Home Insurance and mitigating risk

[ATCclears]

I post this for no political reason. If you're considering a new home or property what risks exist and what can you mitigate (e.g. clearing brush)?

Insurers have dropped existing customers in areas seen as high risk for wildfires. State Farm last year announced plans to nonrenew 30,000 property policies in California, including 69% of those in Pacific Palisades.

https://www.wsj.com/finance/california-home-insurance-los-angeles-palisades-fire-3cce96a9?st=TfjX5T&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

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[Stomper]

Don't forget those who live in historic floodplains, or seismic zones.....

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

I wonder how many of the folks that lost their homes will be shocked that they had 'high value land' and only 'meh value homes'
Almost all of the destruction and loss was in urban and suburban areas controlled by HOA's and city zoning and I'm not sure Karren is going be ok with anyone cutting down all the HOA approved (but only if purchased from the nursery which totally coincidentally is owned by her sister) shrubbery around their homes.
One of the ways I would mitigate risk is my not living in an area were someone that doesn't help pay the mortgage can tell me what to do with my home.
Beyond that, yeah, clear the growth near the house, a metal roof, trim any questionable trees nearby and maybe look to see if there is a battery powered roof sprinkler system that I could feed from my pool if I had one

 

[Foreverlost]

No real surprise here.

Without a doubt some know where I live, who I am. My little patch of earth is zoned residential. The weed grow houses here are larger than the residence. Less than 300 homes in this addition, two separate fentanyl drug bust last year. Extension cords are everywhere between the grow houses & main residence. A property owner can store a RV, but no one can live in the RV. People are living in those RV's...........with extension cords from the main residence. Where is the sewage going? Tiny homes started being placed in 2018 without permits from the county or city. Talk about NEC violations.......neighbors are happy living with their own drug use.

In the last few years only two homes have been reduced to ash. Holding my breath.......all it takes is one hot spark on a windy day! The insurance issue so far is only manufactured homes more than 25 years old are being denied insurance. The "City" knows or should. The last couple years water & wastewater service has been built and connected to the main house. The "City" still refuses to acknowledge the RV's & Tiny Homes. Contractors worked for two years with access to those properties and will without a doubt be called to the witness stand WHEN the town burns down to ground level.

Someone voted for this.............

Foreverlost,

 

[TKB]

My house is on a historic plainlands. A river went through our property about 100 years ago. Before covid everyone talked about the possibility of a earthquake. I called my insurance company and found out that my home owners insurance did not cover an earthquake or flooding. It was an additional $25 a month that has gone to $40 a month.

 

[Camelfilter]

...Beyond that, yeah, clear the growth near the house, a metal roof, trim any questionable trees nearby and maybe look to see if there is a battery powered roof sprinkler system that I could feed from my pool if I had one

Yup.

Plus, once dry season hits, clean out those gutters & any accumulated bits up there (under eaves etc). Don't put such off until just before next wet season.

 

[doninoregon]

Ember storms are a killer. Fine mesh metal screen over any crawlspace or attic vent opening. If you're designing a new house, minimize overhangs.

 

[The Heretic]

I post this for no political reason. If you're considering a new home or property what risks exist and what can you mitigate (e.g. clearing brush)?

https://www.wsj.com/finance/california-home-insurance-los-angeles-palisades-fire-3cce96a9?st=TfjX5T&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Wildfires are the primary risk for me where I am currently - already had to evac once in 2020. My insurance went from about $600/yr to $2K+/yr. I have clear cut some acreage, but it is still a risk as brush/etc. has grown up there (I did replant, but there is a lot of grass and low brush) so fire would burn thru it pretty fast in the summer. I did do some clearing and thinning near the house, but there is still serious risk.

When I move I plan to have property that has a larger cleared area around the house/shop.

The other risks are windstorms and earthquake.

 

[WAYNO]

In my last house, I had a tree drop onto the house. I declared, never again will I allow trees to hover over my house.

