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It also depends on a things like what your house is made of (brick doesn't burn), how close you are to a fire hydrant (if you live on a 1 acre parcel set back from the road it's a lot harder to fight that fire) etc. I used to work for a State Farm agent - it's not really how close you are to the water. With SF if you are within a certain distance from the water they just flat-out won't write you a policy even if you are up on a bluff - they don't care. THAT'S where hurricane stuff comes in - for everyday underwriting purposes they are much more concerned about fire hazzards, slip and fall hazzards, etc. But the price has sure gone up in the 12 years I've owned my Nassau County house, that's for sure - it's more than doubled since we moved it.
It also depends on a things like what your house is made of (brick doesn't burn), how close you are to a fire hydrant (if you live on a 1 acre parcel set back from the road it's a lot harder to fight that fire) etc. I used to work for a State Farm agent - it's not really how close you are to the water. With SF if you are within a certain distance from the water they just flat-out won't write you a policy even if you are up on a bluff - they don't care. THAT'S where hurricane stuff comes in - for everyday underwriting purposes they are much more concerned about fire hazzards, slip and fall hazzards, etc. But the price has sure gone up in the 12 years I've owned my Nassau County house, that's for sure - it's more than doubled since we moved it.
All true. Statefarm and Geico turned us down for being within 500 yds of the water, regardless of the elevation.
Wow, this is all enlightening, thanks for the info.
Of course, you're not paying hurricane premiums for the likelihood that WE'RE going to get hit, you're paying because big damaging hurricane's have been national news so they can blame them as an excuse. They've had to pay out big along the Gulf states and so these national companies need to generate more revenue.
All true. Statefarm and Geico turned us down for being within 500 yds of the water, regardless of the elevation.
Liberty Mutual won't touch you if you are within 2 miles of the water AND have a replacement value of $500K or more.
Chubb won't touch any new policies east of the Riverhead "fork" anymore, period. I was told by one of their agents that if someone is already insured with Chubb for their primary residence and buys a summer home on the forks they will insure it but still on a case-by-case basis and at an "assigned risk" kind of premium.
The premium on the waterfront-neighborhood house I owned a few years ago increased 55% when the first renewal came in after Katrina. Nearly died of sticker shock when I opened that envelope! I then shopped around and found that no other company would insure the house except Lloyds, and they were even more expensive.
Three agents told me that I was lucky I wasn't cancelled outright and my best bet was to just stick with the company I had (Liberty) as long as they would continue to insure me -- so that's what I did.
I'm sure that underwriting restrictions from all companies will continue to tighten even more as time goes by, that's why my SO will not even look at any house within 2 miles of the water no matter where it is or what the replacement value will be.
I noticed on another thread you mentioned you work for NOAA. It's getting to be That Time of Year Again so that reminded me to check the Hurricane Center website for this year's predictions. I see NOAA is forecasting an "average" hurricane season for 2009. How many times will NOAA likely revise that prediction before actual storms start brewing in, what, late June? Or is this first prediction just a preliminary?
I've heard nothing whatsoever about the "average" prediction on the news, but I'm sure that if the words "above normal" had been included in the prediction it would have been instantly splashed all over CNN, the networks, and all the local news outlets in classic "the sky is falling" mode, LOL!
(and now your C-D tagline makes PERFECT sense too! )
I noticed on another thread you mentioned you work for NOAA. It's getting to be That Time of Year Again so that reminded me to check the Hurricane Center website for this year's predictions. I see NOAA is forecasting an "average" hurricane season for 2009. How many times will NOAA likely revise that prediction before actual storms start brewing in, what, late June? Or is this first prediction just a preliminary?
I've heard nothing whatsoever about the "average" prediction on the news, but I'm sure that if the words "above normal" had been included in the prediction it would have been instantly splashed all over CNN, the networks, and all the local news outlets in classic "the sky is falling" mode, LOL!
(and now your C-D tagline makes PERFECT sense too! )
Yeah that hurricane prediction causes a lot of confusion. Basically what the National Hurricane Center does it take a look at the overall atmospheric conditions over the oceans and compares that to past years...and the number of hurricanes that occurred. They make a prediction based on that comparison. What it does not say is where or how strong those storms will be (although they do attempt to break down the number of hurricanes and Cat 3's and higher). So it is really not to be used for detailed planning....like I would not change your vacation plans based on it.
We have another product (a Red Flag Warning...for when warm, dry and windy conditions could cause fires to spread quickly)...this also causes confusion because a lot of people read into it as saying there will be a lot of fires. We often get complaints about a day where there was a red flag warning and no fires. We don't forecast fire...just the weather :-). However I guess the point it that is it easy to misread it.
The hurricane outlook will probably be updated...either as the ambient conditions in the tropics change or if the start of the season is slow. I will say however...the last 3 seasons they have been right on with their initial prediction (2005 was way off with 28 storms!!)
The other problem is that there are at least 2 other prediction that come out. Accuweather does one...and so does a tropical research guy at Colorado State University. Those get a lot more press because they pay for it...and they are very often different from NOAA's.
We put the NHC prediction on our webpage (National Weather Service Forecast Office - New York, NY) for solidarity :-)...and I think I saw it mentioned on CNN. But you are right...there is not a whole lot of press about it.
There will probably be some talk of it June 1st when hurricane season starts...but the real hype will be when the first one comes rolling up the coast.
I admit to being as much a parrothead as weather geek...and was very happy to borrow that line!!
Last edited by alexei27; 05-24-2009 at 12:56 PM..
Reason: bad spelling!
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and a question for Alexei27
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