Sonoma county fire 2017 insurance

[Arizona1]

I met I guy here in Santa Rosa, Ca that is trying to get his house rebuilt after 2 years. His outtake is that because of updated building codes he will be about $250.000 short after insurance. He is footing the bill for extended earth compaction, fire sprinklers, and a lot of code stuff. He’s 82 yo.
He said the people with no fire insurance had fema paid everything and are already in rebuilt homes. Says he’ll never buy insurance again.
Reasonable guy fairly well off retired from IBM
Seems like everything here in California is backwards from what it should be.

 

[Another Reader]

I suspect this is inaccurate. FEMA does not pay to rebuild entire houses. They may expedite removal of debris to get the process started, but they are not underwriting reconstruction costs. FEMA is a federal agency, so the location of the fire is not relevant.

 

[cathy63]

I also think there's more to this story. If you have a mortgage, the lender requires you to carry fire insurance. It seems pretty unlikely that none of the homes that have been rebuilt were mortgaged.

I wonder how old your acquaintance's home was. I suspect newer tract homes that burned are easier to rebuild because they already had compacted soil, undergrounded utilities, modern drainage and sewer systems, etc. If he was in an older, more isolated home and didn't have enough insurance to cover rebuilding to current code, then he'll have to do more infrastructure work than a lot of other areas.

 

[jazz4cash]

Yeah it seems like some folks insist on living places that are high risk and everyone has to cover the risk. Ok but but maybe you can’t rebuild on the same site. Around here it’s folks that insist on luxury waterfront homes

 

[Potstickers]

I met I guy here in Santa Rosa, Ca that is trying to get his house rebuilt after 2 years. His outtake is that because of updated building codes he will be about $250.000 short after insurance. He is footing the bill for extended earth compaction, fire sprinklers, and a lot of code stuff. He’s 82 yo.
He said the people with no fire insurance had fema paid everything and are already in rebuilt homes. Says he’ll never buy insurance again.
Reasonable guy fairly well off retired from IBM
Seems like everything here in California is backwards from what it should be.

The real outtake is that he was too foolish to clearly understand and have proper insurance on his home in the first place. There have been repeated articles in newspapers and magazines about the need for this, and his insurance renewal documents very likely also referenced increased cost of code compliance. He may be a "reasonable guy" but he clearly is a few french fries short of a Happy Meal on the insurance front.

 

[Vacation4us]

FEMA does not rebuild BUT they do hand out free money and zero interest loans. I had first hand experience due to the Northridge earthquake in 97’.

 

[Drake3287]

Yup, more to the story such as him not having building code upgrade coverage. I also live here in Sonoma and everyone I know has rebuilt or sold so far. More to this story but I do agree California laws and politics are the worse in the entire US.

Other than losing non-replaceable personal items, I know people that are better off now than before the fire. Tough way to get a new house though. Media doesn't talk about this part.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Yeah it seems like some folks insist on living places that are high risk and everyone has to cover the risk. Ok but but maybe you can’t rebuild on the same site. Around here it’s folks that insist on luxury waterfront homes

The area of Santa Rosa that burned was not a “high risk” area-it was a flat area, typical middle class neighborhood. I drove through that neighborhood a few months after the fire. We also drove by the Trader Joe’s and the shopping center that had partially burned.

My cousin and my husband’s mother live 2 miles from the fire and were out hosing down the embers that had traveled into their neighborhood that night. My DH’s mom has occupied her property since the 1970s.

It’s kind of like blaming people who live New Jersey for being in the path of Hurricane Sandy. Stuff happens.

People were starting to rebuild in December 2017. In that area, it makes sense to rebuild. Santa Rosa is good sized city, in wine country, great weather, a short drive to the redwoods and the coast.