Another Round of Rate Increases . . .

You Know Who You Are: Residents in Texas, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida can expect to pay higher property insurance premiums in the coming months. OK you geography buffs out there, what do these states have in common?

Obviously, there is a lot of debate in these states about the inland (poorer) homeowners having to pay higher premiums because of the coastal (richer) risk, and while I tend to be on the side of the little guy whenever possible, I have to side with the coastal residents on this one. A major tenant (perhaps the major tenant) of insurance is the concept of shared risk. The best way to accomplish that in a property insurance setting is to do so across an entire state, in my humble opinion.

Each insurer has to tailor its policies to meet individual state requirements, so state legislatures have a huge say in how things work. This is an unwieldy process for the big national insurers, but the alternative of a federally regulated insurance program is distasteful to most of us (unless you live on a coast). If you are unhappy with how your homeowners insurance rate is calculated, talk to your state legislator. He has more say in that rate than even your insurance agent.

Thanks for your readership!

A. J. Farley owns Farley Home Services, a personal property inventory service. Visit us at EverySingleItem.com for more information.

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Home Inventory On TV!

It's On The Television, So It Has To Be True: Tallahassee's WCTV has a recent story about the start of hurricane season that includes, you guessed it, the need for you to complete a home inventory.

Keep Me In The Loop: I found an article from a paper called the (Suburban Chicago) Daily Herald that spurred my thinking about home improvements and insurance. In my experience, people have been sometimes reluctant to let their insurer know about home improvements, because they felt that the insurer was just wanted to raise their rates. Not true my friends! Your agent wants to make sure you are getting the best coverage for your money. You should never intenionally put yourself in a postition of being under-insured, and improving your home by X dollars without increasing your coverage at least a corresponding amount does just that and frankly isn't very smart. Look at this excerpt:

To illustrate, say you obtained $200,000 in coverage several years ago but the remodeling job you completed in '07 and the work that you're planning now would add another $75,000 to the cost of rebuilding the house if it was destroyed. The insurer would likely be obligated to pay a maximum of $200,000, less any deductible the policy includes: You would then have to pay the rest of the reconstruction costs from your own pocket.

Why would you do that? Call your agent, raise your policy amount, and quit your whining! (Of course I'm joking about the whining part.) The other place where people are most likely under-insured is personal property (contents) coverage. In order to know that you are adequately insured there, you need a home inventory, and we can help!

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services (www.EverySingleItem.com). Farley Home Services produces home inventory documentation for cheapskates and big-spenders alike. You can reach A. J. at information@farleyhomeservices.com. Thanks!

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