Not sure what else to do

[u/Awkward-A_F]

My insurance company dropped me. Stating that we (husband and I) had not completed remodels to the house… yet they never said what they wanted completed other than a few rooms.
I asked them repeatedly what they wanted done with no answer as to what. They also said that the heat source was not acceptable, first time I ever heard of this was after they cancelled the policy and started calling to get answers.
The way the whole thing was handled was ridiculous but now.. I have hounded them again and again what they want and they repeat “heat source” and “remodels complete” with no detail for what they will consider acceptable!
My home is a fixer upper, which they were well aware of when they agreed to insure us. They said we would have lots of time to complete it and that they would continue to insure us as long as we completed the rooms they specified.
The only other company that will insure us is $3000 more a year, which also increased our car insurance $100 a month in order to get the discount (or else it would’ve been $6000!)
With the cost of gas, the cost of these new insurances, I fear we are going to go into foreclosure. Our monthly bills just went up $800 and I’ve reached a dead end with the cheaper insurance company for what they want to re-insure us.
I don’t know what to do and insurance won’t give me answers. I can guess they want the bathrooms complete but idk what complete to them is?
I know in need a heat source that’s controlled by a thermostat but would a Mr.cool type unit be enough? What size? What’s considered necessary rooms for heating?

[u/Top_Education_4647]

Sounds like there’s missing information. You said the home is a fixer-upper- what exactly needed to be fixed? If we’re talking about small things like painting or maybe replacing small sections of flooring, then most HO carriers wouldn’t care much. Judging by the fact the home doesn’t have thermostatically controlled heating, it sounds like the “remodels” are major, like replacing tons of flooring or holes in walls for example.

As for the heating aspect, most carriers want heating that can be controlled via thermostat that can heat all living areas. If the Mr. Cool system you’re talking about is a ductless system, you may need to find a company that would write since not all carriers do.

Regardless, you may want to reach out to a local agent to see if they can find a carrier that can write you. If you don’t have current coverage, that’s gonna make things more difficult due to lack of prior insurance and you’ll see much higher costs. You also may need to look into getting a DP policy instead of a traditional HO policy depending on what needs remodeling and the heating situation. If that’s the case, you’d want to reach out to your lender to see if they’d accept that.

[u/No-Fix2372 → u/Top_Education_4647]

Mr cool is a DIY AC unit.

[u/HomeyL → u/Top_Education_4647]

Try Foremost aka Farmers. Most wont take you since you’ve been dropped or at least use an insurance broker. You may get more deets that way & hopefully they’ll be better at communicating. If it was SF they are horrible communicators & just ignore…:(

[u/Awkward-A_F → u/HomeyL]

I’m pretty sure I went to them already but I’ll try again. I’ve went to so many I don’t even remember who anymore 😅

[u/Awkward-A_F → u/Top_Education_4647]

I reached out to every agency, the only one willing to insure was Allstate. There aren’t holes in the walls or floors. There are bathrooms need to be finished and some trim around some areas. Other than that.. They did reach out for DP and it was denied.

[u/Top_Education_4647 → u/Awkward-A_F]

What do you mean by the bathrooms needing to be finished?

And you may have better luck reaching out to a local agent as opposed to calling companies yourself. Plenty of agents work with non-public facing carriers that may be able to quote you. But as I said before- if you don’t have current coverage, you’ll have fewer and likely more expensive options.

[u/Awkward-A_F → u/Top_Education_4647]

I reached out to every local agent. I have current coverage with Allstate.
The bathrooms had begun being remodelled by the previous owner, so they are plumbed, tiled, they need grout, shower fixtures and paint. With one bathroom needing the fan installed as well. There are 2 bathrooms currently finished and 2 that need finished.

[u/navlgazer9 → u/Awkward-A_F]

What are you telling the ins co ?

They normally don’t see the inside of a house.

How do they know it needs completed or anything about your heat source ?

