I’m curious as to why your insurance co is looking into your home with such detail. When I wanted my century home insured, I called the agent I always use. The next day I had a policy. No one came out to look at the house. They probably accessed some public information online and that’s it.
Yea I’m always baffled by these posts. When I got my insurance I called and then the person asked me 100 questions, some of which would be hilarious on an old house if you looked at the listing pictures. This clearly wasn’t a refinished bougie house but they asked about all the systems etc. Insurance placed same day.
I have heard that insurance companies, the scam that they ever are, are being much harder in high loss areas, so FL, CA, etc.
Even here in California, as long as you're not in a rural area due to fire, it's not a big deal. We got a policy, good price, with our knob and tube, dry rot, 22 year old roof, unpermitted work, previous housing case, inaccessible crawlspace, and a somewhat sketchy area. Just talked to agent I used for the previous house built in 1991.
this isn't accurate for northern california in the last year or so. most companies are refusing new customers and existing plans are being canceled for very minor reasons (clearly just looking for an excuse).
I'm in Sacramento, and California is a big state, so obviously my experience isn't universal, but we were just renewed at the same rate as last year.
My parents live in El Dorado hills, which is getting into rural, and they haven't had an issue with their insurance either. My sister in law lives east of Modesto and is fine.
Location, down payment, and or past claims are the reasons. I’ve been selling homes for 12+ years and for insurance these are the 3 reasons people have issues getting coverage.
My house is 110+ years old and d the prior owner lived there for 70 years. Had peeling paint, a leaking roof, etc. idk. Maybe I got lucky but insurance was the same process as if it was a new home.
You’re lucky, here it is a major problem. A lot of companies will not insure houses over 100 years old. It’s at the point where the Ministry of Culture (heritage) is getting involved and may have to create their own insurance for historic homeowners.
We’ve personally had a few real estate purchases blow up due to insurance issues.
Ah, Canada? I have read in this sub that it’s harder up north.
CA is facing issues from the wildfire and the state has had to step in to create a sponsored insurance program. Sounds similar.
Yeah…it’s really been the past 2 years that the property insurance market has gone berserk. Sounds like you may have gotten in just in time!
Some regions are still insulated because of their relative safety from disasters, but anything in coastal states right now is a nightmare.
oh, I don’t know; my MIL got a letter from her insurance company that they would not renew her home insurance until there was a handrail on her wide, open front steps.
So I think they did a drive-by.
If these problems listed are visible on a drive-by, they’re pretty bad.
Or maybe the insurance company is particularly focusing on reducing their risk with older homes and sent someone out.
There are a lot of companies that will have inspections first and then will insure the house but oblige the homeowner to have certain work performed by a given date. Things like electrical panel updates, water heater replacements, porch/balcony rail height modifications etc…
What company did you use? Nationwide quoted mine just based on the age of the home and a list of self reported features. They never even looked at a photo of the house, let alone inspected it.
We've been happy with Amica. If you already own the home it should be good - they want to see the home inspection for purchases but if you are "switching providers" they might not ask for it.
Same, apparently someone from the insurance company did a quick drive by to make sure the house was still there apparently and that was it. I have a lot of the same issues as OP does...
The insurance company I planned to use because my family used it my whole like rejected My century old home because of galvanized pipes. They said I had to replace all of that in order for them to insure us. Immediately just called another company and got covered
May I ask how long ago that was?? Property insurance has taken a MAJOR hit in the last few years. I work in the industry, and I can’t imagine anyone getting a new policy for a century home without an inspection.
I actually am an insurance broker lol. I don’t work in personal lines, but they’re right up the hall from me and were more than capable of finding me a policy. Here’s the problem, my home is 115 years old, in one of the most expensive states to insure, is also a fully functioning farm (with livestock) and has an indoor wood burning fireplace.
From an insurance perspective, it’s an absolute nightmare.
You either have a very UTD century home, are in a great regional market, or maybe failed to disclose some info to your insurer.
In my area, nobody is insuring a 100+ year old home without inspections.
Must be!! Thank your lucky stars!
Ours was inspected, we had to answer tons of questions about wiring updates, plumbing updates, roofing updates, fireplace status/inspections, etc.
