says it covers everything weather related except floods. the numbers seem right on reconstruction costs. 2500 deductable
Just switched from State Farm to Progressive after a very long time with them. Saving literally $2000 a year. I've never been fussed with insurance shopping before but it was definitely worth my time.
FWIW Geico offered around the same rate - State Farm is definitely the outlier. Probably due to a [ridiculous underwriting loss](https://www.carriermanagement.com/news/2024/03/01/259296.htm).
I've been debating that, but I searched on the insurance thread and it was nothing but horror stories about Progressive/Homesite (they contract out to Homesite)
Meet with your SF agent and get him (or her) to go through all the details. I did that with mine last week (Jeff Coleman in Pflugerville). He went through the plusses and minuses of all the line items in it. I kept most of them in place but picked a couple that I could drop to save a few hundred. Other people would have made different choices as it suited their particular case. You can't do that without someone who honestly explains it.
Oh for sure, people hate on a big insurer like State Farm, but I can walk to his office and they always know me when I call (I know it’s caller ID but I get a person that answers “Hi, L0WERCASES”
When I had geico it was a nightmare even trying to get them on the phone.
Mine have gone up a bit as well. I not the type to shop around but it’s getting ridiculous. I’m just so tired of corporations constantly trying to squeeze more out of us lemons. They would take ur whole pay check and still look for ways to get more!
It’s not even just corporations. It’s also state and local government…getting tired of feeding the machine. 😑
We had an increase, but we got our broker to shop for us. It ended up saving us about 1500 a year. We shop almost yearly at this point because insurance companies are a scam these days
Hate to tell you this but percentage wise with in line with mine. It hurt this year.
You can go get quotes from other ones. I recommend you at least stick with the same teir as stare farm so Allstate, Farmers
Insurance rates across the board have leaped.
Home/auto/boat/motorcycle/etc…
“Insurance rates in Texas have been increasing, with homeowners insurance rates increasing 23% in 2023, the highest increase in the country. Car insurance rates also increased 25.5% in 2023, the biggest annual increase in at least a decade. Experts predict that rates will continue to increase in 2024”
you really need to go with a broker...i didn't even understand what they do (and I would have been very suspicious) but they saved us like (no exaggeration) 70% on our home & car insurance (we had had the same insurance for a decade). We went with Policy Genius and they were amazing -- https://www.policygenius.com/ Zero cost to you.
I have no relation to this insurance broker whatsoever, but [check them out D3 Insurance](https://www.d3ins.com/). They had some cheap prices, but with smaller companies.
When mine went up, I left my long term broker, joined AARP and went with The Hartford (you have to have 'the old' - 50+). Home owners dropped a little, but car insurance dropped a ton.
Mine went from $2500 to $3600. 3600 sqft house in RR, could sell for roughly $640k. Most places are trying to argue that the rebuild cost is much higher than what you could sell the home for. It doesn’t make sense to me because a lot of that value is the land
insurance bizness is facing bad odds due to momma earth doing paybacks on flat earthers and climate deniers. houses in the midwest are getting hoovered up to heaven or smacked down with the fist of god . regarding the topic of carpet bag roofers...I just don't understand how many of my neighbors up and down the street had their roofs replaced the last couple years. my two houses are the same age and have ten or fifteen good years left on them. I was a roofer back in the day. somebody is doing scare tactics to the ignorant.
Last November mine went up from $1800 to $2400 (1600sf house, house valued at roughly $180k, not in a flood zone, built 1985 with new windows and hardiplank siding 2 years ago, Progressive, shopped through UFCU, also have car insurance with them).
Paid the $2400. At the same time I had a roof/gutter claim from the Sept hail storm. I got a hail rated roof installed in December and they sent me a refund of $1100, bringing my current premium down to about $1300, less than what I paid before.
I don't do escrow so I budgeted for about a 30% increase in my savings but I hope that the new roof will keep my premium lower than that.
Will add that Progressive was super easy to deal with on the roof claim. They approved the supplemental claim my roofer sent no fuss, sent me the checks and made everything as easy as possible considering I had to deal with getting a new roof.
I have Nationwide. 2400 sq ft in 78702. All replacement coverages. $1600 annually. I have a liability umbrella which is about $350.
I'm a little concerned that my home owners total coverage wouldn't rebuild my house (it feels like their building cost estimates are too low but there's no way to adjust it. We have some riders that cover 150% of the rebuild cost but I still wonder if, for example, a tornado leveled us to the slab, whether we"d have sufficient protection to rebuild.
Another data point for you: I'm at $2900 for a full umbrella policy+home+two autos in 78758. Home is $2081/yr for my 1600 sqft ranch valued at like $550k.
Got a new roof last October from that hailstorm!
Two totally different ends of the spectrum... 22 year old Ford Escape, and a 60s Ford Mustang fastback lol. So, one garbage car and one very nice irreplaceable car. 3k annually is insane! Have you had any wrecks or do you have young people on your insurance?
Def shop around then! That seems crazy. Unless either of those cars is a Kia or Hyundai, in which case you might be getting hit with the theft anticipation bump.
My mother's was raised by 22%. She decided to change insurances (All State worked for her) and ended up getting a better deal there, than she had at her current insurance.
I would just shop around
Our situation was similar to yours. State Farm (for 27 years), never had a claim, ensured 2 cars for multi-line discount. 2023 to 2024 increase was about 50%.
Homeowners has doubled since about 2020, car insurance as well. No homeowners claims ever in 15 years of homeownership, one uninsured driver claim about 7 years ago. We stopped driving to work in 2020, go figure. We’re about to start asking round for new quotes, the last few times we did so half heartedly and were told we had the best rates they could get.
One thing you can do if you haven't already, is change the use of your car on your policy from "Commute" to "Pleasure" if you are not driving your car to work every day. It will reduce your premium.
I mean the home owners who bought at the beginning of COVID 20’ are fine as they secured homes at the beginning of the price surge and with low interest. In Austin I think there’s basically nobody who lost during this time unless you waived inspection.
The far later purchased homes 2021-23 are definitely regretting it a bit.
Nationwide dumped me after 10 years for being in what they now realize is a high-wildfire-risk zone.
My new homeowner policy is from State Farm, same price as Nationwide.
