Great. My HO insurance on my tiny home just went

[leftyladyfrommo]

from $1,444 to $2,111.

What's killing me is that everything is going up $100. It's not just one bill. It's all of them.

And I don't have medical expenses.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. You should shop your insurance around every few years.

If you stand pat too long they start taking advantage of you.

[marybourg]

2. Too true.

[JohnSJ]

3. +++

[W_HAMILTON]

11. Any idea on how to best do this?

My mom has been using an insurance broker for her homeowner's insurance for years (decades?), but she's in failing health and that is one area I didn't know much about, so I just used the broker she had been using, even though it is quite expensive.

Do you recommend how I, as an individual, can shop for homeowner's policies on my own? Can you sign up for them as easily as you can an auto policy at a big company like GEICO or something like that? If so, what sorts of companies should I be checking out?

[MissB]

12. Start with getting a copy of her current policy

That way you’ll be able to compare apples to apples. The policy will list limits of coverage, deductibles etc.

Call a few insurance companies and get quotes! In theory, the broker would’ve been doing that. You can do this on your own. Call AmFam, Allstate, etc. find out what it would cost to cover the house each year.

[MissB]

13. Also

I get a break on my policies because I combine homeowners, car and umbrella policies.

[sarisataka]

17. Ask the agent for a copy

Of the declaration page. That will give you the info you need to make apples to apples comparisons.

It is possible to do online but calling agencies directly will often give better results, better meaning more accurate not necessarily cheaper

[sarcasmo]

16. Yep, time for me to insurance shop.

[inthewind21]

4. I assume you are in

Missouri. If it's anything like Texas, they allow the insurance company to change your policy coverage (every single year) for what it would take to re-build your house at current cost and not what you owe on it or purchased it for. And with housing like it has been in the past couple years, I can't say I'm surprised. When I was still in Texas I was paying 2K a year to insure my house for more than double the the amount I paid for it and triple what I owed on it, And it increased EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR! Couple that with a hurricane in Florida and my insurance went through the roof. My escrow was a couple hundred dollars more than the P&I.

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. I talked to my agent. It's the replacement costs.

Building materials have gone thru the roof.

[sarisataka]

8. I was going to suggest you contact your agent.

Construction costs and losses due to severe weather have been the primary drivers of rate increases lately. I believe the average has been about 20%.

Your increase is above the average. Several things could be the cause, a claim, home prices in your area, severe weather in your state...

You should be able to ask your agent to recalculate your estimated replacement cost if you think they are valuing your home too high

[jcgoldie]

10. Yes same happened for our farm house

Bill spiked due to replacement costs. We raised the deductible to keep the payment from going up.

[vapor2]

6. AND our car insurance practically doubled

I have to go back to work at 69.

[Sympthsical]

7. We just dealt with some HO insurance sneakiness

We pay our HO insurance annually. It's supposed to be on auto-renewal. It apparently came up for renewal, they didn't do it, and neither of us noticed.

No mail. No e-mail. No phone call. Zero reminder the annual payment was coming up or that it was late. So it lapsed. We didn't find out until our mortgage company sent us a letter about it.

So we call them up and ask to renew the policy. Nope. We've been newly designated as a wildfire area, and our valuation has gone up quite a bit and . . .

It kind of feels like they wanted the policy to lapse and went out of their way to make sure we wouldn't be reminded about the payment. We didn't even get a letter when the policy was cancelled.

So that was a whole thing.

Silver lining. Through a friend of a friend of a friend, we got a new policy pretty quickly that costs less than the policy that was canceled. Still. Kind of a good thing we didn't burn the place down in the two month gap. And we've had crazy storms, including a neighbor's tree falling onto over fence into the yard a few feet from the house. I can just imagine needing to make a claim and finding that one out. I'm easy-going. My partner would've burned their office to the ground.

[BannonsLiver]

9. Jesus

You’re paying roughly 3-4 times more per month than I do for Indy on an actual brick and mortar house much larger than your tiny home. Sounds like you were getting ripped off even before the increase.

[sarisataka]

14. It depends on coverage

It is hard to compare costs of policies without seeing them side by side. They may have very different coverages.

A full replacement cost policy will cost more than one that covers at actual cash value. Many companies are offering the only what you need policy but when it comes claim time they find they needed something that they weren't paying for.

Last May we had several major hailstorm. Many people who needed new roofs found out that in addition to their deductible they had to pay thousands for the difference between the value of the old roof and the cost of a new one.

[Emile]

15. Our brick house with 12 acres and the insurance costs us

$2,146.23 a year but that also includes automobile insurance for three vehicles and boat.

You need to shop around!

[onethatcares]

18. you don't even want to move to Floriduh

where our legislature had a special session to address the homeowners insurance nightmare. They ended up passing a stiffer anti abortion law and allowing the insurance companies to raise their rates in line with the amount of contributions they gave to the legislators.

That's how it seems to me anyway.

[Tarheel_Dem]

19. I had a bundle with Allstate, but I switched to Progressive for my Auto last year. That, coupled...

with the increased value of my home, has shot up my monthly mortgage payment by about $350. When you include the increased property taxes, I'm barely scraping by. I'm on a fixed income, and I don't know how long I can hold out. I've already downgraded every aspect of my life, so I don't know where the extra is gonna come from.

[leftyladyfrommo]

20. That's how I feel, too. I am running out of places to cut back. nt

[Tarheel_Dem]

23. Well, we could starve ourselves to death. That would probably satisfy the GOP. Honestly, I am...

not looking forward to summer again. My HVAC broke down last summer, and it costs thousands to fix, and even more to replace. I wish there was one place where old broken down Seniors like myself could go to get information on any resources that might be available to us. Since everything seems to be based on income, I don't qualify for any help. As I said, I was barely scraping by before, but with this bump in my mortgage, there's almost nothing left for essentials.

[raccoon]

21. What area are you in? My first thought was Florida.

[leftyladyfrommo]

22. Missouri

Most nsurance companies won't cover my little house.