Latest Homeowners Headlines
All the headlines from our Homeowners Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Steel, Not Plywood, Protecting Vacant Homes in Detroit Enclave
Mar 17 2015 // Detroit enclave of Highland Park is using steel instead of plywood to cover doors and windows of vacant homes as part of an effort to better prevent drug activity, arson, squatting and other crimes. Fire Chief Derek...
Newtown Families Sue Lanza Estate; Suits Seek to Collect on Homeowner Policy
Mar 16 2015 // The families of nine people killed in the Newtown elementary school shooting have filed lawsuits against the estate of the gunman’s mother. The lawsuits contend Nancy Lanza failed to properly secure her legally owned...
CEA Kicks off Earthquake Insurance Selling Program for Agents
Mar 9 2015 // The California Earthquake Authority has again kicked off its annual “Marketing Value Program,” in which the quasi-private earthquake insurer encourages agents to sign up to receive direct mail marketing...
State Farm to Pay $352.5M to Settle Texas Residential Overcharges Case
Mar 9 2015 // A settlement has been reached in a long-running dispute between the nation’s largest homeowners insurer and the state of Texas over premium overcharges. The Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel (OPIC) announced...
Report: Wildfire Reconstruction of West’s Riskiest Homes – $237B
Mar 9 2015 // In the Western United States there are nearly 900,000 homes representing an estimated reconstruction cost of more than $237 billion considered at “very high” or “high” risk from wildfires, a report...
10 Things to Know About Homeowners
Mar 9 2015 // Preliminary figures compiled for homeowners show that insurance companies increased their rates by an average of 2.9 percent nationwide in 2014, while renters insurance rates were up 2.3 percent and condominium insurance...
N.Y. Assemblyman Proposes State-Run Flood Insurance
Mar 5 2015 // A New York State assemblyman says he will introduce a bill to create a state-run flood insurance program designed to serve New York homeowners in flood-prone communities. Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder (D-Queens) announced...
Kentucky City Warns Homeowners Not to Rent to Travelers
Mar 5 2015 // Metro Louisville, Ky. officials have sent letters to some homeowners that rent space to travelers through online home-sharing sites telling them to stop the practice immediately or they risk being fined. The...
Home Insurer 1347 PIH Ends Kingsway Contract, Eyes Expansion
Mar 2 2015 // Tampa, Florida-based 1347 Property Insurance Holdings Inc., which sells homeowners insurance in Louisiana and has plans to expand to other coastal states, announced it has bought out the management services contract with a...
Florida Homeownership Suffered Steep Decline in Last Decade
Mar 2 2015 // Florida had one of the largest declines in homeownership in the nation during the past decade, according to new figures released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The homeownership rate in Florida went from more than 73...
Nevada Governor Signs Construction Defect Bill
Feb 26 2015 // Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed a bill aimed at curbing frivolous lawsuits over construction defects after the measure passed through the Republican-controlled Legislature along party lines. The Republican governor...
Report: Wildfire Risk to Homes in West Tops $237B
Feb 26 2015 // In the Western U.S. there are nearly 900,000 homes representing an estimated reconstruction cost of more than $237 billion considered at “very high” or “high” risk from wildfires, a report issued...
N.J. Bill Seeks to Prohibit Home Insurers From Raising Rates After Single Claim
Feb 25 2015 // A bill currently under consideration in the New Jersey Assembly would prohibit insurance companies from increasing the homeowners insurance policy’s premium based on one claim filed during the policy’s coverage...
Twice-Wounded Sandy Victims Seek Payout as FEMA Presses Insurers
Feb 25 2015 // Some homeowners hit by Hurricane Sandy say they’ve been victimized twice: first by the storm and later by insurers. John Clancy says his insurer, an Allstate Corp. unit, paid just $46,000 of the more than $200,000 in...
Earthquake Authority to Study Quake’s Impact on Napa Homes
Feb 24 2015 // The California Earthquake Authority has begun surveying Napa residents to find out how well their homes withstood the magnitude 6.0 earthquake centered in the South Napa area on Aug. 24, 2014. Under an initiative that CEA...
Top Writers of Homeowners, Blizzard-Exposed Commercial Lines in New England
Feb 23 2015 // This past month’s cycle of blizzards and heavy snowfall in the Boston area and New England have been adding up to a significant impact in the region. The following are the top U.S. writers of homeowners, auto and...
Texas Lawmaker Urges Extension of Wind Insurance Inspection Waiver
Feb 22 2015 // A Texas lawmaker says thousands of coastal residents could lose their windstorm insurance coverage if the Legislature doesn’t extend a program that provides waivers for those who have been nonrenewed for coverage by...
FEMA in Talks to Settle Sandy Flood Insurance Claims
Feb 19 2015 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to settle lawsuits by hundreds of Hurricane Sandy victims who challenged denials or alleged underpayments of flood insurance claims. Brad Kieserman, deputy associate...
NICB to Boston-Area Homeowners: Beware of Insurance Scammers
Feb 17 2015 // The National Insurance Crime Bureau advised that as the Northeast continues to get pounded by storm after storm, there’s one more threat that Bostonians need to watch out for: shady contractors or “storm...
President of Florida’s Homeowners Choice to Retire
Feb 11 2015 // President of Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co., Scott Wallace, plans to retire at the end of May 2015 after 37 years in the insurance industry, according to a statement from Homeowner’s...
