The soaring cost of home insurance has some homeowners considering drastic measures. A new report from KTRK-TV finds longtime Houston area residents so frustrated, they are talking about ditching their home insurance policies altogether. One resident calls the insurance costs "unsustainable."
There is no doubt the pain is real for Texas homeowners. The average home insurance premium rose 21% last year in Texas, with the number of rate hikes by insurance companies more than doubling over the last decade. And it is likely to get worse, due to rising home values, high rebuilding costs, and skittish insurers. "You have insurance companies who can't even afford to stay in the state of Texas, because they can't increase their premiums fast enough to keep up," says Ron Snouffer, owner of National Claims Negotiators. "You now have carriers that want to pick and choose soft, quiet areas that never get hail, never get tornadoes, never get hurricanes...well that's not Texas."
For those who are dropped or rejected by insurance companies, there is the Texas Fair Plan Association, a state-backed program that provides insurance for homeowners who can't get it through the private market. Snouffer recommends at least keeping basic, catastrophic loss coverage rather than foregoing insurance completely. "You could just have coverage for fire or hurricane claims or something like that, even with a high deductible," he tells KTRH. "Then at least you know you have some coverage if the building gets completely demolished."
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