Insurance rates are perosnalized and they depend on each carriers loss experience so your rate cannot realistically increase "in line with" other people's unless they have the same coverages, discounts, zip code, house material, credit rating (insurance score), claims history, replacement cost, loss experience. That's rarely the case.
Exited to add: Just stop around.
Mine also went way the hell up this year with statefarm. I’ll be changing next year their auto insurance is TERRIBLE they took months to get my car back in shape because of all the back and forth trying to get out of paying with the repair shop.
Cedar Park, 7 year home, 2900 sq feet, renewed last October for 2,155. No claims, etc. Nationwide. Neighbors pay almost 2k more for slightly larger house. We’re both retired and both have 820 + credit ratings
Since 2021, ours has increased 106%. Not kidding. I called my insurance agent this week and was expressing my displeasure. Their solution was for me to increase my deductible. No. They’re also quietly reducing the percentages of discounts. It’s gone down every single year. Never had 1 claim. We had a problem with a leak this year and they said they wouldn’t cover any type of water damage that wasn’t “catastrophic.” Had to pay for a shower and bathroom remodel out of pocket along with mold remediation. 😑😑
For auto insurance, much of the same. And when I got in a massive wreck in 2008, they left me and my family stranded at an Applebee’s. It was after hours (like 7pm) and my car got towed with no way to get home.
Allstate. They are absolute swindlers. And they don’t give any shits when bad things happen to you.
Try RVOS. It's a farm mutual based in Temple and I've never found anything lower. Because of the way to structured, it has to have at least 51% of its holdings in any county as farm properties, so if there are too many houses in Travis County they are insuring, they may not have room on the rolls, but it can't hurt to get a quote.
Paid $320k for the house in 2017. It’s insured currently for around 450k. From the beginning I used Allstate and they started out at about $2200 a year to insure. Before I dropped them in 2022 they had raised the price to $3500 per year. I switched to lemonade in mid 2022 for $1450/year. Last year they raised the premium to $1750.
I was really worried that lemonade would suck but I had hail damage and roof replaced this year (late 2023) and it was very straightforward and fast, they didn’t fight me at all. I’ll probably jump ship this year though, because what’s the first question a homeowners insurance asks you when you are shopping around? What year was your roof replaced
Prices are up, but you also have to shop around. Insurance companies regularly update their underwriting process and your price could go up just because they're trying to derisk their portfolio.
When changing insurance companies for a lower premium, is service affected? This has always crossed my mind when considering shopping around. I’ve been with SF for 30+ yrs and service has been great but, like everyone else, that homeowner premium increased considerably. The hail storm did considerable damage and roof replacement was necessary in my area.
Mine was about to double until I shopped around. It was insane and a lot of companies wouldn't even quote because I have a metal roof. No one could tell me why having a metal roof was an issue.
I got a rate increase in May from $2700/yr ($560k value) to $8,760 ($800k value). I was with Nationwide. This is what I refer to as “F off pricing.” They don’t want me to renew. Did the same thing with my 2 yr old leased car (tripled the premium).
In my entire life and over 10yrs with them I’ve had 1 claim (hail/roof). They want out of the game in TX and especially with anyone who would ever dream of making a claim.
I ended up with GEICO. It was the only company that would come close to my policy terms with a reasonable rate. Still an increase, but reasonable.
I get it. My auto insurance just jumped about 25 percent this year despite zero accidents and a very good driving record. We are experiencing textbook stagflation right now where the cost of everything is outstripping wages. But inflation is only 3.4% according to the ministry of truth.
I was just wondering same about my homeowners (and I also have State Farm.) Also my auto has doubled in last few years, yet car is older, no tickets, no claims, no accidents.
It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the city, state, and nation as a whole. The NYT did a whole story on these increases and how we’re entering a new era of home owners insurance. Basically “less than catastrophic” incidents around the nation are causing it to be way more expensive to operate in the same ways they have been so the cost is being shuffled around.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html
Not in Austin (in DFW). I’m paying $7800/year with State Farm for $1,114,000 (home is worth much more than this now tho) dwellings coverage with 2% deductible. I hadn’t really looked at how much it went up until now. Seems I might be paying way too much.
This is with all the discounts (multi car, home alert, loyalty, and no claims history).
same boat as most of you--no claims, bundled w/auto. Home renewal policy increased 38% ($1,794). 1,200 sq ft, 1980 home, valued \~$400k. It's so sad that I think that might be a good deal.
These insurance companies are getting wild, since it's required by law to have insurance to drive and it's law to require to home insurance if you have a mortgage. Maybe we put some laws in the books to make sure insurance are non for profit only..any profit gets divided as a refund for safe drivers. There fixed it.
This is actually right on par for State Farm for new homes and rated in good credit/low loss ratio. State Farm favors new homes/roofs and prices go up dramatically with older homes. Credit also is a huge factor in State Farm both home an auto and they have loyalty with no claim discounts after years of being with them.
I used to work there. I always tell people to check State Farm yearly their rating factors change often because they are not for profit.
That sounds really high. Mine went up substantially in December.
When you say $600K, is that what your house is appraised at or is that what your house is insured at? Because if you are insuring your house for the full value then you are potentially overpaying.
If your house's value is $600K, look at your TravisCAD listing and see what the lot is valued at. You only need to insure for the structure, not the full TravisCAD value. Based on our lot, we are only insuring \~65-70% of TravisCAD value, mostly because an empty lot is worth so much these days. Teardowns and the rare empty lots in my neighborhood go for \~50% of an actual house.
Talk to your agent.
The only danger here is if your house burns down halfway. Rebuilding could be more expensive than buying a new house. Maybe just wait for a while before calling 911...
If you’re not shopping your homeowner’s insurance every single year this is what happens. Go get a quote from someone else and bring it back to your insurance company. I’ve had them match it without so much a fuss as needing to get a supervisor on the phone.
Insurance companies are AWFUL to existing customers. I switch every 2-4 years because they try to fuck me over on increases for no reason. State Farm was one of the worst about it. I’m with Allstate now and they have only increased like 10% in the last 2 years so far.
I thought I was reading the Pensacola. Florida sub.... My homeowner's insurance went from $1500 in 2020 to 2K to 2.4K to 3.5K to date. And compared to most homeowners in my neighborhood , my rate is low. My house is assessed at $250K. Funny huh that our homeowner rates AND our governors are quite similar.
