Cape Cod Home Owners

[Bigcat]

I just got my letter from Vermont Mutual they will no longer insure homes on the Cape.
Reason, Potential for Catastrophic loss.
It was fine to take our money for years,now they are scared they might have to pay some out.?
I hate Insurance companys.

[beamie]

Makes you want to have a little catastrophic lose this weekend before the policy is up to make room for the mew man cave.

[macojoe]

Don't get me started!!!!

I hate INS. CO!! They take take take, but when they are needed they always try to find away out of it!!

And the few that stay stick it to ya!!!!!

To many things, Gas, Oil, Ins, ect.............. all go on predictions to set there rates!!

Well I predict that I am not going to make $100 grand this year, so I am not paying my mortgage or Utility bills or that Ins bill!! There how they like that!

[Raven]

find a plan to lift the house up on stilts.....so the water floats (goes) underneath instead of hitting it like a battering ram...

[Mike P]

Here's what gets me. I live 76' above sea level, on the mainland side of the Canal, but in Barnstable County. I have to go thru the assigned risk FAIR plan for homeowners. I'm in a high risk coastal flood zone even though I'm 3 miles away from Cape Cod Bay. If I lived another mile north, in Plymouth County, I'd be an "acceptable risk", even if I was 20' above sea level and a quarter mile from Buttermilk Bay, which is where my mother's cottage is situated.

Why even bother regulating insurers when they can just make a blanket exclusion of an entire county without regard to how far the property is from the ocean and how high above sea level it is?

[Gloucester2]

It has nothing to do with INsurance companies and everything to do with REinsurance companies Vermont Mutual, Quincy Mutual, Commerce, et. al would love to write the high priced homeower's coverage on the Cape . . . however they are prevented from doing so by there reinsurer.

Mike your point on the FAIR PLan is a fair one . . . but what is the alternative? Individually underwrite every risk . . . the "descrimination" lawyers would have a field day so the Plan arrived at territorial boundries.

Before you go off and b!tch about insurance companies read this thread right here on SB.com . . . some have an "eltitlement" mentality that raises the cost of insurance for all . . .

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...ad.php?t=36105

And to answer the obvious question, yes, I work in the insurance industry (although not P&C) and own a home on the Cape (FAIR Plan)

[Sluggoslinger]

As a commercial property manager of both boston and florida properties, just be happy you don't have a place in florida.

We require tenants to pay their portion of insurance and in some cases down south insurance has gone up so high that it is edging out rental prices and screwing up the balance. Tenants then complain to us for being the mean landlord when we have to reduce projected rents just to keep our space occupied. Its a load of BS.

[PaulS]

Originally Posted by Gloucester2

It has nothing to do with INsurance companies and everything to do with REinsurance companies Vermont Mutual, Quincy Mutual, Commerce, et. al would love to write the high priced homeower's coverage on the Cape . . . however they are prevented from doing so by there reinsurer.

But they don't have to reinsure their business unless they want to. If the reinsurers won't let them write the business they want, they can get a new reinsurer or go w/o reinsurance - right?

[Bigcat]

I called my agent today. I am now on a waiting list just to talk to him

[stiff tip]

land of the free?????its a pain in the a$$

[Gloucester2]

Originally Posted by PaulS

But they don't have to reinsure their business unless they want to. If the reinsurers won't let them write the business they want, they can get a new reinsurer or go w/o reinsurance - right?

Reinsurers are in lock step with each other . . . Go nakid on reinsurance? . . . auditors and regulators will be on them like a Hobo on a Hotdog

[PaulS]

Your not required to have reinsurance. Its a business decision. You can't voluntarily enter into an agreement with someone and then blame the other party for the conditions of the contract you entered into voluntarily. Assuming all things being equal, regulators don't care IF you have reinsurance - they only examine the treaties to make sure their legal, etc. In fact, regulators would rather you not have reinsurance. They might allow you to write more business if you have reinsurance than if you don't.

[Gloucester2]

Who said anything about changing the contract . . . the company met their obligation during the term of the policy then chose not to renew it - a business decision.

Show me an insurance company that does not have reinsurance . . . and I'll show you a charter boat that makes a "business decision" to not have any tackle


I'm done - you're obviously much smarter than I am about these matters . . .

[PaulS]

Originally Posted by Gloucester2

Who said anything about changing the contract . . . the company met their obligation during the term of the policy then chose not to renew it - a business decision.

Show me an insurance company that does not have reinsurance . . . and I'll show you a charter boat that makes a "business decision" to not have any tackle


I'm done - you're obviously much smarter than I am about these matters . . .

Where did I say anything about changing a contract?

Many do - do you think AIG reinsurers every product? If they don't its a business decisions. I know my former insurance company employers did not reinsure every product.

[Flaptail]

I live on thesecond highest hill in Falmouth ( which as far as hills go anywhere else in the state isn't that much) 80 feet above sea level. My insurance is wrapped up in my home loan as are my taxes. This year the insurance company decided to no longer write homeowners policies on the Cape. The bank who holds my mortgage went apesh!t on them. I was about to lose my mortgage because you have to have insurance as a stipulation for the loan ( which is six years from being paid in full), they had me looking in a panic and my insurance agent did work thier ases off and were not having much success until at the 23rd hour my original insurance company decided, out of "compassion" for thier current policy holders to grandfather them but write no new ones. I hate insurance companies anyway, you penalized by an increase in your rate if you make a claim and don't even start with me about car insurance since my 17 year old got her license last year. Oil and Insurance are two of the most legally corrupt industries on the planet.

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

Oil and Insurance are two of the most legally corrupt industries on the planet.

Speaking of oil--anyone else notice a 10 cent a gallon jump at the pump between yesterday and today?

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the start of the busiest travel weekend of the year.

[Backbeach Jake]

This house in Truro is nearly 200 years old. Insurance Companys won't touch it. We insure under MassFairPlan. Kept the bank happy.