Did your 2023 homeowners insurance cost go way up? What are you paying?

[Jim Becker]

Ours only increased a small amount, largely due to the replacement cost escalation that is normal every year.

[Mike Henderson]

Like Patty, I have USAA (53 years, I think). Our homeowners went up, also, but not too bad. I don't remember the percentage.

Mike

[Brian Elfert]

I don't recall mine going up much at all. Mine is around $1,400 to $1,500 per year.

Housing prices don't affect insurance that much because it is mostly the land that goes up in value. Construction costs are really what matters for homeowner's insurance. Land doesn't away in a fire or other event that destroys the structure.

[Mike Henderson]

I don't recall mine going up much at all. Mine is around $1,400 to $1,500 per year.

Housing prices don't affect insurance that much because it is mostly the land that goes up in value. Construction costs are really what matters for homeowner's insurance. Land doesn't away in a fire or other event that destroys the structure.

That's exactly right. When I bought my house in California, my insurance company wanted to insure it for the full purchase price. I had to point out to them that the land was most of the cost and all I wanted to insure was the house. We finally came to a compromise.

Land here is VERY expensive.

Mike

[Mike Wilkins]

Storms, natural disasters, materials costs all contribute to premium cost increases. All companies have to adjust or risk affecting their bottom line. I live in eastern NC where Atlantic storms and local weather events contribute a lot to this. I worked in insurance claims for 25 years and saw it all. Same concern for auto policies-labor and material costs rising, cost of modern features that may or may not be needed are costing a lot to replace. And don't live in an area with a large deer population-found this out first-hand when a large buck decided to commit suicide at the front of my Silverado. Ouch.

[Brian Elfert]

Thunderstorms with wind and hail cause rates in my area to go up. Some insurance companies have started to increase rates for older asphalt roofs because hail damage is more likely on older brittle shingles. A lot of homeowners will hold off until their roof leaks until replacing it. They are hoping for hail or wind to get a "free" roof.

[Keith Pitman]

I’ve been insured with AMICA since the early 1970s, except for a period when I lived in a state where they didn’t do business. My premium for homeowners went up 90% with the recent renewal. I’m moving my coverage to another insurer this year to save about $1200. I think auto coverage will cost me more, but not enough to offset the $1200. I am in a wildfire zone and I wouldn’t be surprised if my new carrier jacked my rates next year. I attribute this to the wildfires in California in the last few years and the safety issues with PG&E.

I’ve been distressed to move away from AMICA because I’ve have great experience with them. But money is money.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I just got my homeowner's policy last August so I won't know if it's going up till then. I thought the rates were very reasonable, and I attributed that (perhaps wrongly) to my insurance carrier being a New York company based in Ithaca that may not have exposure in faraway states where there have been a lot of losses.

[Lee DeRaud]

The federal government is still waiting on something like 100 million in tax payments from California from last year. That is one reason the possible federal default date was moved forward two weeks to a month from "normal."

That number sounds low by a couple of zeros: it's only 0.02% (AKA "round-off error") of the federal tax income from California. The IRS averages about that much from California every two hours.

As Everett Dirksen used to say, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."

[Dave Zellers]

As Everett Dirksen used to say, "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."

He was great. But given that was from the sixties, I'm pretty sure it was "million". Congress had started to treat 'million' as couch money.

[Dave Zellers]

Nope. Just looked it up. You're right- it was billion.

[Steve Demuth]

It doesnt matter how good a customer you are, how few claims you've made, or how stable your area is. The insurance companies spread their costs among all policyholders, when they have big losses anywhere due to fires, storms, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, etc. We all pay for everyone else's claims. Thats how insurance works. Ours went up 25% last year.

Where you live (how stable your area is) matters a great deal. Location is one of the key variables used in underwriting, and if you're in a a low risk area, your going to pay a lower rate per dollar of coverage. The reason insurers leave an area is typically that risk (payouts) have gotten so high, they can no longer sell insurance at rates that are profitable (often because the state's insurance regulatory agency won't permit rates to go high enough, and also because people just won't pay them).

Years ago now, I did a lot of consulting with State Farm, and got a good look at the process by which they set rates. Their rate database was huge, with different rates literally mile by mile in many areas.

[Mike Null]

I've been with State Farm for over 50 years. My homeowners and auto insurance both went up. Even though neither of us drives 5,000 miles a year.

Last week the tax assessor paid us a visit and bumped the value of the house by $50,000 so I am expecting another insurance increase,

[Brian Elfert]

Last week the tax assessor paid us a visit and bumped the value of the house by $50,000 so I am expecting another insurance increase,

Your homeowner's insurance shouldn't go up just because your home's value went up. A chunk of your home's value is the land. Your homeowner's insurance is based on the replacement value of the house which doesn't automatically go up just because the value increased.

[Jim Becker]

Brian, the reassessment may or may not affect it...insurance is governed by individual states and there's a wide range of things that come into play because of that. Insurance companies will use any and all avenues available to them to tweak their underwriting over time.