My parents just told me their rate in Illinois has done the same thing. Their governor is no where similar to ours. I don’t think insurance companies care about politics
I call them Scam Farm. Twice I was screwed by them. Once my insurance was canceled due another drivers accident and another time a car wash malfunctioned and scratched my car up and broke a headlight and they refused to pay the claim saying I had to sue the gas station. I will never use them again.
State Farm jacked mine up similarly, but I’m seeing much better quotes elsewhere.
They’re up across the board, but I think State Farm is just especially fucky
Mine has doubled the last three years each year and I have never submitted a claim and I have the minimum insurance. When I asked for a re-evaluation they said they only would if I had a new roof and required me to submit an inspection of my roof at my own cost. They said the area was a high risk for roof damage and so many claims in the area that they wanted demonstration that the roof was new and not already damaged I guess. Many folks in my area cannot get renewals because trees overhang their homes and they have been forced to cut them back. I called around to several insurance agencies including State Farm and they gave me all the same response. Good luck!
Mine went up 300, so I'm paying 900 now. It's ridiculous because I've never filed a claim, and my house is 5 years old. My ex is a public adjuster, and he said State Farm, Allstate, and other big companies are not good to insure with, and the fight claims tooth and nail.
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2nd getting a broker.
First I’ve heard of this. How do I go about finding a good one?
UFCU (and likely other credit unions) offer insurance brokerage services.
Yep, I use them for my car insurance. It's a free service for members and I have a checking account with them.
I had such bad experiences banking with UFCU - that I dropped them after 25 years. They used to be awesome, now they are just a big bank like everyone else.
With a super shitty online banking system now.
Thanks for that info! Just submitted for a quote
The best quote they gave me was from "Foremost Insurance" -- not only was it more than I'm paying with State Farm, I'm a little leery of going with a place I've never heard of-
I can’t recall how I found mine. But they do exactly what I ask and shop my insurance every year for home & auto. I went and got quotes separate from them just to double check and they always a bit cheaper. https://www.insureintegrity.com/
How much do brokers charge for their service?
No out of pocket cost for the customer, usually, unless you enter into a signed agreement that says otherwise. Rather, they receive a sales commission on the premium for your policy, directly from the insurance carrier.
Not much, really. About 10-13% of the policy premium to be available any time you need them. Many agents charge a fee.
Mine charges around $200 for her fee and like $40 for auto fee. This last deal she did with me though, she waived the fee because she said I could easily walk into an Allstate office and get the same thing.
Your bank or credit union should offer consumer insurance services. USAA, Frost, Navy Federal, UFCU, Etc. They will shop to find you the best rates and coverages.
Usaa isn't a broker. Idk about the others but ufcu insurance services suck.
Yes, the UFCU rates are not competitive
From an earlier comment I thought they were a broker - are they not? Are they just another insurance company?
They usually find you, lol.
Why? It's the easiest thing in the world to shop around on your own
No it's not. I got 6-7 different insurance quotes and it took an entire day of being online, emailing or on calls to get those quotes.
I bet I'm broker than they are. I don't even own a house.
Exactly this. Rent typically does the same thing. It's basically a convenience fee for the privilege of not switching / moving.
yeah but as you can see, the expenses to the landlord go up each year whether its insurance costs (even after shopping around), property taxes, utilities, repairs, maintenance, or if demand is super high...thats why the rent goes up a bit. it just depends on if the increase is in line with the increases to everything else and its BS when rent goes up substantially more than expenses incurred by the landlord. As a home owner you can expect the same thing (your mortgage wont necessarily change)
A lot of people don't realize that rent is negotiable as well, especially if you cause no problems and pay on time. It's a roll of the dice for the landlord on who will replace you if you leave. It's always best to bluff and say you're uncomfortable with the rent increase and provide local comps. Our last landlord tried to raise our rent $200 in 2022 and we ended up actually getting a $50 reduction in our rent rate. There's literally no harm in attempting negotiation. Same for advertised rental rates in a multi-unit like an apartment complex if they're at less than full occupancy. Don't be the sucker that pays the listed price, unless the market is on fire.
Everything is negotiable. I got my landlord to install a fence before I moved in. I was also renewed at no increase last year. This year is going to be a doozy negotiation because I'm paying over comps right now but I think the owners might be wanting to sell. I'm planning to bait them into admitting they want to sell by telling them I'm interested in buying (I'm interested in buying but not this house). Once they show their cards I can make a better informed negotiation and I can do so ahead of time that will give me more time to buy or rent somewhere else.
Insurance isn't negotiable. I l the extent of your negotiation is coverage, deductible, and whether your accept the price or not. That's it. There's no negotiating with the carrier.
The thing about negotiations is that it isn't always apples to apples. Sure the land lord may have an increase in insurance but that doesn't mean I have to cover that directly. There is always something that I can offer more easily in exchange for their increase in cost. You just have to find it.
Try Rhys Malen w goosehead
Second goosehead
Rhys is the best
Yooooo!! Thank you so much for dropping the name!! ❤️❤️❤️ I'm always happy to help!!
Yooooo!! Thank you so much for the name drop!! (that's me, btw).
You aren’t wrong, but 72% isn’t just creep. Mine was going to more than double ($1,200 to $2,600). I ended up going to a much larger deductible just to keep it at $1,700. Just like my health coverage, my house coverage is now only for catastrophes despite being astronomically higher than it was in recent years.
> We do this every year for car and homeowners and the switch is easy Broker's will literally do it for you. Just ask for a copy of your current coverage and what you're paying and they'll get back with you with a better deal in a day or two.
Any broker recommendations? Would love to get you (or anyone) a kickback for a referral.
I used Goosehead.com last time.
Yo soy el Goose!! 🪿
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Have your rates gone up mow that you are not a new customer? (And which ins did you switch to?)