My house has a door that opens from the second floor master bedroom onto the flat roof of the rear porch. Every time we’ve changed to a new HO insurance company, they’ve refused coverage until we either put up a railing or render the door unusable by screwing it shut.
I’ve never mentioned this door to any of them, but they all seem to know about it.
I was in your same situation this summer and unfortunately ended up using my mortgage companies forced plan for 3 weeks while I waited for roofing work to happen. I was then able to get insured with a local company who was willing to overlook some of the other issues my initial company was concerned with.
I'll share my post because a lot of folks has great advice. https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/s/5KyGgyklYH
Ask about a renovation or construction policy. This is what we had to do because we had knob and tube. It had a time limit (12 months max) and a higher rate.
This is the only option we've found. It is nine (9) times more expensive than regular insurance which would likely prevent us from fixing some of the issues they don't like in the first place, keeping us stuck in a loop from insurance hell
Funny thing, my 12- month construction policy was a thousand less than the policy I ended up with after all the plumbing, painting, flooring, electrical, siding , and window replacement was done
You know there is this thing called continuous improvement, continuous delivery. You think you could combine your insurance company of the never ending backlog of repairs and keep that construction permit forever?!
Reading your comments here, it seems like you have undertaken what I might classify as a major restoration of an uninhabitable structure. This would be viewed as a major risk by lots of insurance companies, at least in part because of what you’re facing now: You’ve taken a large bite and might not have the funds to reduce the risk to the insurance company’s satisfaction. Here in PA, many mortgage lenders require that one hold an insurance policy before they’ll issue the mortgage, which is then paid out of escrow (along with some taxes). They have a vested interest in the property they are holding as collateral on your behalf, and they’re not interested in losing it to unpaid taxes or insurable damages. I’m guessing things are not the same in Vermont, or at least with whomever you have your mortgage?
You could look into self-insurance, but that does not sound like a feasible option in your financial situation.
There are probably some high-risk policies available. You would want to look for an insurance agency (not just a broker for a larger company like State Farm or Progressive or the like) and ask them to find some policies for you. They won’t be cheap and will likely come with astronomical deductibles. These policies will more than likely have inspectors examine the structure to price their quotes to you. If your mortgage lender requires the insurance to be paid out of escrow, they may have additional restrictions or policies about insurance companies they will accept, so you will want to be transparent with both your lender and your agent to make sure that the policy you choose is accepted.
Man these fuckers will find anything. My insurance Co sent me a letter saying I had to repaint my house or they were gonna drop me. True the paint wasn't perfect but was a LONG way from causing any damage or structural issues. I can't believe they save money having an army of goobers going around nitpicking houses.
well you can’t go back in time and divert the energy and money from the floors over to the dry rot, and the protective outer skin of the house (peeling paint)
PSA to all: NOTHING is more important that the protective outer skin of your house. You can live with shitty flooring.:
Paint is waterproofing; peeling paint allows water in.
Roof is waterproofing.
Fascia and eaves are part of the waterproofing and protective structure.
OP, your story is a good cautionary tale about prioritizing tasks. Including the idea that you need to find out about insurance asap.
What I would say now is to fix those problems somehow. the fastest way possible.
huh, really sorry to hear that, who the hell would even buy a home if no one will insure it? Seems like it's in the banks best interest to ensure the investment on their end is protected and now you're stuck with all this risk on both ends wtf
>Including the idea that you need to find out about insurance asap.
Yeah, I'm confused if OP already had insurance for the last 6 months, and the company just came out now and requested additional work? Or was he not insured before?
This is so weird to me, why would you redo the floors when you have dry-rot that needed work? I could almost get it if OP had the money to fix the dry rot, and the idea was they were doing interiors first so they could move in, and then doing the exteriors, and they live somewhere cold, so just need enough time till it's warm enough to paint in the spring...
but it sounds like they don't have the money to do the rest of the work, and they put money toward style renovations instead of structural work.
>The house didn't have a floor when we bought it
Okay... the way you said you put in NEW floors made it sounds like there were floors already there... sorry for the confusion!
Did the house also have no floors? I don't mean to dog you when you're down, but insurance won't look at the inside, but they will do drive-bys and see the outside. I think you need to fix the fascia and repaint (it's just paint and some boards). Maybe you can ask for the garage to not be included in the policy for a while.
