By ClaimsMate Public Adjusters

05/25/2022 As wildfires increase in severity and frequency, it’s becoming harder to buy homeowners insurance.
In fact, some insurers are cancelling home insurance policies in wildfire zones. If you live in a high-risk wildfire zone, then you may be unable to buy home insurance through the normal market, leaving you dangerously under-insured.
According to one report by Pew, a homeowner in Colorado received an unexpected surprise from his insurance company. That man moved to Boulder, Colorado and purchased a home in the woods. Then, an Allstate adjuster visited his property, determined it was too risky to insure, and cancelled his policy.
Allstate determined that the homeowner’s home was too likely to be destroyed by a wildfire. Allstate and other insurers use factors like surrounding vegetarian, wind patterns, and slopes to determine the likelihood of a house burning down. Based on all of these risk factors, Allstate declined to provide insurance to the homeowner.
Cancelling a homeowners insurance policy is a big deal. Like other homeowners, the homeowner in Colorado had a mortgage that required him to carry home insurance. When Allstate cancelled his policy, it left him in violation of his financing agreement, putting his house in jeopardy.
In response, some states have created “last resort” lenders for homeowners in areas with high wildfire risk.
California’s Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan, for example, provides you with insurance if you cannot buy insurance from the open marketplace.
As wildfires threaten increasing numbers of homes each year in Colorado, California, Texas, and other hot and dry states, home insurance is becoming harder to find.