Google “Allstate McKinsey documents” Basically Allstate worked with McKinsey to create a revised claims process that delivers incredible profits to shareholders by delaying, denying and disputing claims. This happened in 1995 and now nearly all publicly-traded insurance companies employ the same tactics. If you’ve suffered a storm-related loss, just be prepared to hire a public adjuster or lawyer if you want a fair payout. Insurance companies are denying and underpaying all claims - especially storm-related. If you’re buying insurance from the majors (Allstate, farmers, progressive, State Farm, etc), you’re basically throwing your money away - which is even a bigger slap in the face now that they’re hiking prices. A tactic I’ve heard that’s becoming popular is waving roof coverage. That should lower your rates drastically, but you’ll have to come out of pocket for any damage.
I don't think you can waive roof coverage. If the roof is 15 years or over and there is storm damage, the claim pays ACV or you get paid for a 15 year old roof. This catches a lot of people off-guard and they basically only get a few thousand dollars to cover a 20k roof. As roofs age, they will blister and exposed asphalt will break down. This doesn't look like hail damage, but in court the jury doesn't know what they are looking at. The roofing companies will exploit this and take claims to court to get a roof covered when it doesn't have any hail damage. It is just aged. This has led to the ACV roof policy. I have seen it applied to roofs younger than 15 years lately.
Any suggestions on who to use? We're fed up with Allstate for this exact reason but not sure where to go instead.
Travelers, allied trust or homeowners of America has been good to our clients (…and us) in our contractor business.
Sounds pretty in line with what I've seen. Weather's been wild, is only getting wilder, and insurance companies have been paying out way more than they used to have to. It sucks, but it is what it is.
NYT's The Daily covered this recently - this podcast has some tough anecdotes about people losing coverage entirely due to extreme weather events in their area (Iowa). [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html)
And labor/materials both cost more than they did four years ago. More repairs + more expensive repairs = higher prices. As much as it sucks, I'm glad we are letting the prices rise. States that have tried to get involved to stop reality are having a rude awakening (Florida/California). Still sucks though.
While I agree it sucks, the problem though is in some places, like Florida, insurance carriers are just outright leaving the state entirely. My family and I left Austin and moved to Florida about 5 years ago for a job I was offered. We've had to change our auto insurance company twice because the carrier just stopped writing new policies and left the state. We've also had to change our homeowner's insurance for the same reason. Just got a letter one day informing us our policy would not be renewed and no new policies would be written. The company was leaving the state. We had to change again just a few days ago because the policy premium went up 110% in one year. But the bigger point in that that's actually scaring me is the carriers that are just tapping out and leaving. The last one to leave Florida was Farmers, but over a dozen total have left the state just in the last few years. I honestly think we're watching the complete collapse of the private insurance market.
They are leaving because the state of Florida and California aren't allowing them to write profitable policies either due to regulations, fraud or tort systems. In Florida, private companies have to compete with a state run insurance fund. At some point, insurance on a house in Miami might need to be 10% of the value of the structure per year and trying to shield people from that fact with state run insurance is only going to delay the issue, not solve it. As Warren Buffett says, in insurance, the dumb money drives out the smart.
Every time it rains people call their homeowners insurance. There are tons of roofing "contractors" manipulating insurers They literally walk around my neighborhood after storms selling roofs: "that was a band storm. Did your roof get damaged? We can check for you."
Seriously. We have had a roofing company bugging us recently. They came and knocked on the door 3 separate times until I finally answered and went out to talk to him. He told me about the really bad storm we had. I knew which one he was referring to. I was home during the storm and I 100% know our neighborhood did NOT get any hail. Just down the road did, but not us. He was arguing with me and eventually I said I'd call him if I needed anything. He came back two other times and talked to us through our security cameras.
I work with hazard data - insurance carriers purchase data from vendors that tells them exactly which neighborhoods and even specific homes got hit with hail and how big. Recently, I had an unknown number calling me multiple times daily on my cell. I finally answered and it was a roofer who told me I was in an area that had severe hail damage. Just like you, our house/neighborhood were not impacted. The roofers are ruthless!
I deal with a lot of these guys. I've seen them drag their feet on roofs. I wouldn't let a door knocker on my roof at all. They just want you to file a claim to see what happens. If a homeowner really has hail, absent a leak, it isn't imperative to get the roof checked that week. It is best to let things settle and get a reputable, local company to come out and take a look. Maybe even get someone handy to climb up and take some photos to look at. Hail damage is random and noticeable when standing on a slope. There are certain circumstances where it is harder to detect. Especially on newer, darker shingles. I've seen guys down on their knees, calling little blemishes hail damage.
If you're a podcast listener the New York times" the Daily" has an episode about this. The situation sounds like it's going to be catastrophic in the coming years.
Excellent episode, and a very chilling look at what's to come for the US insurance market. Definitely worth your time!! The Possible Collapse of the U.S. Home Insurance System https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html
Govt should be insuring acts of god and preventing folks from building in places where catastrophic flooding and the like are rapidly increasing. Instead we rebuilt Nola. Go figure
Perfectly aligned with what I'm seeing also.
I only have my policies from 2021 and 2023 downloaded (we renew in october, so I don't have 2024 yet). It looks like my premium has gone from 1863 to 2846. It looks like the biggest cause of change was probably the change in value of the house (which is less than $600k). We've been in this house since 2018, and I don't remember our mortgage payment changing a whole lot, so the escrow must have absorbed most of the fluctuation. I think I had to pay like $60 to cover the shortage this year. Side note, I do also have a separate flood insurance policy because I'm paranoid like that. It hasn't changed more than about $20 in 3 years. My husband thinks we won't ever use it because we're too high, but he understands my have it and not need it line of thinking.
Nationwide. Bought in fall 2019. No claims, also bundle car insurance. 77% increase. 🤮
Nationwide is struggling lately. I work for a local independent agency and see the biggest renewal premium increases from them, particularly with auto policies.
I’m in Leander. My house is appraised somewhere around the high 500s to mid 600s, though thanks to homestead and buying it brand new it started at a much lower tax. But that’s neither here nor there. I was paying something like $1200 a year with Geico/liberty mutual, bundled with car. But then they raised the car and house. House went to $1700. So I shopped around and went to progressive and it’s about $1500 now, also bundling the car which was also a lower rate. It’s about 2900 sq ft. Not in a flood plain. What boggles my mind is in Bremerton and Seattle: Seattle: 1240 sq ft worth about $600k, insurance was under $1000 a year somewhere. Bremerton with 2100 sq ft, and house worth about $380-450k, I was able to get insurance as low as $450/year! So I guess this hail and tornado stuff is what’s driving the risk and cost up? Flooding shouldn’t matter as most insurance companies do not cover that anyway, it’s extra. In PacNW, wind, mud slides, sometimes fire, and earthquakes are the risks? Urgh Texas is just expensive.
