Tennessee Homeowners (rentals, insurance, homes)

[Flippers]

Need recommendations on Homeowners companies. Currently using Farm Bureau, however not happy with the policies. We have 4 rentals, as well as our residential home Insured with them. At the end of every policy year for the past 3 years, they have automatically raised the rates 500 dollars (each house).
There’s are NO claims ever made. We never had this issue in Alabama, just curious if this is normal in Tenn, or this company in general. Much Regards .

[Normashirley]

I could be mistaken but I think rate increases are predicated upon the area in which one lives and how many claims the insurance companies have had to pay for. If you are in a high claim area (in terms of natural disasters) that may be why the increases but $500 per home still seems pretty ridiculous.

We have been in Middle Tennessee coming up on 20 years. Our HO premium has doubled in that time - certainly not even close to what you are experiencing.

We live in an AG county. We seem to be in a safe zone, weather wise, on our end of the county but the top half of our county seems to get the worst of the bulk of the storms that roll thru.

We have had Shelter Insurance since 2004. They cover our home, vehicles, and the Inland Marine policy on farm equipment. Our HO rate went up after I changed our coverage to “replacement cost” because a simple 2 x 4 costs a right arm these days.

As with anything in this life, not all agents (or adjusters) are created equal. Some better than others. Our agent thankfully, is waaay better than others but we also have never had a claim <knock on wood>

Shelter is regional, so you wouldn’t be dealing with an on-line only company. Hopefully there’s an agent in your area that could at least give you a quote. IF you do that, be sure to compare coverages line by line AND read that fine print none of us want to read — with insurance companies the fine print truly matters but you may not find that out until a disaster hits.

I hope this helps.

[Flippers]

Thank you, We have 2 homes in west Tenn (only one required us for flood insurance, after the “Big Flood”. )
All others are as well in AG counties, with the exception on One (tornado few years back) , We carry a separate policy on this particular home, so it’s not even included in New premium changes.
We decided to go speak to our agent, who with a few clicks erased the new policy charges and was able to lower our premium then it was few years ago.
He claimed that indeed the new quotes were from “Costs on what it would cost now to re-build” , these homes.
He said the bureau does this every year. Most folks just pay the increase instead of speaking to their agent.
We’re glad to not see see an increase, we have good tenants in these homes that are barely getting by with this economy. We’re glad to not have to increase rent.

[Normashirley]

Sounds like a happy ending!

[Geneyus]

Originally Posted by Flippers

Need recommendations on Homeowners companies. Currently using Farm Bureau, however not happy with the policies. We have 4 rentals, as well as our residential home Insured with them. At the end of every policy year for the past 3 years, they have automatically raised the rates 500 dollars (each house).
There’s are NO claims ever made. We never had this issue in Alabama, just curious if this is normal in Tenn, or this company in general. Much Regards .

I was a longtime Farm Bureau customer. I got a better rate with Erie Insurance. It depends on your individual circumstances of course, but I shop around every other year, and it took me a long time to beat Farm Bureau. When I did get the better rate, I went through a local insurance office that quotes multiple companies, if that helps.