Owners of single-family homes in Hawaiʻi are increasingly getting nonrenewal notices for their homeowners' insurance policies. It's a trend that follows the problems condo associations faced with hurricane insurance.
Some homeowners are getting dropped by their insurance companies because their roofs are too old, they live too close to the ocean, or they haven't upgraded their electrical systems.
Rates for homeowners' insurance in Hawaiʻi, especially hurricane insurance, have skyrocketed.
A study by LendingTree found that while Hawaiʻi has the lowest average rate for homeowners insurance, rates have increased an average of 23% over five years.
But Hawaiʻi's market is unstable. At least one company, Crum and Forster, has stopped writing any residential policies in Hawaiʻi. Others have stopped renewing or writing new policies for different reasons.
State Farm says it's always had a policy of not writing insurance for homes within a thousand feet of the ocean. But now it's not renewing hurricane policies for single-wall homes, no matter how far they are from the water.
DB Insurance has cancelled hurricane insurance for single-wall and double-wall homes, but will still insure superior-frame and masonry construction.
Zephyr Insurance is also no longer writing new hurricane policies in Hawaiʻi, but will continue to renew existing hurricane insurance policies.
Some mainstream insurance companies won't issue a standard policy if the roof on the house is more than 20 years old. Those homeowners could still get insurance, but they may have to pay double or triple the rate of a house with a newer roof.
Other reasons insurance companies may not issue policies are an older home's plumbing or electrical systems.
As Sue Savio of Insurance Associates says, old electrical systems from the 1940s and '50s are not acceptable.
