Insurance Visits for Home Owners

[C&G'sMama]

I have owned my home for 13 years, have had the same insurance company and have never had a claim. 8 Years ago the insurance company came to my home "to protect your investment...". In my mind it was to find a reason to drop me. I got a letter again and they're coming back. The first time, they showed up, it was August, 95 degrees and we were literally on our way out the door for a weekend of camping. They just looked at the outside. We heard nothing again until December when I was told I had 90 days to get the house painted or they were dropping me. I live in WNY, you don't paint the house in the winter. We were (after a couple of phone calls and letters) able to get an extension by sending a contract to have the house painted that summer (something we planned on doing anyways).

My personal opinion is between the fact we haven't had a claim and where I live (somewhat considered "inner city") they are looking for a reason to drop me. Anyone ever had this happen to them, just curious. In the mean time I had already gotten a quote from another company that was lower anyway, so I think I will pursue that.

 

[barkley]

why does a homeowner's insurance company care what the condition of the paint on your house is in the first place? it's not a new paint job will protect them in the event of a claim

 

[The 4 "Quay"balleros]

If it's for the exterior it's understandable.
If it's for the interior, who cares!

 

[kymmyk13]

I volunteered a few months ago with an organization that paints housed for the elderly where if there house is not painted they will lose their insurance. It appears to only happen in poorer communities and usually an insurance company that is not reputable . This was a trip with our church and our State Farm Ins. guy was with us and said that they can do that but your larger reputable companies do not do it.

 

[barkley]

i can't figure for either exterior or interior. if i file a claim with my insurance company they are going to look to repairing something to the condition it was in pre-claim, so it would seem that it would cost them less if my home's exterior paint was not the newest.

NOW-if i filed a claim and received funds to do repairs which included repainting my exterior, but i failed to do so, THAT they would have a problem with and could cancel my insurance for.

 

[C&G'sMama]

It's for the exterior. And it's not a small company. It's one of the big ones. I truly think it's because we haven't had a claim and where we live. They do want to inspect the inside, but I'm not going to let them. I'm not saying they don't have the right to do this, but I'm curious how often it is done and it what areas. In other words, I'm wondering if they're red lining.

 

[scrapquitler]

I have owned my home for 13 years, have had the same insurance company and have never had a claim. 8 Years ago the insurance company came to my home "to protect your investment...". In my mind it was to find a reason to drop me. I got a letter again and they're coming back. The first time, they showed up, it was August, 95 degrees and we were literally on our way out the door for a weekend of camping. They just looked at the outside. We heard nothing again until December when I was told I had 90 days to get the house painted or they were dropping me. I live in WNY, you don't paint the house in the winter. We were (after a couple of phone calls and letters) able to get an extension by sending a contract to have the house painted that summer (something we planned on doing anyways).

My personal opinion is between the fact we haven't had a claim and where I live (somewhat considered "inner city") they are looking for a reason to drop me. Anyone ever had this happen to them, just curious. In the mean time I had already gotten a quote from another company that was lower anyway, so I think I will pursue that.

Never heard of an inspection by the insurance company before. I wouldn't let them in my house, that's for sure. Obviously I couldn't keep them from looking at the outside (thought I don't necessarily need to let anyone on my property).

Then again, I hear that there are auto insurance companies who come and check the mileage on your car, so maybe they CAN?

 

[pumba]

a few years ago ...most of the people from the company my husband works for was getting notices that they had to put on a new roof...especially if the roof was more then ten years old.....we have a metal roof anyways and didnt have them for an insurance company....weird for them to say paint your home though...

 

[clh2]

Oh - do tell...what insurance company should we be staying away from?

 

[scrapbookworm]

Several years ago, when my stepfather was in the hospital of all times, the insurance company told them that they had to cut back the bushes around their house or their coverage would be dropped. My mom was very PO'd.

He has since died, and my mother's yard has gone to shambles. It is beyond what my husband and I can do (we both work full time and have health concerns of our own). She has half fallen trees, tons of overgrowth, etc. I worry that her insurance company is going to threaten this. But, she does need to have something done about it. She wants my DH to do it all, but he can't do that, work full time, and take care of our place. That's not fair to my DH to expect him to be responsible for everything. She needs to have some trees cut down, but she refuses to. One day, one of those huge pecan limbs is going to hit her roof and damage her house.

