Latest Homeowners Headlines
All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.
New Jersey Scraps Fee for Rebuilding Damaged Homes
Sep 24 2008 // Homeowners in New Jersey won’t have to pay the state an extra fee to rebuild their houses after a fire or flood. The state’s Council on Affordable Housing proposed an exemption. The council had come under fire...
Hurricane and Political Seasons Stir Up National Cat Plan Proposals
Sep 22 2008 // As Losses Mount for Insurers, More Proposals for a National Solution Emerge Neither Gustav nor Ike walloped the property/casualty insurance industry the way Katrina did but there is still concern in insurance and...
Court Clashes over Katrina Wind Damage Winding Down in Mississippi
Sep 22 2008 // It took three years for Mississippi resident, Scott Gordon, to resolve the dispute that Hurricane Katrina spawned with his insurance company. Anything resembling a full recovery from the storm will take much...
Universal North America to Offer Homeowners Insurance in Hawaii
Sep 22 2008 // Hawaii Insurance Commissioner J.P. Schmidt announced a new insurance option for homeowners: Universal North America Insurance Co. will offer homeowners (including hurricane option), dwelling, fire and flood policies in the...
North Carolina County to Buy Flood-damaged Homes
Sep 19 2008 // Mecklenburg County, N.C. could spend more than $4 million to buy as many as 50 homes that suffered serious flood damage after Tropical Storm Fay and other storms. The Charlotte Observer reported Sept. 17 the voluntary...
Why Flood Policy Should Not Include Wind Coverage
Sep 19 2008 // Reuters reports that Representative Barney Frank (D – Mass.) has introduced a bill to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) seven months beyond the scheduled September 30, 2008, expiration date to allow...
Ike’s Wrath Hits Midwest; 1,000 Homeowners Evacuated, Roads Closed
Sep 15 2008 // Midwest residents felt the wrath of Hurricane Ike this weekend as rains made their way up the corridor of the country pelting Illinois and Indiana spurring the Illinois governor to call for a state of emergency for Cook...
Experts Meet in South Carolina, Discuss Making Homes Hurricane Ready
Sep 12 2008 // Getting people back in their homes quickly is vital to hurricane recovery, the head of a national program to build more storm-resistant homes said at a conference in South Carolina. “The faster you get the people...
Homeowners Choice Takes-out 59,500 Florida-backed Citizens Policies
Sep 11 2008 // Homeowners Choice Inc., a Florida-based provider of homeowners’ insurance, announced that its wholly-owned insurance subsidiary, Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co. Inc., received the go-head to...
Universal North America To Offer Homeowners Insurance in Hawaii
Sep 10 2008 // Hawaii Insurance Commissioner J.P. Schmidt announced a new insurance option for homeowners; effective Sept. 22, 2008, Universal North America Insurance Co. will offer homeowners (including hurricane option), dwelling,...
North Carolina Committee to Study Beach Plan’s Ability to Cover Risks
Sep 9 2008 // The North Carolina Legislature mandated a committee to study the North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association’s (Beach Plan) ability to respond financially to a significant hurricane landfall. State Rep. Bruce...
Improperly Installed Gas Lines Pose Fire Hazard to Indiana Homes
Sep 9 2008 // Improperly installed ultra-thin gas lines have left thousands of central Indiana homes in danger of fuel-fed fires if struck by lightning, but the state has made no concerted effort to warn homeowners, a report issue on...
State Farm, Allstate Agree on Mississippi Homeowners Rates
Sep 1 2008 // After months of separate discussion, State Farm and Allstate insurance companies reached an agreement with Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney on homeowners insurance rate filings. Allstate will see a statewide...
Insurers Seek Study of North Carolina Beach Plan’s Finances
Sep 1 2008 // Insurers are calling upon the the North Carolina Insurance Underwriting Association, known as the Beach Plan, to release its financial information to allow consumers, lawmakers and insurers to begin working on long-term...
Allstate to Cut Rates, Write More to Resolve Florida Litigation
Sep 1 2008 // Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty reached an agreement with the Allstate Companies that includes a $5 million fine, the lowering of homeowners rates in the state by 5.6 percent and a vow by the insurer to insure...
State Farm Wins One in Dispute Over Homeowners Rates in Texas
Sep 1 2008 // In a long running dispute between the Texas Department of Insurance and State Farm over homeowners insurance rates, the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin on Aug. 22 ruled that state regulators did not have the authority to...
Declarations
Sep 1 2008 // Swimming in the Buff “You always find out who’s been swimming naked when the tide goes out. We found out that Wall Street has been kind of a nudist beach.” —Warren Buffett, who has been named the...
First Insurance Co. of Hawaii Lowers First Select Homeowners Rates 8.5%
Sep 1 2008 // First Insurance Company of Hawaii has lowered the homeowners insurance rates in its First Select Portfolio — a package policy that combines homeowners, personal auto and personal umbrella insurance — by an average of...
Florida Insurers Update Claims Numbers on Fay’s Heels
Aug 29 2008 // The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported the latest claims tallies as of today (Aug. 29) for five of the state’s highest volume insurers. As of 9 a.m. EDT, state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp....
Update: Florida Claims Continue to Mount in Fay’s Wake
Aug 27 2008 // With Tropical Storm Gustav on deck in the Caribbean, insurance claims from Tropical Storm Fay continue to mount while the storm’s rain producing potential manifests throughout Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas. The...