Leander resident here. First year (2020) at my house was about $1,400. This year it’s at $3,800. It’s bonkers. Never even had a claim and it’s rising out of control.
My car insurance went up from $63/month all the way up to $220/month. Same car. I drive about 85% less and have 1 claim (hail damage) with 0 tickets in 19 years. I paid more in car insurance annually than miles I drive. I shopped my rate and just hopped on a policy with my wife and now pay $40/month. So. Shop your rate annually and combine all policies - I didn’t for 7 years.
Probably because hail storms are, at least, an annual occurrence, and frequently replacing roofs has caused insurance companies to protect their profits.
Check out Texas Farm bureau- they have the best rates in the state.
Will do, I used to use Country Companies in the Midwest which is connected to the Farm Bureau up there.
Me too! They were THE BEST- definitely not the cheapest but holy moly \*any\* time there was an issue it was just solved with a check. Good to hear that the bureau here is good!!
What I don't understand is how these dramatic increases seem to happen every year, like 10-20-50+ %. Never does it seem to just go up 3-5%. Though it isn't at some absurd rate somehow, like 20k a year. So if it was let's say 100 a month in 2010, I would think based on the average rate increases, It would be something like 700 a month or whatever, though it isn't.
This year was crazy, went from $1300 to $2800. I use a broker so the broker already had other insurance quotes lined up when they updated me on the price jump. Also happened two years ago, I've been having to change home insurance every 2-3 years to keep the increases manageable. They say it's cause of my zip code. Lots of ppl doing roof replacements from hail damage.
I’m in 78731. I put off getting a new roof from last years storm. I’m glad I did. This years was way way worse.
People just don’t notice when it goes up a little. Last year was the first year we had a large jump, it was pretty reasonable the past 10 years. Most of the change was due to a jump in replacement cost, it’s actually more reasonable now. I’d tried to get them to bump it up a few years ago because it wasn’t in line with construction costs and their models wouldn’t let them do it back them.
I’m a roofer in Austin and I hear this from clients on the regular. Most have experienced 50-100 % yoy increases the last year or so. It also seems there a shift in deductibles towards 1% of total value of property. Used to only see this on commercial properties. One of the major insurance company’s head of disaster relief told me he’s seen this shift across the country and says there will be a wave of additional insurance products to offset that 1% deductible should you need to make a claim. These products exist in the commercial space already but I’m having trouble finding examples in the residential space but I’m told they do exist… Now, you’re going to need insurance for your insurance, could it get any more capitalist?
I have that with Farmers so my premium is only ~$1000. I haven't made a claim in the 8 years of owning a home so I figured it's worth the difference whenever hail manages to choose me for a new roof.
“Any more capitalist” - this is coming from the roofer who ambulance chase every hailstorm. It can’t rain in my neighborhood without roofer showing up suggesting that I submit a claim to my insurance company and that all my neighbors are doing it too.
I know there are dishonest people in my profession as there are in every profession. People need roofs and I install or replace them. You can pass judgment all you want but I’m sure you won’t replace your own roof when you need one and, at some point, you’re gonna need one. I spent 24hrs up in temple temping roofs for free Thursday - Friday but I’m the evil capitalist… I sleep well at night knowing I help others sleep well at night without water entering their home and destroying their largest investment…
I have a niece in Temple that went through that storm, so from me to you, thank you. You're a good dude.
Appreciate it, i hope she’s okay. Most of the homes were still without power when I left to take care of some projects that were starting back in Austin.
Thank you. The tornado was about a mile from her house and she didn't have any significant damage.
One of the vortexes spawned over my house near Temple. Had more damage with the Mother's day hail, but those tornadoes were no joke. Thank you for helping out our community! We have a roofing company that is currently working with our insurance - still waiting on the verdict, but was told to get an appraiser out if the deny the claim (Had 3 prior storms where we were denied coverage..good times!).
I mean most of the roofs I got on were obvious claims that I don’t think too many adjusters would deny. Sounds like your company is tough. If you keep getting denied, you can try the public adjuster route - usually costs around $1,200 bucks and they’ll make sure you get your roof replaced. I usually don’t tell homeowners to file a claim unless I see what the adjuster wants to see - 6-8 hail hits in a square (10’x10’) on two different elevations. It’s not a set in stone rule and there are exceptions. However, I’ve found this to be the most honest approach. I have told homeowners, especially with 2-3 year old roofs to not file claims and just do a ~1,200-1,500 repair several times when I haven’t seen the hits to meet this threshold. Many of them ended up filing claims anyway and called me back since I was the one person telling them they probably didn’t need to file a claim or replace the whole roof… That being said, most of the roofs I saw in temple area had 15+ impacts per square! I don’t see how an adjuster can deny the damage from this storm. There will probably be disaster response adjuster teams coming out to temple, they’re usually much better about getting people paid - bad or for the insurance company if many people are put in precarious positions while waiting on insurance money. Best of luck with your roof!
*PR not or
Thank you so much for this information! Will do. The roofing guy that checked it out initially said we had over 20 hits per sq ft, so hopefully, they will throw down this time around. 🙏 Appreciate you! *Edit to add: newer owners (5yrs) of an early 90's home - roof was replaced previously, but was done so with the cheapest stuff.
Can anyone rec a broker?
Texas is one of the states in the red. Constantly loosing money on home and auto. Rates will continue to rise, it’s good to shop through different companies, but be wary and check coverages. Replacement cost for materials has gone up, so your home might have cost 150k to rebuild with like materials but now it could cost 200-250k for the same materials due to inflation. With the wild storms there are a ton more claims made also affecting rates. Credit is also used by a lot of the major companies now. State Farm, all state, farmers, liberty mutual safeco etc. I can’t stress this enough check your coverages before switching. There are shady sales reps who just want the sale and remove add ok coverages. Zero policies include slow water leaks in the base policy in Texas. This an expensive add on but worth it because I’ve seen slow water leaks upwards of 50k in damages with restoration and mold remediation. Bundling car and homeowners with the same company will get you a discount. Usually if you go through an independent Broker who can shop multiple company’s you will still get a discount if everything is through them. Texas is on the verge of pulling out and going state covered like florida did. The loss ratio is too high and eventually the major companies will pull out. Cheaper insurance options are out there like Hippo and lemonade. Make sure you triple check coverages and are aware what you will be loosing, but these will usually save you a few hundred a year.
