Latest Homeowners Headlines
All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Update: Largest Florida Insurers Report Homeowners, Auto and Flood Claims
Aug 24 2008 // Insurers continue to tally claims from Tropical Storm Fay after its fourth landfall occurred on the Panhandle. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation compiled and released the latest numbers from some of the...
Florida Homeowners and Auto Owners File Fay Claims
Aug 23 2008 // The claims are piling up in Florida as Tropical Storm Fay is knocking on the Panhandle’s door. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation compiled and released the latest numbers from some of the state’s...
M.J. Hall Offers Homeowners Market in California
Aug 22 2008 // M.J. Hall has a preferred, admitted homeowners market that is rated “A-” by A.M. Best for California. For the California territory, an ISO HO 2000 program includes HO-3 HO4 HO-5 and HO-6. Coverage is available...
First Insurance Co. of Hawaii Lowers First Select Homeowners Rates 8.5%
Aug 22 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...
Sunset Report Says Texas Homebuilder Agency Should Go
Aug 21 2008 // The Texas Residential Construction Commission should be abolished because it is ineffective and frustrates homeowners trying to get builders to address defects in their homes, according to a state agency review. Created in...
Pennsylvania Halts Excess Home Insurance by Lenders
Aug 21 2008 // Pennsylvania homeowners may be entitled to a reduction in their homeowners’ insurance premiums, thanks to The Mortgage Property Insurance Coverage Act signed by Gov. Ed Rendell. The law, which was spurred by the...
It’s Brutal Out There
Aug 21 2008 // I.I.I. puts the average claim for lightning at $5,321. Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry on July 15 toured drought-damaged areas in Cimarron County in the Oklahoma Panhandle, an area that has been experiencing drought so severe...
Cleaning Up After Hurricane Katrina
Aug 21 2008 // In both Mississippi and Louisiana, the principal argument in support of the alleged ambiguity was that the flood waters during Hurricane Katrina were pushed ashore by wind, a covered peril, and the flood exclusion did not...
National Insurer Wants to Include Flood Coverage in Home Policies
Aug 21 2008 // One of the nation’s largest insurance companies is lobbying Congress for permission to sell policies that cover damage from both wind and flood water, a plan billed as a way for insurers and homeowners to avoid...
By Robert Jablon
Aug 21 2008 // California Orders Allstate to Cut Home Insurance Rates 28.5% Allstate Corp. has been ordered to cut its California homeowner insurance rates by more than 25 percent, a move that will save consumers an estimated $255...
Majority of California Wildfires Contained, 100 Homes Destroyed
Aug 21 2008 // The California wildfires, with smoke drifting out to the Pacific Ocean (L), are seen in this NASA satellite image released July 9, 2008. REUTERS/NASA/Handout (UNITED STATES). More than 1,400 fires that burned as part of...
Home Insurers Bitten by $350 Million in Dog Claims
Aug 21 2008 // The average cost of dog bite liability claims increased by 11.5 percent in 2007 to $24,511. Man’s best friend is sinking its teeth into homeowners insurance costs. Dog bites now account for one-third of all...
Florida Farm Bureau to Re-file its Homeowners Rates
Aug 18 2008 // Florida Farm Bureau will withdraw its rate filing and prepare a new rate filing to address any and all of Florida regulators’ concerns, according to a company announcement. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation...
Study: Most Know Little About Their Homeowners Policy
Aug 18 2008 // More than half of homeowners say they know very little about their home insurance policies and coverages, according to a survey by HomeInsurance.com. Some 54 percent of all homeowners surveyed admitted to knowing,...
MetLife Auto & Home Introduces Enhancements to Homeowner Pricing in Arizona
Aug 14 2008 // MetLife Auto & Home has announced that it has introduced a new pricing platform in Arizona. The platform, called METRIX, will enable the company to be more aggressive in pricing homeowners insurance. At the heart of...
Farmers Insurance to Pull out of North Carolina Homeowners’ Market
Aug 14 2008 // Farmers Insurance Group notified its North Carolina agents that the insurer will pull out of the homeowners’ market across the state before year’s end. Independent agent Greg Reeder of Reeder Insurance Services...
Court: California Homeowners Not Liable for Tree Trimmer’s Death
Aug 8 2008 // A homeowner is not vicariously criminally liable for the misdemeanor acts of a tree trimmer, the California Supreme Court decided. According to Maria Dolores Ramirez V. Thomas Nelson, a worker for an unlicensed contractor...
Florida Launches Updated Web Site for Homeowners Insurance Shoppers
Aug 7 2008 // Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty launched the updated www.ShopAndCompareRates.com Web site. The two offices activated the free, online tool in July 2007 to assist consumers looking to...
Only 4 Homes Insured in North Dakota Area Hit by Tornado
Aug 4 2008 // The number of homes found damaged or destroyed in tornado-ravaged Rolette County in North Dakota continues to rise. The state Department of Emergency Services says 12 homes have been destroyed and 18 have been damaged in...
Surplus Market Snapshot: Business Rides the Market Tides
Aug 4 2008 // Some Lines of Business Down But Not All; More Large Firms Going Directly to Foreign Insurers The people who run the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office are smack dab in the middle of the action and can see better than...