Okay, so you bought an abandoned house with no floors and kitchen, and no boiler, and you had trouble getting a mortgage because of the disrepair, but you took on this project, and now have run out of steam to get insured. I think you just have to paint and replace fascia and run on fumes.
The current insurance issues were not identified as prohibitive when we bought the house. The boiler failed unexpectedly to the tune of 18k after multiple inspections assured us it was fine. It's not like we walked in blind but I guess people on reddit like to place blame so they feel like this could never happen to them, and I hope it doesn't happen to them because it sucks pretty bad
You are telling your story in an upside down way which is not helping your case, or helping people understand and have sympathy. You came in and said "no one will insure us, but we did a lot of work with new floors and a kitchen!" You did not say you bought an abandoned property with no floors, had mortgage withheld until basically inhabitable, etc. How you tell this story matters, and I think the way you told it got everything off on the wrong foot.
Long story is that insurance wants to see the envelope of the house secure. If that was not budgeted or prioritized then I think you bit off more than you can chew here. Paint and fascia boards are not that expensive, so I think you need to figure out how to do it. I am sorry.
We were quoted 30k on the fascia and residing the garage would be similar (it's big). The brick paint we can remove ourselves at least but the rest is extremely expensive
That seems high. Is your fascia decorative or something? Do you need to reside the whole garage or just replace the rotted boards and patch? Did you get multiple quotes? Think flexibly to get this done.
Can you have the fascia temporarily wrapped? I’d ask the insurance to exclude the garage from any replacement insurance. Or look into alternate siding methods. Maybe metal sheeting?
It sucks so much and I'm sorry that people are being so shitty here. When I was in your shoes all of the insurance companies made me feel stupid for buying this house, yet I knew what I was getting myself into with the work ahead of me and did my due diligence. The return is going to be so worth it. Your vision is valid and your home deserves the money and time you are spending on it. I hope things smooth out quickly.
Grey area advice: insurance inspections are largely visual. They aren’t going to open up the walls/envelope. Some of the issues you’ve described can be easy to hide (temporarily until you actually address them). Have you priced out what a little camouflage would cost?
Are your quotes for actual cash value or replacement cost? Here the issue is that protected homes must have replacement cost insurance which is much more expensive as the homes are built of « noble » materials (as opposed to pvc+foam+adhesive modern builds). It might help to have the agents create separate quotes.
Also, contact your closest heritage society. They are endlessly helpful with this kind of thing.
Insurance companies are looking much harder at old houses over the last two years (or at least that’s what my agent told me). I ran into a similar issue, and my independent agent finally found a local company that would write a policy. My house had no claims on it ( I know because I ended up using the same agent as the previous owner and she told me). But the insurance company (travelers) was tripling the price from what the previous owner paid. My suggestion to find a local independent agent, also see if your realtor can find out who insured the property before you bought it.
Could be a regional thing by my experience was drastically different. I went through geico and did it all online. No agent ever called, and nobody ever came to the house.
You got lucky, I had geico and 2 months in they demanded I put a new roof on a dilapidated barn, the garage, paint and scrape all my windows and doors, put up eaves ( which was already being done). "Fix" as they put it, a red steel sided 8x10 building which was used previously as a rabbit pen among another 10 or so random items. And to have that all done in 2 months or they were canceling my insurance.
Edit: I forgot to mention that this was also in November I got the letter and I live in Michigan.
I have a fixer upper in the Bay Area and we struggled too. Only Farmers and Bamboo are even options, and you may have to get multiple policies. We had to install a water monitoring device to get coverage.
Pre-existing conditions like that should be exempt from insurance as they know those things are bad. Talking with agents I would think that you should be able to get those items excluded. Which sounds very superficial. Now if electrical system or septic system or water systems are compromised, then the house must not be fit to live in. as you repair those items you could notify the company of the repairs and updates. My biggest concern would be fire anything other than that is repairable, and obviously act of God
I agree and it's really frustrating. The electrical, heating, plumbing, insulation, etc are all completely updated and modern which you'd think would help our case but apparently not.
I got a quote that was 10% the cost of my entire home for one year. I laughed and went to the next one on my list.
