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My house fire insurance went from $334 with Farmers insurance to $405. My house is paid for, how many with paid for houses skip fire insurance?
I called several insurance companies from the yellow pages and got quotes even higher, some were a lot higher so discouraged I said I'll try one more.
I called a insurance agent and got insurance for $249, its paid for with my credit card, its $5,000 deductible but you don't hear of peoples houses burning down very often so I am very willing to take that chance.

1997 we lost everything
Make sure they will replace the house.

It is better to have fire insurance and not need it than to not have it and have a fire. This could eat up whatever money you have set aside real quick.

Fire is the #1 reason I keep homeowner insurance.
There's 63,000 acres of pine forest surrounding my place.

I had farmers insurance and they raised our rates after the first year. Seems to have been a popular way of doing business. Does your insurance also cover the cost of rebuilding the house and the content? Insurance is a gamble.... you may never have a fire, or a break-in, or.... but if you do, can you afford to rebuild, vs cost of the insurance?

Lets say you pay $500 a year over 20 years... that is $10K for insurance... $25K for 50 years. Your house/contents may be worth $200K...

I would go with insurance and add the high deductible to keep premium low as possible.

OK first, yes our place is paid for.
second we have home owners insurance as well as fire, liability, and more because we have a farm with animals.

Last and most important we have actual cash replacement value for our home and out buildings and everything else. in other words they can't say oh that is x years old so it is only worth $X, they have to give us what it would cost to replace whatever it is that is lost in todays market.

So if my shop burns down when I am welding they have to give me what it would cost today to replace all my tools, and you know what with the way prices have increased over the years, my plasma cutter alone would now cost 50% more than it did when I bought it.

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

[This message has been edited by 84fiero123 (edited 05-09-2014).]

Your rate increase was small considering the amount of losses most insurance companies sustained in California the past few years. Many companies have stopped offering insurance coverage in California and Colorado due to wildfire losses. Also things like the home's age, age and condition of the roof and updates to electrical service and plumbing can and do have an effect to your rate. Just be sure you have 100% replacement coverage on the home ( Only 80% replacement on the dwelling is required to be a legal HO-1 policy) and be sure to have full replacement on contents not ' depreciated replacement'. You should have a HO-3 policy.

Your insurance company will lower your rates up to 20% if you tell them that you have a monitored fire alarm in the house.

Not just "Replacement Value" coverage, but coverage for loss of contents as well. Clothes, furniture, appliances, pots & pans...

It adds up real quick. People up the street had a fire. Pretty much trashed everything, and the FD was on-site and putting it out really quick. Still lost darn near everthing. My daughter was friends with their daughter (both about 14 then) My wife took the girl out and bought her a week's worth of outfits that afternoon.

... rental coverage to get a place to stay while yours is being repaired/replaced... so many things to think about if you've never experienced it. Should you have earthquake, flood, or wind damage coverage? Think about it. I have a hurricane rider on my policy because I live 5 miles from the ocean. High enough NOT to need flood, but wind can be bad.

I had one insurance company tell me to keep reciepts of every personal item in the house. Without reciepts, they might not pay for it. Now my question is how many of you have the original reciept for every item....clothing, electronics, etc...? And the next question is IF you did, wouldnt you keep them in the house ? If the house burned, so do the reciepts...duhhh. I dont even know what it costs for a 4 foot square safety deposit box...lol.

Pretty much all insurance is a scam...you have to have it though and they know it. I checked on changing my motorhome coverage. One big name brand RV insurer quoted me a price 3 times higher than my current one that has a lot more coverages. They bugged me for weeks about my last chance for their rate. They couldnt understand why I didnt want there $900 policy that was not nearly as good as my current $300 one....