Why aren't more retiring in Houston?

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo My policy is up for renewal next month (talk about lousy timing). My guess is they will keep writing policies but go for a major rate increase.

Maybe they could take their rate increase from your SSA distribution...

Armed Forces Insurance, with most of their clients in the southeast, has been declining for years. If we raise our deductibles much higher we'll practically be self-insured against all but total destruction. I wonder how this hurricane season has treated their cashflow statement and their liabilities.

[2B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo My policy is up for renewal next month (talk about lousy timing). My guess is they will keep writing policies but go for a major rate increase.

I don't remember all of the details but Texas has a provision that uses "10 years of events" to calculate rates. That's going to hit pretty hard when it comes through next year.

Katrina got Texas to separate "wind storm" (guess what that is) from normal homeowner's insurance. There was a semi-arbitrary line drawn along the coast to differentiate where separate "wind storm" insurance was required. These were reinsured through multiple world wide insurance groups. State Farm uses Lloyds of London.

This separate policy didn't lower the normal home insurance but it cost as much or more than the other policy. It wasn't unusual to get hit with an extra $1,500 or $2,000 in cost to live along the coast.

Until 2 years ago, DW and I had a house about 100 feet from the magic line. Fortunately, we were on the right side of it. That line may get redrawn soon. I think our old house was flooded based on TV pictures I've seen but I didn't see our exact property.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Maybe they could take their rate increase from your SSA distribution...

You're assuming there will be something left to distribute after paying Ike losses?

A USAA spokesperson said on the local news last night their claims call volume had gone from the typical 3,000 per day to over 12,000 per day...

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2B What's this going to do to the Houston housing market? When Katrina hit, home prices in Baton Rouge went up almost overnight by 50%. People were knocking on doors and making offers.

That will be interesting to see. Katrina was a different kind of event though and I'm not sure we will see anything like the mass exodus they saw in NOLA. Some folks won't be able to go back, but there will be people who will give up that beachfront living. One of my neighbors moved here from Jamaica Beach after Rita, "too exposed" he said. "I love it down there, and one day I might have a weekend house back there. But as an only home? No way."

[Nords]

OK, now we've heard from LOL, 2B, Htown Harry, and Leonidas.

Who else is on the Houston roll call? Any major damage?

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2B I don't remember all of the details but Texas has a provision that uses "10 years of events" to calculate rates. That's going to hit pretty hard when it comes through next year. Katrina got Texas to separate "wind storm" (guess what that is) from normal homeowner's insurance. There was a semi-arbitrary line drawn along the coast to differentiate where separate "wind storm" insurance was required. These were reinsured through multiple world wide insurance groups. State Farm uses Lloyds of London. This separate policy didn't lower the normal home insurance but it cost as much or more than the other policy. It wasn't unusual to get hit with an extra $1,500 or $2,000 in cost to live along the coast. Until 2 years ago, DW and I had a house about 100 feet from the magic line. Fortunately, we were on the right side of it. That line may get redrawn soon. I think our old house was flooded based on TV pictures I've seen but I didn't see our exact property.

After Katrina, new "wind and hail" policies were not available in New Orleans and insurance companies did all they could to drop wind and hail coverage from the homeowners' policies (within state regulations). If your policy was less than 3 years old, or if you had made 3 claims in 5 years they could drop it, and a lot of tricks were reported in which they required new policies for minor changes and then used that as a way around state regulations. Frank's policy was dropped since it was less than 3 years old, and now he has to pay more like $2200 or something extra for his wind and hail policy in addition to his homeowners' policy which is almost that much. No insurance company would touch wind and hail, so it's the "Louisiana Fair" state coverage.

I did not get my "wind and hail" removed from my policy, but they imposed a mandatory 5% deductible. That's still pretty good, since I don't have to pay for Louisiana Fair, but 5% probably is not enough to pay even partly for a new roof, for example. My homeowners' including wind and hail went up around $200 (ballpark, I do not have the figures here).

From what I understand, Florida has had similar insurance difficulties since Charlie/Frances/Ivan/Jeanne in 2004.

[2B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords OK, now we've heard from LOL, 2B, Htown Harry, and Leonidas. Who else is on the Houston roll call? Any major damage?

We also need to put together a lunch or dinner for Nords and company's visit. I'm going to be out of town starting Friday for at least a week and maybe two. I'll have limited computer access or I'd volunteer to do the setup. Any volunteers?

[TeeRuh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords OK, now we've heard from LOL, 2B, Htown Harry, and Leonidas. Who else is on the Houston roll call? Any major damage?

TeeRuh checking in. Just got power back 3 hrs ago. Water back yesterday afternoon. New realization of how neat that indoor plumbing gig can be! Pretty much the usual tree (lots of tree damage) and fence damage. My satellite dish blew off of the chimney and was just given an October 4th timeslot for repair. Ouch (football season). Guess there must have been a few other dishes sailing along Friday night ...