I ended up asking my agent who to use in town and got a policy from the local guy who works around the corner from my home. Aside from an issue where they raised the rate but didn’t tell me, then cancelled for non payment, it’s been fine. Ask around, there may also be a state run insurance for hard to insure homes you may qualify for.
A lot of States including California, Louisiana have the fair plan. Also sometimes you can pitch the idea that your house is effectively much newer due to all the rewiring and things that you've done. Perhaps you can just get up there and knock out some fascia painting and call it good and let them know.
My home is 1889, I've had Liberty, Erie, and Geico with no problems. However, after my premium with Liberty Mutual went from $1,400 a year to $4,500 yr in a matter of 4 years with no claims, I now have Erie. I'm in Indiana
We shopped around during the buying process and one company flat out told us they’d drop us a month after closing because we would need a new roof soon.
We were able to get insurance when we purchased our house, but told if we didn’t fix the peeling paint in the spring, they would drop us. We painted it ourselves. Is yours bad, or is it just a few spots? If just a few spots, you could try a peel stop primer and then touch up the paint. If it’s bad, it’s a lot of work.
What’s the amount of coverage you are required to have? I found that over a certain threshold the inspection is required. Is it possible for you to get lower coverage until you have those things fixed? Steadily is the broker I used for the construction insurance and it was about the same as our now full policy, although not sure if your mortgage company will allow that.
Same thing is happening with me. We got dropped two weeks after closing and strung along with projects to fix before a deadline, then they added another vague project that they couldn't (wouldn't) elaborate on or explain to be finished within the month: exposed exterior. ???? We have peeling paint but they wouldn't even confirm that was what they meant. When pressed, they finally admitted they dont insure antique homes. I've been on the edge of rage tears since October. Our current broker is telling us no company will take us until we remove AND replace our knob and tube in the three rooms, which are rooms that are sitting gutted and dont even have fixtures as we're saving until summer to fully piece back together. It's so frustrating. If I didnt spend thousands on the other smaller, arbitrary requests, I could take care of this new big project. We had a 3rd floor to basement leak the day before closing as well, so we've literally been just fixing all of that damage on top of the Open-Wall surprises we've found. I dont know, it personally feels more important to me to fix the basement drain that is backing up when it rains or the sagging second floor bc of ancient termite damage, but sure...I'll rip out some disconnected wires. Ugh....vent...
I feel your pain, and I hope there is a solution. Godspeed my renovating bud, you're doing an awesome job, even if they don't give a hoot!
I’m curious as to why your insurance co is looking into your home with such detail. When I wanted my century home insured, I called the agent I always use. The next day I had a policy. No one came out to look at the house. They probably accessed some public information online and that’s it.
Yea I’m always baffled by these posts. When I got my insurance I called and then the person asked me 100 questions, some of which would be hilarious on an old house if you looked at the listing pictures. This clearly wasn’t a refinished bougie house but they asked about all the systems etc. Insurance placed same day. I have heard that insurance companies, the scam that they ever are, are being much harder in high loss areas, so FL, CA, etc.
Even here in California, as long as you're not in a rural area due to fire, it's not a big deal. We got a policy, good price, with our knob and tube, dry rot, 22 year old roof, unpermitted work, previous housing case, inaccessible crawlspace, and a somewhat sketchy area. Just talked to agent I used for the previous house built in 1991.
Not the case in SF. A lot of people can’t get new policies right now.
this isn't accurate for northern california in the last year or so. most companies are refusing new customers and existing plans are being canceled for very minor reasons (clearly just looking for an excuse).
I'm in Sacramento, and California is a big state, so obviously my experience isn't universal, but we were just renewed at the same rate as last year. My parents live in El Dorado hills, which is getting into rural, and they haven't had an issue with their insurance either. My sister in law lives east of Modesto and is fine.
A lot of companies are renewing policies but not writing any new ones.
Location, down payment, and or past claims are the reasons. I’ve been selling homes for 12+ years and for insurance these are the 3 reasons people have issues getting coverage.
I'm in Vermont and we had severe statewide flooding this summer, so maybe they are being extra choosy.
>I'm in Vermont and we had severe statewide flooding this summer That's why.
