Saturday, March 30, 2024

Fire insurance in Southern California seems to be the biggest thing

In the past, fire insurance was the hardest to get. I had a friend who had to wait 5 years who lived in Mt. Shasta before he could get state sponsored insurance for his house and land for example. People in Southern California have to go to Canadian Insurance companies to insure their homes against fire. This is especially true from about Santa Barbara south down to the Mexico Border with the U.S.

It is also a problem regarding Fire insurance anywhere in the Sierras or the Cascades that come as far south as Mt. Shasta in California but extend all the way up into Canada I believe too.

Earthquake insurance doesn't seem to be as big of a problem simply because we really haven't had the really bad quakes since the Northridge quake in 1994. there was a period from about 1971 to 1994 where the quakes were extreme and many people died and freeways collapsed in various ways and homes were thrown off their foundations a lot. But, not as much since around 1994 and Northridge.

Flood insurance is starting to become a bigger thing in California simply because the droughts appear to have ended for now and when it rains in California often it pours. And because storms are often more tropical in nature the drops are bigger and they soak everything in 30 seconds to a minute because of the amount of rain that falls in a very short time all over California. This is something relatively new for California too.

So, Flood, Earthquake and Fire insurance can make owning any home (especially in Southern California very difficult especially along the coast or in places like Lake Tahoe where property and homes tend to be more in demand and therefore much more expensive into the millions.

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