I think that the insurance companies feel that if a house isn't maintained, it is more likely to have claims. And that is probably true.

 

[JessicaR]

Oh - do tell...what insurance company should we be staying away from?

Wondering the same.

I have owned my home for 13 years, have had the same insurance company and have never had a claim. 8 Years ago the insurance company came to my home "to protect your investment...". In my mind it was to find a reason to drop me. I got a letter again and they're coming back. The first time, they showed up, it was August, 95 degrees and we were literally on our way out the door for a weekend of camping. They just looked at the outside. We heard nothing again until December when I was told I had 90 days to get the house painted or they were dropping me. I live in WNY, you don't paint the house in the winter. We were (after a couple of phone calls and letters) able to get an extension by sending a contract to have the house painted that summer (something we planned on doing anyways).

My personal opinion is between the fact we haven't had a claim and where I live (somewhat considered "inner city") they are looking for a reason to drop me. Anyone ever had this happen to them, just curious. In the mean time I had already gotten a quote from another company that was lower anyway, so I think I will pursue that.

They cared about getting the house painted? They told you they would drop you? What the heck. I cant quite fathom why they would look for reasons to drop you.

 

[Pakey]

This happened to us last year and it's a funny story.

We got a letter from our insurance company (Farmers, who we have been with since we dropped State Farm about 20 years ago) stating that we had 6 weeks to paint our house or be dropped.

Our house is 5 years old, is stucco sided (and in a new/nice neighborhood) and there isn't anything on it that needs to be painted so I called the agency and they said they had pictures that showed it. I requested color copies of the photographs.

When I got them, I almost peed myself. The inspector had circled the areas that needed to be painted. They were flowers, white agapanthas. I guess somehow, someone was blind enough to look at these pictures and see these white "spots" against a house backdrop and think that it was missing paint. .

I was too ticked to deal with this so my husband called our agent and told him. The agent said these inspectors drive by and take photos from their car; they don't even get out. So the agent came to our home himself and re-took pictures of the same areas from a different angle so that the stupid white flowers were not showing.

 

[DebbieB]

If it's for the exterior it's understandable.
If it's for the interior, who cares!

Interior - condition of wiring. Many fires are caused by bad electrical

Condition of plumbing - claims caused by broken pipes

Door locks/deadbolts = less chance of break-in. Same with windows. Many companies give a credit for alarms.

Smoke Detectors - if they go off, less chance a fire will spread before calling the fire co.

These are all underwriting points for insurance companies. I work for an insurance company in Commercial Accounts. I don't know about homeowners, but most likely there is an inspection clause in the policy. We need to know what we are covering.

 

[C&G'sMama]

Interior - condition of wiring. Many fires are caused by bad electrical

Condition of plumbing - claims caused by broken pipes

Door locks/deadbolts = less chance of break-in. Same with windows. Many companies give a credit for alarms.

Smoke Detectors - if they go off, less chance a fire will spread before calling the fire co.

These are all underwriting points for insurance companies. I work for an insurance company in Commercial Accounts. I don't know about homeowners, but most likely there is an inspection clause in the policy. We need to know what we are covering.

Thank you for the information. I didn't know about an inspection clause, I'll have to look. And like I said, I know they have the right but it just seemed odd to me as most everyone I've talked to have not had this request from their company. The only exceptions were a couple of people that also live in the city (not the same insuarance company). So it sounds like my number just happened to come up again. And I do need to get the house painted (I got a new roof last year (complete tear off) and the house painting is on the list for next year.

I don't want to give the name of the company as I don't feel it's appropriate. I just wanted to put it out there to the DIS folks as I know you all are from all over and was just curious as to others' experiences.

Thank you everyone.

 

[tvguy]

Well, I asked my neighbor over the hedge about insurance inspections. He's worked for Travelers since 1968. He has never heard of any company requiring you to paint your house or lose coverage. Nor has he heard of inspections.
He does say it is common for insurance companies to offer a discount on coverage on homes less than 30 years old, since they are less likely to have issues with wiring and plumbing that generate claims.
I'd have a fit if my roof needed to be replaced after only 10 years, I have the cheapest composition roof, and it's got a 25 year warranty.