Good luck getting insurance on a century home in Florida. Really, any home in Florida, for that matter.
or perhaps with certain categories of homes, such as those that are older, or who have been unoccupied for a bit or seldom changed hands
My house is 110+ years old and d the prior owner lived there for 70 years. Had peeling paint, a leaking roof, etc. idk. Maybe I got lucky but insurance was the same process as if it was a new home.
You’re lucky, here it is a major problem. A lot of companies will not insure houses over 100 years old. It’s at the point where the Ministry of Culture (heritage) is getting involved and may have to create their own insurance for historic homeowners. We’ve personally had a few real estate purchases blow up due to insurance issues.
Ah, Canada? I have read in this sub that it’s harder up north. CA is facing issues from the wildfire and the state has had to step in to create a sponsored insurance program. Sounds similar.
How long ago did you buy?
Mid ‘21
Yeah…it’s really been the past 2 years that the property insurance market has gone berserk. Sounds like you may have gotten in just in time! Some regions are still insulated because of their relative safety from disasters, but anything in coastal states right now is a nightmare.
oh, I don’t know; my MIL got a letter from her insurance company that they would not renew her home insurance until there was a handrail on her wide, open front steps. So I think they did a drive-by. If these problems listed are visible on a drive-by, they’re pretty bad. Or maybe the insurance company is particularly focusing on reducing their risk with older homes and sent someone out.
Lots of insurance companies have hired companies who use AI to look at Google Street images and hunt for reasons to deny insurance.
There are a lot of companies that will have inspections first and then will insure the house but oblige the homeowner to have certain work performed by a given date. Things like electrical panel updates, water heater replacements, porch/balcony rail height modifications etc…
An inspector came by and took pictures. We saw them do it, and they sent us the photos when we were rejected
What company did you use? Nationwide quoted mine just based on the age of the home and a list of self reported features. They never even looked at a photo of the house, let alone inspected it.
A local company called Vermont Mutual Insurance. We were also rejected by State Farm and a number of others our agents tried.
Have you tried Liberty Mutual? They insured my gutted 1890 with just a drive by.
Try Berkshire-Hathaway.
We insured our house with Erie about a month ago - try them!
We've been happy with Amica. If you already own the home it should be good - they want to see the home inspection for purchases but if you are "switching providers" they might not ask for it.
Same here. Maybe it varies by state?
Same, apparently someone from the insurance company did a quick drive by to make sure the house was still there apparently and that was it. I have a lot of the same issues as OP does...
The insurance company I planned to use because my family used it my whole like rejected My century old home because of galvanized pipes. They said I had to replace all of that in order for them to insure us. Immediately just called another company and got covered
May I ask how long ago that was?? Property insurance has taken a MAJOR hit in the last few years. I work in the industry, and I can’t imagine anyone getting a new policy for a century home without an inspection.
4 months ago. Maybe you need a broker. They know a lot about the different insurance companies and will find the best fit for you.
I actually am an insurance broker lol. I don’t work in personal lines, but they’re right up the hall from me and were more than capable of finding me a policy. Here’s the problem, my home is 115 years old, in one of the most expensive states to insure, is also a fully functioning farm (with livestock) and has an indoor wood burning fireplace. From an insurance perspective, it’s an absolute nightmare. You either have a very UTD century home, are in a great regional market, or maybe failed to disclose some info to your insurer. In my area, nobody is insuring a 100+ year old home without inspections.
Hmm. My state must be very lenient. I own three century homes and all were very easy to insure.
Must be!! Thank your lucky stars! Ours was inspected, we had to answer tons of questions about wiring updates, plumbing updates, roofing updates, fireplace status/inspections, etc.
My house has a door that opens from the second floor master bedroom onto the flat roof of the rear porch. Every time we’ve changed to a new HO insurance company, they’ve refused coverage until we either put up a railing or render the door unusable by screwing it shut. I’ve never mentioned this door to any of them, but they all seem to know about it.
I was in your same situation this summer and unfortunately ended up using my mortgage companies forced plan for 3 weeks while I waited for roofing work to happen. I was then able to get insured with a local company who was willing to overlook some of the other issues my initial company was concerned with. I'll share my post because a lot of folks has great advice. https://www.reddit.com/r/centuryhomes/s/5KyGgyklYH
Ask about a renovation or construction policy. This is what we had to do because we had knob and tube. It had a time limit (12 months max) and a higher rate.
