State Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara told 140 attendees of an online event organized by the Rural Bonny Doon Association on Wednesday night that his overhaul of the state insurance market is expected to be ready for implementation by December. Other insurance experts spoke of ways homeowners could improve their chances of finding coverage in a market situation made dire by the threat of wildfires in Santa Cruz County.
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Posted inLatest News
Bonny Doon homeowners to hear from state on insurance crisis
California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has accepted an invitation from the Rural Bonny Doon Association to speak at an online forum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, on the home insurance crisis facing residents of Santa Cruz County who live in wildfire-prone areas.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz County wildfire season continues without major incidents, but local fire marshal urges caution
Property owners appear to have stepped up their fire preparedness this year by clearing vegetation from around their homes, according to Central Fire District Fire Marshal Mike DeMars. He told Lookout that this year’s fire season has been calm in Santa Cruz County so far.
Posted inHousing & Development
Californians: Your rent might go up because of rising insurance rates
California’s landlords see rising insurance costs, so they say they’re going to have to raise rents. But they complain about laws that limit how much they can do so.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
My homeowner’s insurance saga in eight sentences: A true story
Santa Cruz Mountains resident Daniel DeLong thought his family had managed to dodge California’s homeowner’s insurance crisis. Then State Farm announced massive non-renewals. Here’s his honest account of what happened next, recognizing that his brain might have blocked out certain portions in order to maintain sanity.
Posted inHousing & Development
Insurance concerns loom large in Santa Cruz County, even in a hot housing market
The Santa Cruz County housing market stayed hot in May, as expected as summer rolls around. However, insurance concerns remain at the forefront of buyers’ minds, and both real estate agents and mortgage lenders have begun discussing insurance options right away, rather than leaving it as a secondary matter.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Newsom unveils plan that would hasten insurance-rate reviews — and increases
A proposal to fix California’s insurance crisis would require the insurance department to process requests from insurers more quickly. But that could end with a lot of rate increases for consumers.
Posted inLatest News
What to do if you’ve been ‘non-renewed’ by your insurance company
At Tuesday evening’s insurance information forum in Scotts Valley, experts discussed how to proceed if you’ve been told that your insurance will not be renewed.
Posted inLatest News
With 15,000 Santa Cruz County homeowners being ‘non-renewed’ for insurance, anxieties grow as plans are hatched in Sacramento
Amid a local and statewide insurance crisis, the California Insurance Commissioner’s office sent representative Richie Sayavong to Santa Cruz County on Tuesday to discuss the current struggles with the board of supervisors and lay out the ways the office is trying to mitigate impacts. He participated in an insurance forum in Scotts Valley later Tuesday night.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Californians are protecting themselves from wildfire. Why is there still an insurance crisis?
As some insurance companies, citing growing risks and costs, have paused or stopped writing new policies in California, lawmakers want mitigation measures to be tracked, updated and accounted for to help insurance availability and affordability.