I've owned my house for over 27 years. The only time anyone from my insurance company has been here is when the dishwasher failed and ruined the kitchen floor. My coverage is based on information recorded with the county as to square footage, type of construction, roof material. You need a permit to replace a roof, or any major modifiction, so that county has all that information.

 

[DisMN]

Interesting you should post this today.........I got a letter today from State Farm telling us they're going to be sending some one to inspect the exterior of our home and that we should expect photos to be taken of our home. I mean what the heck?

We've allowed the paint to start peeling a bit because we're planning to paint next summer, just prior to putting the house on the market. I hope we're not forced to do it now and the roof is looking ratty too. Gawd, this could be a crapfest!!

 

[golfgal]

Oh - do tell...what insurance company should we be staying away from?

That would be all of them if you don't want them coming out to inspect your place randomly. They ALL do this, they walk around the exterior and take pictures. Go in and ask your current agent, s/he will be able to pull up the pictures they take.

As to why they care about the condition of the exterior of your house, that leads to more claims. If your house isn't painted properly-having a lot of exposed wood, etc. water can seep in and damage your siding, insulation, etc. TV Guy, just what does your neighbor do for Traveler's? They are relatively new into the residential insurance market so I don't know that he is an expert on the subject especially since he is wrong.

People get letters all the time for things like this-missing railings on stairways, exposed wood or rotted wood on the siding of houses, roofs in bad shape, etc. This is also how they find out if you have a dog on their naughty dog list.

In your insurance contract there is a clause that you have to take care of your property and if you don't they can and will drop you. We just yesterday had the insurance adjuster out to our rental property after the roof leaked because of a VERY heavy rainfall. We don't go up on the roof (we should but we don't). We had some issues with the roofing material that were not related to weather and were related to age-our fault, won't be covered by insurance-lesson learned.

 

[golfgal]

Interesting you should post this today.........I got a letter today from State Farm telling us they're going to be sending some one to inspect the exterior of our home and that we should expect photos to be taken of our home. I mean what the heck?

We've allowed the paint to start peeling a bit because we're planning to paint next summer, just prior to putting the house on the market. I hope we're not forced to do it now and the roof is looking ratty too. Gawd, this could be a crapfest!!

A little bit of pealing paint typically isn't an issue but a LOT of pealing paint is. What is more surprising is that they are sending prenotification letters. Usually these inspections are done randomly and without notification.

 

[SpecialK]

The flip side is....

A couple of years ago my sister got the same letter. She lives in a very affluent area, had the same company for years, no inspection clause and no claims in the twenty plus years she's been with the company.

She called to complain and was told that they just wanted to make sure they were covering her correctly. A call to the state insurance board, that had received many complaints, confirmed that the company was looking for a way to raise her premiums. She's now with a new company.

 

[DisMN]

A little bit of pealing paint typically isn't an issue but a LOT of pealing paint is. What is more surprising is that they are sending prenotification letters. Usually these inspections are done randomly and without notification.

Oh this is still random enough...the letter has given us a 90 day warning. LOL I can understand to a point why they do this when you view it from their point but dang, we've had the house 30+ years and the last 3 we've let stuff go so we could do a massive prep before we sell it. The timing, especially if we'll be putting out some dough, is just awful.

The flip side is....

A couple of years ago my sister got the same letter. She lives in a very affluent area, had the same company for years, no inspection clause and no claims in the twenty plus years she's been with the company.

She called to complain and was told that they just wanted to make sure they were covering her correctly. A call to the state insurance board, that had received many complaints, confirmed that the company was looking for a way to raise her premiums. She's now with a new company.

See this is partly what I do understand. I get why they'd want to make sure they are giving you the correct/right coverage but I don't believe that's the real truthful purpose of these inspections. I think it's so they can raise the rates and everyone I've talked to believes the same thing.
Interestingly they raised our rates already....we paid several hundred more for our insurance this year. On a house this size in an older neighborhood like ours that was quite a hike.