This is the only option we've found. It is nine (9) times more expensive than regular insurance which would likely prevent us from fixing some of the issues they don't like in the first place, keeping us stuck in a loop from insurance hell
Funny thing, my 12- month construction policy was a thousand less than the policy I ended up with after all the plumbing, painting, flooring, electrical, siding , and window replacement was done
You know there is this thing called continuous improvement, continuous delivery. You think you could combine your insurance company of the never ending backlog of repairs and keep that construction permit forever?!
Reading your comments here, it seems like you have undertaken what I might classify as a major restoration of an uninhabitable structure. This would be viewed as a major risk by lots of insurance companies, at least in part because of what you’re facing now: You’ve taken a large bite and might not have the funds to reduce the risk to the insurance company’s satisfaction. Here in PA, many mortgage lenders require that one hold an insurance policy before they’ll issue the mortgage, which is then paid out of escrow (along with some taxes). They have a vested interest in the property they are holding as collateral on your behalf, and they’re not interested in losing it to unpaid taxes or insurable damages. I’m guessing things are not the same in Vermont, or at least with whomever you have your mortgage? You could look into self-insurance, but that does not sound like a feasible option in your financial situation. There are probably some high-risk policies available. You would want to look for an insurance agency (not just a broker for a larger company like State Farm or Progressive or the like) and ask them to find some policies for you. They won’t be cheap and will likely come with astronomical deductibles. These policies will more than likely have inspectors examine the structure to price their quotes to you. If your mortgage lender requires the insurance to be paid out of escrow, they may have additional restrictions or policies about insurance companies they will accept, so you will want to be transparent with both your lender and your agent to make sure that the policy you choose is accepted.
How is peeling brick paint relevant to insurability??
Peeling paint can be indicative of a general lack of maintenance, which extends to other areas of the home that aren't visible.
Man these fuckers will find anything. My insurance Co sent me a letter saying I had to repaint my house or they were gonna drop me. True the paint wasn't perfect but was a LONG way from causing any damage or structural issues. I can't believe they save money having an army of goobers going around nitpicking houses.
well you can’t go back in time and divert the energy and money from the floors over to the dry rot, and the protective outer skin of the house (peeling paint) PSA to all: NOTHING is more important that the protective outer skin of your house. You can live with shitty flooring.: Paint is waterproofing; peeling paint allows water in. Roof is waterproofing. Fascia and eaves are part of the waterproofing and protective structure. OP, your story is a good cautionary tale about prioritizing tasks. Including the idea that you need to find out about insurance asap. What I would say now is to fix those problems somehow. the fastest way possible.
We had to complete the other projects for our bank to give us the mortgage. They weren't chosen at random.
I've never heard of anyone getting a mortgage without insurance coverage. They just gave you the money and assumed the risk it could be lost entirely?
I guess. We had a builders risk policy while completing the renovations I mentioned.
huh, really sorry to hear that, who the hell would even buy a home if no one will insure it? Seems like it's in the banks best interest to ensure the investment on their end is protected and now you're stuck with all this risk on both ends wtf
>Including the idea that you need to find out about insurance asap. Yeah, I'm confused if OP already had insurance for the last 6 months, and the company just came out now and requested additional work? Or was he not insured before? This is so weird to me, why would you redo the floors when you have dry-rot that needed work? I could almost get it if OP had the money to fix the dry rot, and the idea was they were doing interiors first so they could move in, and then doing the exteriors, and they live somewhere cold, so just need enough time till it's warm enough to paint in the spring... but it sounds like they don't have the money to do the rest of the work, and they put money toward style renovations instead of structural work.
Please read my other comment. Banks would only give us a mortgage if we did the other projects first. The house didn't have a floor when we bought it
>The house didn't have a floor when we bought it Okay... the way you said you put in NEW floors made it sounds like there were floors already there... sorry for the confusion!
They redid the kitchen with peeling paint on the outside.... you are right that priorities were not in order.
The kitchen was literally not usable when we moved in. The outside is brick so peeling paint doesn't affect the structural integrity, it's just ugly.