I keep a very green perimeter of grass around my house, with only small shrubs at the fence line.

My neighbor(s), they do not water in the summer, have a dismally dry and brown lawn, with out of control shrubbery and trees. My neighbor sits outside to smoke. It would not take much to burn the neighborhood.

But, by gawd, nobody's gonna tell anyone how to take care of their property.

And those poor folks in California. I'm not gonna nip at their heels placing blame. It's too late for that. But living in a fire plain, what else should a person expect by being surrounded by ultra flammable vegetation while simultaneously not irrigating, or not being allowed to.

Everywhere, folks are exposed to local perils, be it tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes...
And there are at least some things that can be done to lessen the impact of these catastrophes. I have a cousin in Tampa. Her house is as hurricane-proof as it can be. When they evacuate, she comes home to an intact house. Folks in Galveston now build houses on stilts. And they survive.

Sure. Not every catastrophe is always defensible. But come on, we should at least bear some responsibility for our homes and neighborhoods.




.

 

[Alexx1401]

When buying a home the person who is asking some bank to buy it for them needs to take a look around. Then actually READ the information from the insurance Co they choose. Find out what does it cover and more important what does it NOT cover. Then go from there. Is there a nice tree close enough to the home to hit it? Is there brush and such close enough to spread fire? Is the home is such a place that there is real risk of flooding? None of this is rocket science. The real problem is so many just do nothing. They buy insurance and never bother to find out what they bought. Then "something happens". That is a poor time to start trying to find out what you are covered for.

 

[Koda]

If you're considering a new home or property what risks exist and what can you mitigate (e.g. clearing brush)?

Iirc this was a topic after the Hawaii fire left random homes untouched... due to a landscaping formula used for fire mitigation, does work. I cant recall any articles at the moment but the info is out there, and it works.

 

[TommyFun]

I'll expect another 20% increase in my homeowners policy because a butterfly fluttered its wings in Tokyo which caused a container ship to run aground in Buenos Aires, causing increased deforestation in Indonesia and leading to heavier lead toxicity in Ukraine that allowed for a greater rain shadow over the Willamette Valley... making my rates increase.

 

[The Heretic]

Wildfires are the primary risk for me where I am currently - already had to evac once in 2020. My insurance went from about $600/yr to $2K+/yr. I have clear cut some acreage, but it is still a risk as brush/etc. has grown up there (I did replant, but there is a lot of grass and low brush) so fire would burn thru it pretty fast in the summer. I did do some clearing and thinning near the house, but there is still serious risk.

When I move I plan to have property that has a larger cleared area around the house/shop.

The other risks are windstorms and earthquake.

However, I forgot to mention that there is a dirt logging road from the public road down to my back acreage. Once it gets to my acreage that road is about 10-20' wide with very little vegetation, just dirt. So not only is there access where there wasn't any before (making it MUCH easier to get to land with a vehicle or on foot), it is also something of a fire break. Also, there was a lot of brush there on my property and the adjoining property prior to the logging - the road more or less goes along my property line.



OTOH, the neighbors who own the property that has half of the length of the road from the public road to my property, have not maintained that part of the road and they have let Scotch Broom grow up along (and on) much of it, and that is a fire hazard - but maybe overall it is still better than it used to be as that part of the land was very thick brush before.

Also, with the trees logged, there is much less fuel there. For the next 10-20 years, the time that it will take to grow the replant to 20' or so, the trees that are planted should be very green and not be a lot of fuel for a fire. Plus due to a quirk of timing, we burned half of the slash piles and cleaned up a lot of slash after the replant, so the replant is not as dense as intended.

