Insurance
Field notes tagged “Insurance”.
What You Can Still Do to Lower Fire Premiums
California's insurer of last resort now itemizes twelve wildfire hardening discounts, worth up to 16.4 percent of the wildfire share of a premium. Behind that price list is a 2022 regulation that split a home's fire risk into two parts: where the house sits, and what its owner has done about it. Only one of those is fixed.
The Discount You Can't Earn Alone
Marin County had nine recognized Firewise sites in 2017. It has about ninety now. Behind that curve is a regulation that made one neighbor's brush clearing worth money to the house next door — and turned a favor between neighbors into an underwriting fact.
The Fire Was in Los Angeles. The Bill Is on Your Policy.
A homeowner miles from any wildfire is helping pay for the homes that burned in Los Angeles in January 2025. The FAIR Plan's $1 billion assessment worked exactly as designed — and the design now includes a line on ordinary policies, no matter how safe the address.
The Cost of an Honest Premium
Federal flood insurance spent decades priced below the risk it covers, with the Treasury quietly making up the difference. In 2021 FEMA started telling each home the truth about its own risk. The truth turned out to be expensive — and the people it priced hardest were the first to stop paying for protection.
A “Stable” Insurance Market — Stable for Whom?
The insurers that stepped away from the fires are edging back, and the industry's grade just improved to stable. My read: that stability was purchased from homeowners — one premium hike and one non-renewal at a time.
Don't Let a Forever Home Put You Forever at Risk
Buying a house can be one of the most emotional financial decisions any of us make — harmless with room in the budget, dangerous when the feeling has you stretching to buy and to own a home you mean to keep forever. A story from the Berkeley hills about what emotion can hide.
Your Insurance Quote Is a Climate Forecast
When a place gets riskier, prices are the last thing to move. Insurance is the first — carriers reprice every year, and they're paid to be right about risk. Here's how to read a quote like the forecast it is.