Life is good! (Trying to ignore the 300 point market drop.)

t.r.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2B We also need to put together a lunch or dinner for Nords and company's visit. I'm going to be out of town starting Friday for at least a week and maybe two. I'll have limited computer access or I'd volunteer to do the setup. Any volunteers?

Leonidas & Htown Harry & I have also been swapping PMs and looking at various shopping centers, but I guess any plans would've been disrupted by storm damage.

We've been waiting until things calm down to check on hotel reservations and our Rice appointments, but we should have things back on track by the end of the week. Keep an eye on your PMs and I should have more of a clue by this Thursday.

[2B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Leonidas & Htown Harry & I have also been swapping PMs and looking at various shopping centers, but I guess any plans would've been disrupted by storm damage. We've been waiting until things calm down to check on hotel reservations and our Rice appointments, but we should have things back on track by the end of the week. Keep an eye on your PMs and I should have more of a clue by this Thursday.

That's great. You're coordinating it yourself.

[Sarah in SC]

Off both topics on the table, but they just changed our SC Wind pool (for wind and hail coverage) to cover a greater part of Charleston county, so a lot of folks got giant increases in the costs of just their W&H coverage.
Made me grateful that we moved off the beach and now don't carry Wind and Hail or Flood where we live. Huge savings!

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Off both topics on the table, but they just changed our SC Wind pool (for wind and hail coverage) to cover a greater part of Charleston county, so a lot of folks got giant increases in the costs of just their W&H coverage.

Haven't seen hail around here in a very long time, and the thought of it falling on our photovoltaic array does not make me happy!

[2B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC Off both topics on the table, but they just changed our SC Wind pool (for wind and hail coverage) to cover a greater part of Charleston county, so a lot of folks got giant increases in the costs of just their W&H coverage. Made me grateful that we moved off the beach and now don't carry Wind and Hail or Flood where we live. Huge savings!

Am I spelling Missouri correctly?

[Notmuchlonger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2B Am I spelling Missouri correctly?

Misery?


jk

[2soon2tell]

DW and I were very lucky and had no damage. Lost power Fri midnight until Sat evening around 8. I slept through part of the storm but DW stayed up all night. No flooding in our area (Sugar Land) but a lot of trees and fences were destroyed. Our phone and DSL service was just restored this afternoon and I think I was suffering from internet withdrawal.

We used our generator for the first time and it worked very well. Just enough juice for a small window a/c unit, fridge, small TV and a fan. Friends are now using the gen as their power is still out. Life goes on.

2soon2tell

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Haven't seen hail around here in a very long time, and the thought of it falling on our photovoltaic array does not make me happy!

We've gotten pretty big hail (1.5" or so) hit the roof of our RV a couple of times. Enough to put fine cracks in some of the plastic and some dings in our car roof. But our 50W solar panel seems impervious as does the fiberglass roof itself. Sure is frightfully noisy inside the RV though! We usually run to a bathroom building when a major hailstorm gets close.

Audrey

[Orchidflower]

Audreyh1, are you in the Sugarland, Texas, area? I have heard that they get hail there the size of golf balls. I always wanted to just see that, but the best we had in Bellaire, inside the city of Houston, was hail the size of nickles. Unique experience I would just love to see once.
Got a call from a friend who was in Houston over the hurricane. Said it was just downright eerie there afterward (whatever that means). Told me he had to get 6 gas containers for gas as he was afraid he would run out before he got to DFW on the way home, and all the gas stations were closed on his route. True?

[Sarah in SC]

I can't remember the last time we got hail in our part of (pssst, 2B) South Carolina, but they always lump it with wind coverage for the high-risk pool. I don't think I've got anything that would be that hugely damaged by hail around our place. I would hate to imagine it in the RV, though! Just a rainstorm is loud enough in our tin can.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower Audreyh1, are you in the Sugarland, Texas, area? I have heard that they get hail there the size of golf balls. I always wanted to just see that, but the best we had in Bellaire, inside the city of Houston, was hail the size of nickles. Unique experience I would just love to see once. Got a call from a friend who was in Houston over the hurricane. Said it was just downright eerie there afterward (whatever that means). Told me he had to get 6 gas containers for gas as he was afraid he would run out before he got to DFW on the way home, and all the gas stations were closed on his route. True?

Nope. Central Texas "The Hill Country" can get pretty nasty hailstorms in the spring.

Audrey

[LOL!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower ... Got a call from a friend who was in Houston over the hurricane. Said it was just downright eerie there afterward (whatever that means). Told me he had to get 6 gas containers for gas as he was afraid he would run out before he got to DFW on the way home, and all the gas stations were closed on his route. True?

No, it is not true. Dallas is about 250 miles from Houston, so it should take him only 10 gallons of gas to get there or about 2/3rds of the typical 15 gallon tank that a car has. He didn't have to get any extra gas containers at all.