Christian Richter 
California’s Commissioner, Ricardo Lara, issued two very important press releases at the end of last year. The releases contained important information on a variety of changes for the ever-volatile home insurance market in California. FAIR Plan Changes Effective December 5, 2019 Commissioner Lara issued a mandatory one-year moratorium on non-renewals for more than 800,000 homeowners throughout the … Read more
Last month’s fires (October 2019) throughout California marked the fourth consecutive year of catastrophic losses in the state. Annual wildfires are now the expected norm by insurance carriers, which has led to tighter, extremely conservative underwriting. It’s important to note that following all our recommendations will not guarantee acceptance of your property. Rather, these items are intended … Read more
Earlier this month, the Second Edition of Firescaping by Douglas Kent was released. The book is a comprehensive and clearly written resource that should be read by anyone living in the mountains or rural parts of CA. Wildfires have thrown the California home insurance market into chaos, and any measures that can help to improve a home’s insurability should … Read more
If you live in an area that is susceptible to wildfires, then you already know the damage these fires can do to the surrounding areas and your home. Whether you live by the shores of Lake Tahoe, or in the hills of Malibu, it is important that you take every pre-caution to make sure that … Read more
Given the huge transformation the world is going through, the home sharing and property rental businesses have really taken off in the last two decades. Renting out spare rooms, a portion of, or even an entire house to earn some extra money, or a full-time income, has become increasingly common nowadays. Each year the number … Read more
Do you own an amazing vacation house on Lake Tahoe, or a desert oasis home in Palm Springs? What about a sprawling vacation ranch in Texas, or a beautiful snow laden retreat in Utah? If you own any type of vacation home, keep reading. Now, are you renting this vacation home for less than thirty … Read more
The last three years have been devastating to California home insurers. We’ve previously written about how this might impact home insurance into the future, and much of what we expected was negative: policies being non-renewed, insurers leaving the state, rates increasing, etc. Since the time of that writing, Merced Property and Casualty went insolvent and was taken … Read more
A new version of this post can be found below. Updated 7/13/2023. Nearly five years ago we predicted California homeowners would experience non-renewals, closing zip codes, “high fire hazard” surcharges, and a shrinking number of options as companies left the market altogether. All that was predicted has come to pass, culminating recently when the nation’s … Read more
Rancho Santa Fe, CA is a beautiful city tucked away in the hills of San Diego. With an average home value of more than $2.6 million, you can be certain the homes are exceptional in every regard. Without question, homes of the quality found throughout Rancho Santa Fe should be insured with a premiere insurance company that … Read more
Elon Musk and Tesla have been in the news recently for a variety of reasons – we’ve most enjoyed the banter between Musk and the highly revered Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet. Tesla continues to struggle with production issues and a backlog of vehicle orders now over half a million and counting. And while profitability and sustainability … Read more
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