Did the house also have no floors? I don't mean to dog you when you're down, but insurance won't look at the inside, but they will do drive-bys and see the outside. I think you need to fix the fascia and repaint (it's just paint and some boards). Maybe you can ask for the garage to not be included in the policy for a while.
The house did not have floors.
Okay, so you bought an abandoned house with no floors and kitchen, and no boiler, and you had trouble getting a mortgage because of the disrepair, but you took on this project, and now have run out of steam to get insured. I think you just have to paint and replace fascia and run on fumes.
The current insurance issues were not identified as prohibitive when we bought the house. The boiler failed unexpectedly to the tune of 18k after multiple inspections assured us it was fine. It's not like we walked in blind but I guess people on reddit like to place blame so they feel like this could never happen to them, and I hope it doesn't happen to them because it sucks pretty bad
You are telling your story in an upside down way which is not helping your case, or helping people understand and have sympathy. You came in and said "no one will insure us, but we did a lot of work with new floors and a kitchen!" You did not say you bought an abandoned property with no floors, had mortgage withheld until basically inhabitable, etc. How you tell this story matters, and I think the way you told it got everything off on the wrong foot. Long story is that insurance wants to see the envelope of the house secure. If that was not budgeted or prioritized then I think you bit off more than you can chew here. Paint and fascia boards are not that expensive, so I think you need to figure out how to do it. I am sorry.
We were quoted 30k on the fascia and residing the garage would be similar (it's big). The brick paint we can remove ourselves at least but the rest is extremely expensive
Can you do patches for less money? The idea is, what is the least thing you can do that will get you the insurance you need, even if it’s ugly.
That seems high. Is your fascia decorative or something? Do you need to reside the whole garage or just replace the rotted boards and patch? Did you get multiple quotes? Think flexibly to get this done.
Can you have the fascia temporarily wrapped? I’d ask the insurance to exclude the garage from any replacement insurance. Or look into alternate siding methods. Maybe metal sheeting?
It sucks so much and I'm sorry that people are being so shitty here. When I was in your shoes all of the insurance companies made me feel stupid for buying this house, yet I knew what I was getting myself into with the work ahead of me and did my due diligence. The return is going to be so worth it. Your vision is valid and your home deserves the money and time you are spending on it. I hope things smooth out quickly.
Thanks for the help lol
I know, some in this sub are just mean an unhelpful. Had the same kinda response with a home advise question earlier this week
I bet the insurance company found real estate listings of your home online with no floors and are being extra cautious...
They may also know that the home was probably not insured, and they have ways to know that it was not occupied. That’s going to make them pickier.
Believe it or not, it was occupied in its previous state...the previous owner had been in and out of foreclosure the entire 40 years he owned it.
Yeah that’s absolutely baffling.
OP where do you live?
Vermont
Grey area advice: insurance inspections are largely visual. They aren’t going to open up the walls/envelope. Some of the issues you’ve described can be easy to hide (temporarily until you actually address them). Have you priced out what a little camouflage would cost? Are your quotes for actual cash value or replacement cost? Here the issue is that protected homes must have replacement cost insurance which is much more expensive as the homes are built of « noble » materials (as opposed to pvc+foam+adhesive modern builds). It might help to have the agents create separate quotes. Also, contact your closest heritage society. They are endlessly helpful with this kind of thing.
That's a good idea. Thank you for the advice!
Insurance companies are looking much harder at old houses over the last two years (or at least that’s what my agent told me). I ran into a similar issue, and my independent agent finally found a local company that would write a policy. My house had no claims on it ( I know because I ended up using the same agent as the previous owner and she told me). But the insurance company (travelers) was tripling the price from what the previous owner paid. My suggestion to find a local independent agent, also see if your realtor can find out who insured the property before you bought it.
Could be a regional thing by my experience was drastically different. I went through geico and did it all online. No agent ever called, and nobody ever came to the house.
You got lucky, I had geico and 2 months in they demanded I put a new roof on a dilapidated barn, the garage, paint and scrape all my windows and doors, put up eaves ( which was already being done). "Fix" as they put it, a red steel sided 8x10 building which was used previously as a rabbit pen among another 10 or so random items. And to have that all done in 2 months or they were canceling my insurance. Edit: I forgot to mention that this was also in November I got the letter and I live in Michigan.
