Latest Homeowners Headlines

All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Homeowners in Mississippi’s Moss Point Fight Flood Insurance Rules

Nov 29 2012 // Moss Point officials hope a city judge will set a court date in December to determine if 47 properties must comply with rules to elevate homes in flood plains. Andrew R. Beamon, who became director of the city’s...

North Carolina Approves 13.2% Dwelling Fire, Extended Coverage Rate Hike

Nov 27 2012 // North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin and insurance companies have come to an agreement that allows for a statewide average increase of 13.2 percent for dwelling fire and extended coverage policies, spread...

Wildfires, Hail Take Toll On Colorado Home Insurance

Nov 27 2012 // Colorado now ranks among the top 10 for the highest share of homeowners insurance claims paid out due to catastrophes. The Insurance Research Council says catastrophes triggered only 26 percent of the claims made on...

Louisiana Citizens Releases Nearly 7K Homeowners Policies

Nov 20 2012 // Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon announced that Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corp. (Citizens) has completed a sixth round of depopulation with 6,877 residential (personal lines) policies being...

Group Warns ACC Clauses Might Apply in Devastating Breezy Point Fire

Nov 20 2012 // When Superstorm Sandy battered the East Coast with high winds and a massive storm surge, 111 homes in the Queens, New York, neighborhood of Breezy Point were destroyed by a fast-spreading fire. This week, the Consumer...

Adjusters Battling Power, Phone Outage, Long Gas Lines, Blocked Roads

Nov 15 2012 // Major insurers have deployed thousands of claims adjusters in the Northeast in the wake of Superstorm Sandy — they are working from dawn until late night to make contacts with policyholders, complete the estimate...

LexisNexis, BuildFax Collaborate to Expand Homeowners Insurance Information

Nov 14 2012 // LexisNexis Risk Solutions has formed a strategic relationship with BuildFax to assist homeowners insurance companies with the challenges associated with insuring homes. Through this relationship, insurers will be able to...

Explosion Levels Homes in Indianapolis; 2 Dead

Nov 12 2012 // A massive explosion sparked a huge fire and killed two people in an Indianapolis neighborhood where about three dozen homes were damaged or destroyed, authorities said. The powerful nighttime blast on Nov. 10 shattered...

Navigating Claims Process Can Be a Challenge for Homeowners

Nov 12 2012 // People looking to rebuild their lives after Superstorm Sandy destroyed and damaged their homes may now have another struggle on their hands: Navigating the often-frustrating claims process with their insurance...

Some Homeowners Unexpectedly Hit With ‘Windstorm Deductible’

Nov 7 2012 // In the immediate days after Superstorm Sandy, officials in the Northeastern states declared that hurricane deductibles would not apply to Sandy claims. Officials from northeastern states including New York, New Jersey and...

N.Y. Gov. Cuomo Eases Insurance Rules for Documenting Storm Damage

Nov 6 2012 // New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday, Nov. 5, that he is ordering insurance companies to ease rules on documenting Sandy-related damages during the claims filing procedure. The governor said that, at his direction, the...

Va. Court: Chinese Drywall Damage Excluded From Homeowners Policy

Nov 5 2012 // The Virginia Supreme Court ruled last week that home damages that were allegedly caused by Chinese drywall are excluded from TravCo Insurance Co.’s “all risk” homeowners insurance policy. TravCo Insurance...

F.I.D.O. Brings Dog Bite Liability Coverage to Florida

Nov 5 2012 // When commercial lines agent and dog owner Debbie Turner began to look into help for her difficult dog back in 2000, she had no idea that her journey would end up leading to a new personal lines insurance option. She...

North Carolina Home Insurance Ruling Scheduled for After Election

Nov 5 2012 // Two weeks ahead of the election deciding whether he keeps his job, North Carolina’s insurance commissioner told companies they’ll have to prove they should be allowed to increase homeowners’ premiums by a...

Insurer Drops Nebraska Man’s Policy Because of Police Dog, Then Apologizes

Nov 5 2012 // An insurance company that canceled the homeowner’s policy of a Nebraska sheriff’s deputy because of his K-9 unit dog said it’s looking to change its practices regarding police dogs. American Family...

Hurricane Deductibles Won’t Apply for Sandy in Del. Penn., R.I., D.C.

Nov 4 2012 // [Update: Maine also announced this week that hurricane deductibles would not apply for Sandy-related claims in the state. The Maine Bureau of Insurance told Insurance Journal Monday, Nov. 5, that hurricane deductibles will...

Florida Consumer Advocate Hits Use of Past Credit History to Deny Claims

Nov 2 2012 // Florida’s consumer advocate is calling for an investigation into insurers using homeowners’ past credit history to deny claims and cancel policies even though the homeowners have paid premiums for...

Controversy Over Hurricane Deductibles May Just Be Beginning

Nov 2 2012 // When the National Hurricane Center declared Sandy a “post-tropical storm” just before it made landfall, a lot of homeowners across New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Maryland may have saved a lot of money....

N.Y. Gov. Cuomo: New Yorkers Won’t Have to Pay Hurricane Deductible for Sandy

Nov 1 2012 // New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that New York homeowners will not have to pay potentially large hurricane deductibles on insurance claims stemming from damage caused by Sandy. New York joins other...

Flood Insurance Still Relatively Rare in Northeast

Oct 31 2012 // Many homeowners who suffered losses because of flooding from Hurricane Sandy are likely to find themselves out of luck. Standard homeowners policies don’t cover flooding damage, and the vast majority of homeowners...