Home insurance renewal shock (Liberty: mortgage, credit card, homes)

[BijouBaby]

I just received my renewal notice from my home insurer, Hippo (been with for 6-7 years), and it has DOUBLED in price from last year. Ouch! Never in my life have I had home insurance double from one year to the next. No claims, same very high credit score, nothing has changed on my end, so see no reason for it to jump like this. Time to hit the road and go insurance shopping I guess. I just ordered my LexisNexis report just to see if there's anything abnormal on it, but I doubt that's it.

Am I missing something? Is this a trend this year - crazy high leaps in home insurance??

[ashbeeigh]

Insurance in general is going up for whatever reason. I know I have my auto insurance on autopay in a separate bank account from my regular spending and it’s gone up at least $60 in three years with no claims.

[gentlearts]

Yes, ours went up a lot, so we shopped it, and couldn’t do any better. We bit the bullet, and paid it for one year up instead of monthly, so saved a few $100. that way.

Taxes and insurance are killing retired people.

[Seguinite]

Mine (in Nebraska) went up something close to 20% this last renewal, before the big hail storms earlier this year. A LOT of new roofs going up here... so I expect we'll see another jump. I don't know the stats, but it wouldn't surprise me even a little bit if one outta five folks filed a roofing claim.

[BijouBaby]

I am retiring next year (hopefully), and yes all these COL hikes are alarming. Insurance and taxes. I may be able to pay off the mortgage next year, but that isn't that helpful because the insurance + taxes are the biggest part of it, and that is only going to keep increasing.

I'm gonna shop Monday, but I have a sinking feeling that it's still going be outrageous even if I can improve on this renewal. If I can't do better, and I will look under every stone, then I'll stay with Hippo because they've been great to deal with and I've been happy with them. But I WILL bail if I can save even a little elsewhere.

[Ice_Major]

To my understanding HIPPO is a startup insurance company. Companies trying to establish themselves in a market are notorious for offering low prices to get you to sign up. One you sign up they start jacking up the premium in the following years to reflect market conditions. Probably worse with startups since the access to easy money and debt has been cut off.

Unfortunately, insurance rates are rising. My latest renewal came with a percentage deductible for wind/hail. Insurance is a business at the end of the day. They will make sure they find a way to make money.

[CarnivalGal]

Definitely shop around. We have Amica and have been really happy with them. Insurance is going up everywhere, as we see more major weather events and more claims. But Texas is one of the hardest hit states for increases.

Larger and more storms and events have caused the number of claims to soar. Hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, floods, wildfires - Texas gets them all. A lot and more than most states. And don't forget to throw in a deep freeze every few years, that Texas doesn't handle well. Climate change is real. We are seeing the affects of that.

Ours hasn't gone up, but Amica is a mutual company, so it pays dividends to members every year. Not much, usually $150 a year or so. But we got a letter this year that they will no longer be distributing dividend checks to residents of Texas. I know there are some insurance companies that have just flat out stopped underwriting homeowners policies in Florida. I think we are one more freeze or major hurricane away from that in Texas.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by BijouBaby

I am retiring next year (hopefully), and yes all these COL hikes are alarming. Insurance and taxes. I may be able to pay off the mortgage next year, but that isn't that helpful because the insurance + taxes are the biggest part of it, and that is only going to keep increasing.

Our property taxes have been more than our mortgage for a few years now.

[BijouBaby]

Well, this was an eye-opener..... Just did some online shopping and got several quotes, all more than Hippo's renewal rate, although Liberty Mutual came the closest, being 300 more, followed by Nationwide @600 more. The rest were nearly double. So, as I suspected, Hippo (Spinnaker Insurance) is (still) the winner of this year's insurance shop-o-rama. But I will still call them tomorrow to see if we can shave a bit off here or there. Can't hurt I guess. Maybe they'll throw me a bone.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see the states with the highest and lowest insurance rates, and found Texas is in the top 5 highest states for insurance. Guess I'm not surprised. Depressing. Anyone interested may read more on this topic: https://clark.com/homes-real-estate/...ensive-states/

[mojo101]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

Yes, ours went up a lot, so we shopped it, and couldn’t do any better. We bit the bullet, and paid it for one year up instead of monthly, so saved a few $100. that way.

Taxes and insurance are killing retired people.

if you use a credit card which offers extra points for signing up and spending $xxxx,YOU CAN even save more.
I did with my Statefarm insurance