Pratt, like hundreds of thousands of other homeowners in California, now faces the state's growing climate threats with a weaker safety net. Over the past two years, several big insurers, including Allstate and State Farm, have scaled back their home insurance businesses in California to avoid paying billions for wildfire damage, or have halted sales of new policies altogether. Homeowners like Pratt are finding out that their longtime insurers have decided not to renew coverage.
California isn't alone. Insurance companies in states like Colorado, Louisiana and Florida are paring down business to shield themselves from ballooning losses as climate change fuels more-intense disasters. Earlier this month, the insurance arm of AAA announced it would not renew some "higher exposure" home insurance policies in Florida, and Farmers Insurance announced it will stop offering new home insurance policies in the state and won't renew thousands of existing ones, in part because of rising losses from hurricanes.
Nationwide, millions of homeowners are having to find different kinds of coverage, which typically come at a higher price with less protection.
Ahhh, the ugly face of privatization rears its head again. Can't make money if you're actually going to have to pay out. There's going to be a lot of forced displacement as homeowners with...
Ahhh, the ugly face of privatization rears its head again. Can't make money if you're actually going to have to pay out. There's going to be a lot of forced displacement as homeowners with mortgages are unable to find an insurer.
Another way this is panning out: Insurers are also starting to pull out of the costal tourist cities of New Jersey. Not having to pay multi-million dollar payouts on tourist rental properties should help keep rates lower. I'm a bit less sympathetic to these owners though.
In the end, many of these areas probably should be returned to wilderness. We shouldn't be propping up people in wildfire-prone areas any more than we should be propping up Las Vegas.
We and our neighbors are experiencing this directly. We had a wildfire come through our subdivision at the beginning of May. Four of our neighbors lost their homes, several others lost...
We and our neighbors are experiencing this directly. We had a wildfire come through our subdivision at the beginning of May. Four of our neighbors lost their homes, several others lost outbuildings. We were evacuated for 12 days til everything was under control.
The experience so far is that some neighbors have had their insurance come in clear out their burned out houses and all the downed and burned trees and begin restoration, while others cant even get their insurance company to return their messages. Some have received coverage to replace trees, but others have been told their landscaping portion of their policy is only 5% of the total so thats all they will get to replace all the trees they have lost. When you lose two acres of mature trees, that amounts to replanting a few trees and losing hundreds. Its not good.
We were incredibly fortunate to have lost nothing and we claimed nothing but Im quite aware that our premium may jump because most of our neighbors put in claims. Or our insurance may cancel us altogether.
Good news about the trees is if left untouched that problem will resolve itself within a few years. New, organic growth is almost better than planting. I'm sorry that you'll probably be affected...
Good news about the trees is if left untouched that problem will resolve itself within a few years.
New, organic growth is almost better than planting.
I'm sorry that you'll probably be affected by this. You should probably save up for an exit strategy.
Yes, the undergrowth all around us is coming back with a fury. Its only been a few weeks and some of the grasses are already 3 feet tall and the forest floor looks very lush. It looks good. Not...
Yes, the undergrowth all around us is coming back with a fury. Its only been a few weeks and some of the grasses are already 3 feet tall and the forest floor looks very lush. It looks good.
Not planning on exiting although that's probably a smart move. What'll move us off the property is getting too old to want to deal with all the upkeep, not the threat of wildfire.
The same is slowly coming to Oregon. Between wildfires and increased heat waves, not sure what's coming next. I recently put flood insurance on my (low-risk area) house because I feel paranoid in...
The same is slowly coming to Oregon. Between wildfires and increased heat waves, not sure what's coming next. I recently put flood insurance on my (low-risk area) house because I feel paranoid in thinking if climate change floods my place, I'm left holding the bag. Nobody in Houston thought about that or would need to before these shifts occurred.
Not to be gloom and doom, but I wonder, between all the factors (AI, climate change, wealth disparity, etc.), where we reach the tipping point and possibly the point of no return.
Ahhh, the ugly face of privatization rears its head again. Can't make money if you're actually going to have to pay out. There's going to be a lot of forced displacement as homeowners with mortgages are unable to find an insurer.
Another way this is panning out: Insurers are also starting to pull out of the costal tourist cities of New Jersey. Not having to pay multi-million dollar payouts on tourist rental properties should help keep rates lower. I'm a bit less sympathetic to these owners though.
In the end, many of these areas probably should be returned to wilderness. We shouldn't be propping up people in wildfire-prone areas any more than we should be propping up Las Vegas.
We and our neighbors are experiencing this directly. We had a wildfire come through our subdivision at the beginning of May. Four of our neighbors lost their homes, several others lost outbuildings. We were evacuated for 12 days til everything was under control.
The experience so far is that some neighbors have had their insurance come in clear out their burned out houses and all the downed and burned trees and begin restoration, while others cant even get their insurance company to return their messages. Some have received coverage to replace trees, but others have been told their landscaping portion of their policy is only 5% of the total so thats all they will get to replace all the trees they have lost. When you lose two acres of mature trees, that amounts to replanting a few trees and losing hundreds. Its not good.
We were incredibly fortunate to have lost nothing and we claimed nothing but Im quite aware that our premium may jump because most of our neighbors put in claims. Or our insurance may cancel us altogether.
Good news about the trees is if left untouched that problem will resolve itself within a few years.
New, organic growth is almost better than planting.
I'm sorry that you'll probably be affected by this. You should probably save up for an exit strategy.
Yes, the undergrowth all around us is coming back with a fury. Its only been a few weeks and some of the grasses are already 3 feet tall and the forest floor looks very lush. It looks good.
Not planning on exiting although that's probably a smart move. What'll move us off the property is getting too old to want to deal with all the upkeep, not the threat of wildfire.
The same is slowly coming to Oregon. Between wildfires and increased heat waves, not sure what's coming next. I recently put flood insurance on my (low-risk area) house because I feel paranoid in thinking if climate change floods my place, I'm left holding the bag. Nobody in Houston thought about that or would need to before these shifts occurred.
Not to be gloom and doom, but I wonder, between all the factors (AI, climate change, wealth disparity, etc.), where we reach the tipping point and possibly the point of no return.