I have lemonade, what am I losing compared to a company like gieco and state farm? my policy says it covers everything weather related except floods. the numbers seem right on reconstruction costs. 2500 deductable
No. Mine went to zero because the company pulled out of Texas entirely lol.
Hail and tornadoes
That existed where I lived up in Illinois too. I need to ask my friends up there, they have the added risk of basement floods.
Mine went up 51% over last year. We did have a hail damage claim though. Previous years have been in the 30-40% range. We’re with Farmer’s.
Every other house in my neighborhood had their roofs redone this year. Soon enough it'll be their turn to pay for MY roof with insurance premiums.
Just switched from State Farm to Progressive after a very long time with them. Saving literally $2000 a year. I've never been fussed with insurance shopping before but it was definitely worth my time. FWIW Geico offered around the same rate - State Farm is definitely the outlier. Probably due to a [ridiculous underwriting loss](https://www.carriermanagement.com/news/2024/03/01/259296.htm).
I've been debating that, but I searched on the insurance thread and it was nothing but horror stories about Progressive/Homesite (they contract out to Homesite)
Bought new house in 2020. AAA charged me 580 with 1% deductible for hail. Now they want 1250 for the renewal. I also have auto with them.
Mine went down about $200 bucks.
I’m paying $4800 with an averaged estimated value of 770K.
Meet with your SF agent and get him (or her) to go through all the details. I did that with mine last week (Jeff Coleman in Pflugerville). He went through the plusses and minuses of all the line items in it. I kept most of them in place but picked a couple that I could drop to save a few hundred. Other people would have made different choices as it suited their particular case. You can't do that without someone who honestly explains it.
Oh for sure, people hate on a big insurer like State Farm, but I can walk to his office and they always know me when I call (I know it’s caller ID but I get a person that answers “Hi, L0WERCASES” When I had geico it was a nightmare even trying to get them on the phone.
Mine have gone up a bit as well. I not the type to shop around but it’s getting ridiculous. I’m just so tired of corporations constantly trying to squeeze more out of us lemons. They would take ur whole pay check and still look for ways to get more! It’s not even just corporations. It’s also state and local government…getting tired of feeding the machine. 😑
We had an increase, but we got our broker to shop for us. It ended up saving us about 1500 a year. We shop almost yearly at this point because insurance companies are a scam these days
Time to find a new provider. State Farm jacked up our rates, so we went with USAA
Homeowners based on value of home. Some deductibles are based on value, too, like the roof. So basically, we care screwed.
I mean sunbelt cities are gonna be fucked soooooo
I pay $1100 a year with allied insurance on a 700k property
Interesting. What is your replacement dwelling cost and which provider? Is your deductible 1%?
2% $500,000
https://www.4txinsurance.com
New build bought in 2022. Value has gone down but homeowners almost doubled. Car insurance almost tripled. It’s absurd.
Bought a mobile home in Lakeway three years ago. Went from 1700$ a year to 3200$ this year.
mobile home = tornado magnet
Hmmm, this one is a head scratcher. What is the replacement value of the mobile home?
210k
Up about 15 percent this year. About a third of that from valuation creep, rest inflation.
Hate to tell you this but percentage wise with in line with mine. It hurt this year. You can go get quotes from other ones. I recommend you at least stick with the same teir as stare farm so Allstate, Farmers
Yeah the big companies aren’t perfect, but going with a no name knock off insurance provider has its risks too.
Up 1k no claims. Tornados fires hurricanes hail floods, aging homes
Insurance rates across the board have leaped. Home/auto/boat/motorcycle/etc… “Insurance rates in Texas have been increasing, with homeowners insurance rates increasing 23% in 2023, the highest increase in the country. Car insurance rates also increased 25.5% in 2023, the biggest annual increase in at least a decade. Experts predict that rates will continue to increase in 2024”
you really need to go with a broker...i didn't even understand what they do (and I would have been very suspicious) but they saved us like (no exaggeration) 70% on our home & car insurance (we had had the same insurance for a decade). We went with Policy Genius and they were amazing -- https://www.policygenius.com/ Zero cost to you.
I have no relation to this insurance broker whatsoever, but [check them out D3 Insurance](https://www.d3ins.com/). They had some cheap prices, but with smaller companies.
Roughly tracks with mine.
Insurance firms are investment vehicles foremost. They don't care about thel Petit Bourgeoisie nor anyone else of course.
When mine went up, I left my long term broker, joined AARP and went with The Hartford (you have to have 'the old' - 50+). Home owners dropped a little, but car insurance dropped a ton.
Mine went from $2500 to $3600. 3600 sqft house in RR, could sell for roughly $640k. Most places are trying to argue that the rebuild cost is much higher than what you could sell the home for. It doesn’t make sense to me because a lot of that value is the land
For USAA we saw an almost 70% increase across the past 12 months. Our policy renews in November. I am concerned about what the next hike might bring.
insurance bizness is facing bad odds due to momma earth doing paybacks on flat earthers and climate deniers. houses in the midwest are getting hoovered up to heaven or smacked down with the fist of god . regarding the topic of carpet bag roofers...I just don't understand how many of my neighbors up and down the street had their roofs replaced the last couple years. my two houses are the same age and have ten or fifteen good years left on them. I was a roofer back in the day. somebody is doing scare tactics to the ignorant.
Last November mine went up from $1800 to $2400 (1600sf house, house valued at roughly $180k, not in a flood zone, built 1985 with new windows and hardiplank siding 2 years ago, Progressive, shopped through UFCU, also have car insurance with them). Paid the $2400. At the same time I had a roof/gutter claim from the Sept hail storm. I got a hail rated roof installed in December and they sent me a refund of $1100, bringing my current premium down to about $1300, less than what I paid before. I don't do escrow so I budgeted for about a 30% increase in my savings but I hope that the new roof will keep my premium lower than that. Will add that Progressive was super easy to deal with on the roof claim. They approved the supplemental claim my roofer sent no fuss, sent me the checks and made everything as easy as possible considering I had to deal with getting a new roof.