 

[ATCclears]

Tech once used to make homes more sustainable has fresh applications in making structures resistant to hurricanes, hail, blackouts, flooding, wildfires, and other disasters.

https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/new-tech-tries-to-catastrophe-proof-your-home-6a32b6c4?st=xeyqxS&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

[dplev4]

This September we sold our beautiful house and rural acreage in SW Washington to move back to Portland Metro for wife's work. Our homeowner's insurance was canceled twice while lived there, both times due to wildfire concerns. Two different insurers, two different cancellations over a five year period. This despite our home being as fireproofed as possible. 2016 construction, non-flammable roof, hardi-plank siding, irrigated over an acre grass borders on all sides. Whole house stand by generator to power well and irrigation in case of fire or power loss to keep house and shop fire-safe. Tractor to build firebreaks if necessary…I could go on. We even took advantage of the local fire district offer of a free fire readiness and prevention inspection and followed theit recommendations. However, two significant fires during our tenure, and we were a class one zone for the first, and more scarily, class two for the second. Finding new insurance after cancellation also wasn't fun or cheaper.

But forest practices aren't changing nor is zoning. So it is what it is, whether you are in Washington, Oregon or California.

Well, less fire risk here, although not absent. Instead I get to wonder whether a 100 ft fir or several, will hit the house in the next ice or windstorm without any warning, and with no way to prevent it, since trees are more sacred than people here in the enlightened PDX area.

 

[The Heretic]

But forest practices aren't changing nor is zoning. So it is what it is, whether you are in Washington, Oregon or California.

ODF has a thinning program going on for private landowners in southern Oregon; if your land qualifies, they pay the cost of a contractor to come in and thin certain areas and they then pile/burn the slash.

View: https://youtu.be/PaTVvhy56R0?si=3VRLCpVY7m6c1HdG

 

[The Heretic]

Homeowners shocked after being dropped by insurance companies for mind-blowing reason: 'It'll happen to everybody'

"I didn't get a letter, I didn't get notification, I didn't get reasons."

news.yahoo.com

 

[Jay Walk]

Dude... nobody ever moves back to Portland.

 

[Provincial]

This September we sold our beautiful house and rural acreage in SW Washington to move back to Portland Metro for wife's work. Our homeowner's insurance was canceled twice while lived there, both times due to wildfire concerns. Two different insurers, two different cancellations over a five year period. This despite our home being as fireproofed as possible. 2016 construction, non-flammable roof, hardi-plank siding, irrigated over an acre grass borders on all sides. Whole house stand by generator to power well and irrigation in case of fire or power loss to keep house and shop fire-safe. Tractor to build firebreaks if necessary…I could go on. We even took advantage of the local fire district offer of a free fire readiness and prevention inspection and followed theit recommendations. However, two significant fires during our tenure, and we were a class one zone for the first, and more scarily, class two for the second. Finding new insurance after cancellation also wasn't fun or cheaper.

But forest practices aren't changing nor is zoning. So it is what it is, whether you are in Washington, Oregon or California.

Well, less fire risk here, although not absent. Instead I get to wonder whether a 100 ft fir or several, will hit the house in the next ice or windstorm without any warning, and with no way to prevent it, since trees are more sacred than people here in the enlightened PDX area.

It is common for developers in Western Oregon to go into a fully-stocked stand of Douglas Fir and cut out the streets and lots. They get revenue from the logging, and leave scattered mature firs dotting the subdivision. These trees grew surrounded by their fellows, and because of the dense stand, no one tree was exposed to the full effect of high winds. They supported each other, and didn't have to develop a root system strong enough to resist being tipped over by the wind. Now, without the support of their fellows, they are vulnerable to "windthrow" and no matter which way they go, the housing density means they are likely to fall on a house.

Eventually, some clever attorney will succeed with a negligence claim against a developer. It will be fun to watch.

 

[Alexx1401]

Homeowners shocked after being dropped by insurance companies for mind-blowing reason: 'It'll happen to everybody'

"I didn't get a letter, I didn't get notification, I didn't get reasons."

news.yahoo.com

Few seem to grasp the concept of insurance or how it works.