Insurance in Mandeville/Madisonville? (Monroe, Covington: 2009, homeowners insurance, houses)

[painter_jed]

My family and I are relocating to NOLA area due to a job transfer. We're looking at houses in Mandeville / Madisonville area. My questions are:
Any thoughts on one town over another?
And, seriously, how bad are we gonna get burned on our homeowners insurance?
Can anyone recommend a good agent/agency?
Thanks in advance...
jed

[Out of Alaska]

Both are equally wonderful. If you have specific questions I can try to help but honestly they are both great and not that much different. Madisonville has more of a small town feel to it (and more locals), but with all the recent development in that area, that may be less and less true.

Latter & Blum is v. popular.

[painter_jed]

Thanks for the info.

[desol11]

all insurance in se la is high. think of it this way its like living in a state with high property taxes.

[Drouzin]

What you want to do is to buy north of I-12. Home insurance rates are cheaper above I-12.

[augustoherrera]

Madisonville is closer to the Tchefuncte river, hiher flooding risk and higher flood insurance. Mandeville is higher, specially north of I-12 no- flood zones. Insurance cheaper. You can call Geico and they could get you connected with the right quote. If you live outside the city limits you don't pay city taxes. Both cities are great. Good luck.

[Rachael_elaine]

Abita springs is also nice with less chance of floods so the insurance would probably be cheaper & it is about 10 minutes from madisonville hth.

[christebo]

Rates have fallen since 1/1/2009 due to more agencies writing policies. We were quoted $110 to $175 per month for a $350K home in Mandeville. The price spread is based on deductible levels, liability coverage, etc.

Try Orleans Insurance Agency ask for Paul; I won't give a phone number or website as you can look this up on yellowpages.com. He handles multiple companies and will give you quotes. I am sure there are other agents in the area too. Paul was the most helpful with us.

Keep in mind that flooding did not go north of Monroe Street in Mandeville during Katrina. This doesn't mean that it won't go further north should a storm come directly at Mandeville but staying north of Florida street should be good.

Wind damage was the same in Mandeville/Covington/Madisonville as the towns are really close together. Madisonville flooded downtown because of Ike as did the first few blocks of Mandeville nearest the lake. But there are areas of both towns are are fine.

Based on weather patterns and increased hurricane intensity. I would say that you really need to be at least 150 miles from the coast to miss most wind damage. Gustav was a category 2/1 all the way into Arkansas, I believe.

Having said this, you really should be more concerned about flooding than wind damage as you are at risk of wind damage anywhere on the Gulf coast. Also, don't buy that IH-12 acts as an inland levee; it is really about areas north of the highway being on higher ground and further from the lake than anything else. I would also stay away from neighborhoods near rivers as they can and do overflow.

Take care,

Chris