I live in California, but I’ve never owned a home. In my mid-forties I’m desperate to get out of renting a property I love but cannot alter in ways I would like.
But purchasing a property in California has so many barriers to entry. Cost being the top hurdle, but I’ve recently begun to truly realize what a nightmare home insurance would be. With the LA fire leveling high end homes in the Pacific Palisades, and my desire to live in an wildlife-urban interface in the Sierra foothills, I doubt I’ll be able to get private insurance at all.
The state has jumped in with the FAIR plan but it’s woefully inadequate and uber expensive. No wonder Californian’s are fleeing the state. I have contemplated the same, but the reality is everywhere has limitations. My partner has put the kibosh on relocating anywhere that floods. But fire we understand. We understand how to mitigate risk to our property, and how to navigate local bureaucracy to get wider community prevention measures taken.
However, there’s nothing we can do about private insurance companies making a run for it, leaving us in the lurch. I propose a compulsory insurance scheme nationwide. Every renter, homeowner and building must have basic insurance to cover, at minimum, civil liability (damage to third parties and property) and any building renovation or construction must have insurance. If you add in all the renters, and homeowners who no longer owe on a mortgage who may have dropped the required insurance, perhaps the insurance industry would be salvaged?
Either that, or the federal government creates a nationalized insurance scheme for climate related disasters; which arguably will become more frequent in the coming years. Perhaps electing to pay into the national scheme at tax time, with basic coverage for extreme calamity, coupled with supplemental insurance from private companies, we can stop the bleeding. Both policies would have to complement each other and neither could be cost prohibitive. If people pay for two policies then it would need to be worth it, and easy enough to file claims.
If disasters are expected in various parts of the country, then a collective pool of premiums across the nation might alleviate the exclusion of one region for another, safer risk.
I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford a mortgage and homeowner’s insurance in the future. I’m terrified I’ll get dropped just before a disaster and my investment gone. Much like many in Los Angeles right now…
I’m curious to hear about experiences with insurance companies, the CA FAIR plan and/or victims of disaster.
My heart is with you all.
The Way Through It 