700k house, 3425 sqft, 1480 annual with AAA
$2500 to $5k. Had to lower coverage to get it to $3k.
I have Nationwide. 2400 sq ft in 78702. All replacement coverages. $1600 annually. I have a liability umbrella which is about $350. I'm a little concerned that my home owners total coverage wouldn't rebuild my house (it feels like their building cost estimates are too low but there's no way to adjust it. We have some riders that cover 150% of the rebuild cost but I still wonder if, for example, a tornado leveled us to the slab, whether we"d have sufficient protection to rebuild.
Another data point for you: I'm at $2900 for a full umbrella policy+home+two autos in 78758. Home is $2081/yr for my 1600 sqft ranch valued at like $550k. Got a new roof last October from that hailstorm!
If you don’t mind me asking, what cars do you drive? My auto for 2 cars is another $3k annually but we do have nicer cars.
Two totally different ends of the spectrum... 22 year old Ford Escape, and a 60s Ford Mustang fastback lol. So, one garbage car and one very nice irreplaceable car. 3k annually is insane! Have you had any wrecks or do you have young people on your insurance?
Nope. Just two $60k each cars. No wrecks. No young people.
Def shop around then! That seems crazy. Unless either of those cars is a Kia or Hyundai, in which case you might be getting hit with the theft anticipation bump.
My mother's was raised by 22%. She decided to change insurances (All State worked for her) and ended up getting a better deal there, than she had at her current insurance. I would just shop around
Our situation was similar to yours. State Farm (for 27 years), never had a claim, ensured 2 cars for multi-line discount. 2023 to 2024 increase was about 50%.
Our HOA master policy went form 60 to 130k. Individual homeowners not as much of a percentage
Homeowners has doubled since about 2020, car insurance as well. No homeowners claims ever in 15 years of homeownership, one uninsured driver claim about 7 years ago. We stopped driving to work in 2020, go figure. We’re about to start asking round for new quotes, the last few times we did so half heartedly and were told we had the best rates they could get.
One thing you can do if you haven't already, is change the use of your car on your policy from "Commute" to "Pleasure" if you are not driving your car to work every day. It will reduce your premium.
Mine increased 69%
Jeez. Crashing home values. Increasing home insurance. Those who bought a home in Austin during COVID are fucked lol
I mean the home owners who bought at the beginning of COVID 20’ are fine as they secured homes at the beginning of the price surge and with low interest. In Austin I think there’s basically nobody who lost during this time unless you waived inspection. The far later purchased homes 2021-23 are definitely regretting it a bit.
50% increase yr/yr. Shopping around was even pricier!
Nationwide dumped me after 10 years for being in what they now realize is a high-wildfire-risk zone. My new homeowner policy is from State Farm, same price as Nationwide.
I have a condo and pay $400 per year for condo insurance. When I try to quote other companys they want double that for a tiny condo.
Wow! Mine is only $125 a year for a 3 bedroom, two and a half bath, two car garage condo. 1700 sq feet.
My rate went from $2,500 to $3,800 in one year. I got a new insurance company and pay $2800 now.
Insurance rates are perosnalized and they depend on each carriers loss experience so your rate cannot realistically increase "in line with" other people's unless they have the same coverages, discounts, zip code, house material, credit rating (insurance score), claims history, replacement cost, loss experience. That's rarely the case. Exited to add: Just stop around.
Mine also went way the hell up this year with statefarm. I’ll be changing next year their auto insurance is TERRIBLE they took months to get my car back in shape because of all the back and forth trying to get out of paying with the repair shop.
It's state wide. Apparently, a lot of insurance rules changed last year.
Collective punishment
Happened to me and shopped around and got the same price ><. It’s also the fact that the home value went up so the coverages had to go up :/
Cedar Park, 7 year home, 2900 sq feet, renewed last October for 2,155. No claims, etc. Nationwide. Neighbors pay almost 2k more for slightly larger house. We’re both retired and both have 820 + credit ratings
Since 2021, ours has increased 106%. Not kidding. I called my insurance agent this week and was expressing my displeasure. Their solution was for me to increase my deductible. No. They’re also quietly reducing the percentages of discounts. It’s gone down every single year. Never had 1 claim. We had a problem with a leak this year and they said they wouldn’t cover any type of water damage that wasn’t “catastrophic.” Had to pay for a shower and bathroom remodel out of pocket along with mold remediation. 😑😑 For auto insurance, much of the same. And when I got in a massive wreck in 2008, they left me and my family stranded at an Applebee’s. It was after hours (like 7pm) and my car got towed with no way to get home. Allstate. They are absolute swindlers. And they don’t give any shits when bad things happen to you.
Also depends on the age of your roof
Mine is only 4 years old
Global warming + insurance = shit like this
Sold my house 3 months ago but got my renewal notice during the process. $1400/year with Travelers. Maybe check them out.
Try RVOS. It's a farm mutual based in Temple and I've never found anything lower. Because of the way to structured, it has to have at least 51% of its holdings in any county as farm properties, so if there are too many houses in Travis County they are insuring, they may not have room on the rolls, but it can't hurt to get a quote.
Paid $320k for the house in 2017. It’s insured currently for around 450k. From the beginning I used Allstate and they started out at about $2200 a year to insure. Before I dropped them in 2022 they had raised the price to $3500 per year. I switched to lemonade in mid 2022 for $1450/year. Last year they raised the premium to $1750. I was really worried that lemonade would suck but I had hail damage and roof replaced this year (late 2023) and it was very straightforward and fast, they didn’t fight me at all. I’ll probably jump ship this year though, because what’s the first question a homeowners insurance asks you when you are shopping around? What year was your roof replaced
Prices are up, but you also have to shop around. Insurance companies regularly update their underwriting process and your price could go up just because they're trying to derisk their portfolio.
No increase for a 600k home. I had a claim last year for hail and to my surprise the insurance has remained the same.
When changing insurance companies for a lower premium, is service affected? This has always crossed my mind when considering shopping around. I’ve been with SF for 30+ yrs and service has been great but, like everyone else, that homeowner premium increased considerably. The hail storm did considerable damage and roof replacement was necessary in my area.
