Latest Homeowners Headlines
All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Alabama’s Lessons from Hurricane Ivan at 10th Anniversary
Oct 6 2014 // Last month marked the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Ivan, one of the costliest tropical storms to ever hit the U.S. Ivan came ashore near Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Sept. 16, 2004, as a Category 3 storm. The storm also...
Florida Arrests 5 on Insurance Fraud Charges
Oct 2 2014 // Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced the arrests of five NBRC Roofing Co. employees for allegedly organizing a $525,000 insurance fraud scheme. The Tampa-based company is accused of leaving 97 homeowners...
Mississippi, Alabama Homes Recognized As Storm Fortified
Sep 24 2014 // The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety has recognized three South Mississippi home builders for building homes that are more disaster-resistant. IBHS also recognized three homes in south Alabama. In January,...
Helping Clients Through Home Renovations
Sep 22 2014 // Home renovations are in high gear these days, thanks to low interest rates on second mortgages and bank loans. But, the construction process itself is typically fraught with anxiety, given longer-than-expected timeframes...
Homeowner Rate Hikes Go Unchallenged by Texas Commissioner
Sep 22 2014 // Texas’ insurance commissioner has allowed the three largest home insurers to impose significant rate hikes on many policyholders despite the objections of a state consumer advocate. Insurance Commissioner Julia...
Explosive Growth From California Wildfire Threatens Homes
Sep 19 2014 // An out-of-control wildfire that was threatening more than 2,000 homes in Northern California showed explosive growth, consuming tens of thousands of additional acres, fire officials said Thursday. The fire east of...
Building Stronger, Other Lessons from Hurricane Ivan at 10th Anniversary
Sep 18 2014 // This week marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Ivan, one of the costliest tropical storms to ever hit the U.S. Ivan came ashore near Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Sept. 16, 2004, as a Category 3 storm. The storm also...
100 Homes Destroyed by Northern California Wildfire
Sep 16 2014 // A wind-driven fire cut through a small California town near the Oregon border on Monday damaging or destroying 100 homes and prompting evacuation orders for at least 1,500 people, authorities said. The town near the base...
Indiana City Replacing Flooded Homes with Trees
Sep 15 2014 // By the end of next year, a forest planted in Franklin, Ind., to replace dozens of flood-damaged homes will have about twice the number of trees it has now. But residents will have to wait several years before the trees...
Homeowner Insurance Rate Hikes not Challenged by Texas Commissioner
Sep 15 2014 // The Texas insurance commissioner has allowed the three largest home insurers to impose significant rate hikes on many policyholders despite the objections of a state consumer advocate. Insurance Commissioner Julia...
N.J. Sen. Menendez Urges FEMA to Reform NFIP’s Claims Process
Sep 12 2014 // Following up on issues that were raised at the July 30 hearing on post-Sandy flood insurance claims, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) sent a letter on Wednesday, Sept. 10, to Federal Emergency Management Agency’s...
Minnesota County Asked to Buyout Flooded Homes
Sep 12 2014 // Three months after storms caused significant damage to roads and flooded homes, some residents of Scott County tell emergency management officials they want out. At least 10 homeowners in Blakeley Township say...
Austin to Buy Out 300 More Storm-Flooded Homes
Sep 11 2014 // Leaders of a Central Texas city have approved a $3.5 billion annual budget that includes buying out about 300 more homes in flood-prone areas. The Austin City Council on Tuesday approved next year’s budget and...
How Strong Is Florida’s ‘Revived’ Homeowners Market?
Sep 11 2014 // As Florida seeks to revive its private home insurance market after almost a decade without a hurricane, homeowners are pouring $6 billion a year in premiums into a new generation of small, in-state insurance companies with...
New York Grapples With Foreclosed, Abandoned Homes
Sep 9 2014 // New York has an estimated 15,000 homes that have been abandoned by owners after receiving foreclosure notices. With no one taking care of the properties they often fall into disrepair, hurting surrounding neighborhoods and...
Florida Approves Rate Cuts for Citizens Property Customers
Sep 9 2014 // Florida’s insurance regulator has approved rate decreases for policyholders of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The approval means for the first time in five years a majority of the state-backed insurer’s...
Lighthouse Insurance Expands Homeowners Program to North Carolina
Sep 9 2014 // Beginning in November 2014, Lighthouse Property Insurance Corp. will offer homeowners insurance and flood insurance throughout North Carolina. While Lighthouse will debut in the state with only homeowners and flood, it...
Insureds Rarely Have Home Inventories Despite Benefits, Say Claims Pros
Sep 8 2014 // Despite big storms and wildfires highlighting the need, home inventories are rare, say insurance industry experts. A recent Allstate Insurance survey of Atlanta homeowners found that while than more than 90 percent of...
Louisiana’s Homeowners Market Stronger 9 Years after Katrina
Sep 8 2014 // Louisiana’s property insurance market is vastly improved nine years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the state on Aug. 29, 2005, largely due to the implementation of statewide building codes and strategies that...
No Insurance Coverage for Idaho Homeowners After Sewers Back Up
Sep 5 2014 // The insurance company for the south-central Idaho city of Twin Falls says it won’t pay reimbursement costs sought by residents whose homes sustained damage when the city sewers backed up last month. The Idaho...