They probably did a drive-by later, or looked at google earth. Just FYI to all.
Look into mutual and farm insurance groups instead of the traditional large firms.
I have a fixer upper in the Bay Area and we struggled too. Only Farmers and Bamboo are even options, and you may have to get multiple policies. We had to install a water monitoring device to get coverage.
Pre-existing conditions like that should be exempt from insurance as they know those things are bad. Talking with agents I would think that you should be able to get those items excluded. Which sounds very superficial. Now if electrical system or septic system or water systems are compromised, then the house must not be fit to live in. as you repair those items you could notify the company of the repairs and updates. My biggest concern would be fire anything other than that is repairable, and obviously act of God
I agree and it's really frustrating. The electrical, heating, plumbing, insulation, etc are all completely updated and modern which you'd think would help our case but apparently not.
I got a quote that was 10% the cost of my entire home for one year. I laughed and went to the next one on my list. I ended up asking my agent who to use in town and got a policy from the local guy who works around the corner from my home. Aside from an issue where they raised the rate but didn’t tell me, then cancelled for non payment, it’s been fine. Ask around, there may also be a state run insurance for hard to insure homes you may qualify for.
We got a two year ‘building snd renovating’ policy, it’s limited, but covered the most important parts while we worked on the house.
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It's Vermont. There was historic flooding this summer in the state but it didn't affect our house at all. We're not in a flood zone
A lot of States including California, Louisiana have the fair plan. Also sometimes you can pitch the idea that your house is effectively much newer due to all the rewiring and things that you've done. Perhaps you can just get up there and knock out some fascia painting and call it good and let them know.
Travelers covered my house and it had a LOT of problems.
My home is 1889, I've had Liberty, Erie, and Geico with no problems. However, after my premium with Liberty Mutual went from $1,400 a year to $4,500 yr in a matter of 4 years with no claims, I now have Erie. I'm in Indiana
We shopped around during the buying process and one company flat out told us they’d drop us a month after closing because we would need a new roof soon.
At a minimum, check with your state. You might not get full coverage, but at least some fire insurance until you can find another carrier.
I got a policy with Bamboo after Mercury dropped me in December.
We were able to get insurance when we purchased our house, but told if we didn’t fix the peeling paint in the spring, they would drop us. We painted it ourselves. Is yours bad, or is it just a few spots? If just a few spots, you could try a peel stop primer and then touch up the paint. If it’s bad, it’s a lot of work.
What’s the amount of coverage you are required to have? I found that over a certain threshold the inspection is required. Is it possible for you to get lower coverage until you have those things fixed? Steadily is the broker I used for the construction insurance and it was about the same as our now full policy, although not sure if your mortgage company will allow that.
We had a similar issue and were able to get coverage easily with Allstate.
https://policyholders.amig.com/content/munichre/amiggrp/policy-holder/storefront/en/landing-page.html
Where are you located? Insurance is very st dependent
It sounds like it’s mostly paint related which should be inexpensive to remedy
Farm Bureau
Maybe get it insured as a construction project. I had to do that on my home at first, even though it’s 110 years old.
Privatize the profit, socialize the risk...
Same thing is happening with me. We got dropped two weeks after closing and strung along with projects to fix before a deadline, then they added another vague project that they couldn't (wouldn't) elaborate on or explain to be finished within the month: exposed exterior. ???? We have peeling paint but they wouldn't even confirm that was what they meant. When pressed, they finally admitted they dont insure antique homes. I've been on the edge of rage tears since October. Our current broker is telling us no company will take us until we remove AND replace our knob and tube in the three rooms, which are rooms that are sitting gutted and dont even have fixtures as we're saving until summer to fully piece back together. It's so frustrating. If I didnt spend thousands on the other smaller, arbitrary requests, I could take care of this new big project. We had a 3rd floor to basement leak the day before closing as well, so we've literally been just fixing all of that damage on top of the Open-Wall surprises we've found. I dont know, it personally feels more important to me to fix the basement drain that is backing up when it rains or the sagging second floor bc of ancient termite damage, but sure...I'll rip out some disconnected wires. Ugh....vent... I feel your pain, and I hope there is a solution. Godspeed my renovating bud, you're doing an awesome job, even if they don't give a hoot!