State Farm Goes Down Swinging

State Farm Moves to Eliminate Florida Discounts: State Farm Florida, which will soon stop writing new homeowners insurance in the state, is now asking the legislature's permission to remove all the discounts that its remaining policyholders receive, giving those people what amounts to a significant rate increase. Clients receive discounts for such things as having your car and home insured by the same carrier, alarm systems, new plumbing and electrical wiring, hail resistant roofing, and the like. Those discounts, when taken in total, can reduce one's premium by roughly one third.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, called the filing an "outrageous" way of "going around the law" to raise premiums without a formal rate increase. "The insurance companies always seem to find a way to help themselves and neglect the homeowner," he said. [emphasis added]

A Missed Opportunity: Bernard Madoff's personal property is being meticulously cataloged by federal marshals in preparation of a coming auction of his goods. I never thought to apply for the job. Arrgghh.

The forfeiture order signed by federal Judge Denny Chin gave the U.S. government complete control over the $7.5-million apartment and the $3.5-million house in Montauk. (A $10-million Palm Beach home was surrendered earlier this year). Chin ordered the properties and everything inside, including clothing, fixtures, artwork, linens and sheets, surrendered to help pay victims of the estimated $65-billion Ponzi scheme.

Ohio Bucks the Trend (pun intended): My last blog entry noted that insurance rate increases were on the way primarily for coastal states. The Ohio Department of Insurance is saying that 2008 saw significant increases for homeowners insurance premiums. (Ohio has no coastline unless you count Lake Erie.) No word yet from Ohio on future premium trends.

Despite the increases last year, [Ohio Insurance Institute spokesperson Mary] Bonelli said, Ohio auto and homeowners insurance rates are still among the lowest in the country -- and the reason is competition. "There are 266 homeowner writers in the state and 613 auto writers," she said. "That's the third-highest number in both areas." [emphasis added]

Summer Protection Tips From NAHIP: The National Association of Home Inventory Professionals has some travel tips to keep your home safe while you are gone this summer. Here's an excerpt:

Don't place any online or mail orders that could possibly be delivered while you are gone. Packages left outside for days are a strong indicator that nobody is home. Ensure that your lawn is cut. A lawn in need of mowing is an obvious sign that a homeowner may be away on vacation. Those who mow their own lawn should consider hiring a lawn service if away for an extended period of time.

That's about all for today. I don't want to talk about the Gold Cup final just yet. Thanks for reading!

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services, a home inventory service for folks like you. Please visit EverySingleItem.com for more details.

Read more...

The Basics of Home Inventory

It's been a while since I have spent any time reviewing the basic justification for a home inventory, and I know that we have a lot of new readers that haven't heard an explanation of what I do or what the home inventory industry is all about.

Let me start off by saying that home inventory goes hand in glove with good homeowners insurance coverage. I'd go so far as to say that one is incomplete without the other. Most of us have mortgages and are required to carry "hazard" insurance (Hazard is the mortgage industry's term for homeowners policies, and can include homeowners, condo-unitowners, or rental dwelling coverage depending on the occupancy of the home), but no one requires you to have a home inventory. Until, that is, you have a claim.

Claims adjusters require the completion of personal property inventory forms in order to settle those types of claims. Even if you have suffered a total loss and everything is gone, you will more than likely have to start completing these forms and continue until you reach your coverage amount (usually 70% of your dwelling, but varies from one company to another). It takes weeks or months to remember everything that you own, especially if your pictures, videos, or other documentation is destroyed in the loss. Our memories just aren't that good.

Home inventory solves this problem. A home inventory is a detailed list of all the items you own, and usually includes photographs of each item. We like to call it your life-collection. You can complete a home inventory on your own, or you can have an inventory professional like Farley Home Services do this for you.

Every insurance carrier suggests that you complete a home inventory and update it regularly. (Here are links to Allstate, State Farm, Farmers, and Nationwide's discussions of this need.) Your insurance carrier wants you to have a detailed inventory so that they can fairly reimburse you for your loss. (Most of us are under-insured when it comes to personal property, by the way.) If you have no inventory, you have a lot of work to do, and you may lose a year of your life in the pursuit of your claim. Do you have that time to spend?

A. J. Farley runs Farley Home Services, a home inventory documentation service based in Murfreesboro, TN. Visit his company's site at EverySingleItem.com for more information.

Read more...

Insurance Rate Hikes Likely Coming Your Way

Vicious Cycle: Saturday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that four of the top insurers in the state of Georgia have requested rate hikes for the coming year, affecting nearly 40% of the state's consumers. State Farm, First Liberty, Cotton States, and Nationwide have filed increases that fall between 5 and 11 percent, modest by insurance company standards but huge for the rest of the financial world. Rates are also on the rise in Illinois, Texas, and Florida among others.

Even with such increases, Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine said consumers are doing better than those in neighboring states, where he said premiums have been rising at double-digit rates. “We are by far the cheapest in the Southeast,” he said.

That makes you folks in Georgia feel A LOT better, doesn't it?

Allstate On The Mend: The Wall Street Journal says Allstate has learned some tough lessons over the past year and is ready to bounce back. When the WSJ has something good to say about a publicly traded insurance carrier, that generally means that the company's shareholders should be excited and the company's clients should be afraid. We'll see how this one turns out in the next year.

California Fire Season Starting Soon: Insurance and fire officials are warning California residents that it's that time of year again according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

[California Insurance Commissioner Steve] Poizner urged Californians to secure adequate fire insurance, record home inventory by film or video, have a preparation kit and draft a family action plan in the event of a fire. "Don't get burned twice: Update your assets with your insurance company," Poizner said.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Farley Home Services provides home inventory documentation. we serve small business owners as well! Please visit FarleyHomeServices.com for more details.

Read more...

Insurers On The Move

Farm Bureau: According to Farm Bureau, this storm season promises to be one of the most active ones in the past ten years. We've already seen that here in Tennessee. The link says that as part of your storm preparedness you need a home inventory.

State Farm: Will resume writing homeowners insurance in Mississippi according to the Jackson Clarion Ledger. This is very good news for the consumers of Mississippi. I'll just be curious to see how many residents of the state will forgive State Farm and come back to them.

Short Post This Morning: My wife's family is having a reunion this weekend, so I'm going to play golf in a few hours with a bunch of her uncles and cousins. I married into a wonderful family! I play golf so infrequently these days, and I like to get my money's worth by taking a lot of swings along the way.

Farley Home Services Provides inventory documentation to frustrated golfers everywhere. Please visit FarleyHomeServices.com to see how you will benefit from the service we provide.

Read more...