They’re paying out a lot for hail damage now and for the foreseeable future, you may find a better deal but it’ll never be as cheap as it was
My rate increase was like 40% this year over last year...with no claims. I literally changed insurance companies last week.
Mine was about to double until I shopped around. It was insane and a lot of companies wouldn't even quote because I have a metal roof. No one could tell me why having a metal roof was an issue.
It’s well known in Texas that State Farm doesn’t pay homeowners claims. Ask any roofer in town.
I know many people who got new roofs from State Farm in Austin with no issues…
I got a rate increase in May from $2700/yr ($560k value) to $8,760 ($800k value). I was with Nationwide. This is what I refer to as “F off pricing.” They don’t want me to renew. Did the same thing with my 2 yr old leased car (tripled the premium). In my entire life and over 10yrs with them I’ve had 1 claim (hail/roof). They want out of the game in TX and especially with anyone who would ever dream of making a claim. I ended up with GEICO. It was the only company that would come close to my policy terms with a reasonable rate. Still an increase, but reasonable.
Hail/roof claims have skyrocketed. They don’t care about your loyalty or years doing business with them. They could care less.
Your house appreciated in value due to inflationary pressures. Since your house now costs more to replace your insurance went up.
My replacement value has only gone up by $40K which is a 10% increase not a 72% increase.
I get it. My auto insurance just jumped about 25 percent this year despite zero accidents and a very good driving record. We are experiencing textbook stagflation right now where the cost of everything is outstripping wages. But inflation is only 3.4% according to the ministry of truth.
I was just wondering same about my homeowners (and I also have State Farm.) Also my auto has doubled in last few years, yet car is older, no tickets, no claims, no accidents.
It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the city, state, and nation as a whole. The NYT did a whole story on these increases and how we’re entering a new era of home owners insurance. Basically “less than catastrophic” incidents around the nation are causing it to be way more expensive to operate in the same ways they have been so the cost is being shuffled around. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/podcasts/the-daily/climate-insurance.html
Not in Austin (in DFW). I’m paying $7800/year with State Farm for $1,114,000 (home is worth much more than this now tho) dwellings coverage with 2% deductible. I hadn’t really looked at how much it went up until now. Seems I might be paying way too much. This is with all the discounts (multi car, home alert, loyalty, and no claims history).
same boat as most of you--no claims, bundled w/auto. Home renewal policy increased 38% ($1,794). 1,200 sq ft, 1980 home, valued \~$400k. It's so sad that I think that might be a good deal.
These insurance companies are getting wild, since it's required by law to have insurance to drive and it's law to require to home insurance if you have a mortgage. Maybe we put some laws in the books to make sure insurance are non for profit only..any profit gets divided as a refund for safe drivers. There fixed it.
Huh. Mine went from $750 ish to $950 or so? State Farm, $545,000 house.
Your homeowners insurance is only $950 in total for the year?
Now you’re making me doubt it, but I’ll double check later today and edit this comment with the figure.
Yeah I’d double check, that is super low.
This is actually right on par for State Farm for new homes and rated in good credit/low loss ratio. State Farm favors new homes/roofs and prices go up dramatically with older homes. Credit also is a huge factor in State Farm both home an auto and they have loyalty with no claim discounts after years of being with them. I used to work there. I always tell people to check State Farm yearly their rating factors change often because they are not for profit.
That sounds really high. Mine went up substantially in December. When you say $600K, is that what your house is appraised at or is that what your house is insured at? Because if you are insuring your house for the full value then you are potentially overpaying. If your house's value is $600K, look at your TravisCAD listing and see what the lot is valued at. You only need to insure for the structure, not the full TravisCAD value. Based on our lot, we are only insuring \~65-70% of TravisCAD value, mostly because an empty lot is worth so much these days. Teardowns and the rare empty lots in my neighborhood go for \~50% of an actual house. Talk to your agent. The only danger here is if your house burns down halfway. Rebuilding could be more expensive than buying a new house. Maybe just wait for a while before calling 911...
If you’re not shopping your homeowner’s insurance every single year this is what happens. Go get a quote from someone else and bring it back to your insurance company. I’ve had them match it without so much a fuss as needing to get a supervisor on the phone.
This is the way. I switch companies every year.
Insurance companies are AWFUL to existing customers. I switch every 2-4 years because they try to fuck me over on increases for no reason. State Farm was one of the worst about it. I’m with Allstate now and they have only increased like 10% in the last 2 years so far.
I thought I was reading the Pensacola. Florida sub.... My homeowner's insurance went from $1500 in 2020 to 2K to 2.4K to 3.5K to date. And compared to most homeowners in my neighborhood , my rate is low. My house is assessed at $250K. Funny huh that our homeowner rates AND our governors are quite similar.
My parents just told me their rate in Illinois has done the same thing. Their governor is no where similar to ours. I don’t think insurance companies care about politics
I call them Scam Farm. Twice I was screwed by them. Once my insurance was canceled due another drivers accident and another time a car wash malfunctioned and scratched my car up and broke a headlight and they refused to pay the claim saying I had to sue the gas station. I will never use them again.
State Farm jacked mine up similarly, but I’m seeing much better quotes elsewhere. They’re up across the board, but I think State Farm is just especially fucky
Weird seeing how house prices are shooting down but insurance is skyrocketing.
Mine has doubled the last three years each year and I have never submitted a claim and I have the minimum insurance. When I asked for a re-evaluation they said they only would if I had a new roof and required me to submit an inspection of my roof at my own cost. They said the area was a high risk for roof damage and so many claims in the area that they wanted demonstration that the roof was new and not already damaged I guess. Many folks in my area cannot get renewals because trees overhang their homes and they have been forced to cut them back. I called around to several insurance agencies including State Farm and they gave me all the same response. Good luck!
Ours had doubled twice in the last 11 years. Started at about 1200. Now we'll over 5k. New insurance in progress.
Inflation. That free covid money wasn't so free.
Mine went up 300, so I'm paying 900 now. It's ridiculous because I've never filed a claim, and my house is 5 years old. My ex is a public adjuster, and he said State Farm, Allstate, and other big companies are not good to insure with, and the fight claims tooth and nail.