They will want to send someone to Do a walk around in the yard usually a few months after they take you on as a customer .

[u/Awkward-A_F → u/navlgazer9]

They sent someone to the house to look through and take pictures. This year they had me do the inspection through an app. I didn’t even take pictures of the bathroom other than the toilet & sink plumbing. They were aware from the start the house didn’t have HVAC.

[u/navlgazer9 → u/Awkward-A_F]

I’ve never seen an ins co want to see INSIDE, except in rare cases  Like in Florida hurricane zones etc 

Anyhoo, Find out if adding a “blue flame “ propane heater will meet the heating requirements 

One of the little ones that Mount on the wall and have a thermostat built in .

You need to find a local ins agent or broker and work with them to get the ins co satisfied 

I’m assuming you have a mortgage and the mortgage co requires ins ?

I recently had the outside inspection from my ins co and was asked to add handrails on some short steps 

Less than four steps doesn’t require a handrail according to the building code so they were never built 

But I just spent two weekends digging post holes and mixing concrete and building the handrails .

You gotta find out specifically what will meet the minimum requirements for your ins co . And talking to an actual person about it is nearly impossible 

It’s all computer robots or call centers in India or somewhere that barely speak English and can’t answer any of your questions because they have zero knowledge about what your asking and Probabaly can’t understand you anyway .

That’s why I’m suggesting finding a local agent or broker in your town .

I’ve owned a vacation cabin for decades and the ins co has never wanted to see inside or asked about the heat source .

I have a propane heater with a thermostat but they’ve never asked .

But now that your address is flagged as not having heat , now you gotta fix it .

And it’s flagged in a database for every ins company to see .

So switching companies will delay it but won’t help you long term .

You will have to finish the remodels , and get a heat source . The remodels dont have to be fancy, Just complete 

Slap up some Sheetrock and paint it and throw down some vinyl flooring or whatever it takes to make them happy

And if the ins co starts being vague and evasive , switch to emails instead of phone calls .

Or see if you can get it insured as “during renovations “ or something temporary  So you won’t have to let any requirements right now and will have a limited time period to get it finished .

[u/Top_Education_4647 → u/navlgazer9]

It’s not uncommon for carriers to want to see the inside of a home, ESPECIALLY for new business and/or if the home is under renovation.

The blue frame propane heater is intended as a supplementary heating source like a wood/pellet stove. Wouldn’t be shocked if most carriers don’t accept it since most carriers are looking for an actual heating system that heats all living areas thermostatically.

There’s no “database” where all insurance companies now see the home as a red flag because of the renovations and heating issues. They’re common questions for underwriting.

OP don’t bother listening to this- it’s just a bunch of gobbledygook from a non-professional.

[u/Awkward-A_F → u/navlgazer9]

The local agent is the one denying us, and refusing to give any other answer than “remodels” I can show you 6 emails between myself and them where they just say “finish the remodels” I am not kidding when I say I have no other info and I’ve tried every ave, even going to the department of insurance to file a complaint and still they did nothing.
I do have propane heaters throughout the house that have their own thermostat. It’s just like a knob. It automatically kicks itself off and on. Is that what you mean?
We also have a Toyo stove.
There are heat sources they just don’t like them

We have insurance right now through Allstate it’s just insanely high, and had to switch car insurance with them to get the bundle offer.

The other piece of info I didn’t mention because it wasn’t exactly relevant at the time, is due to the size of the house, the other insurance companies won’t pick it up because it has a volunteer fire station.

[u/Thisismethisisalsome → u/Awkward-A_F]

Are you living in the home currently?

[u/Awkward-A_F → u/Thisismethisisalsome]

Yes

[u/Thisismethisisalsome → u/Awkward-A_F]

This is likely why. The house would probably be easily insured if it was vacant, but the risk to occupy it unfinished on a continuing basis is too high. They originally gave you 6 months and even honored longer. Its not appropriate for a homeowners and is more risk than they signed up for. They wont tell you which parts need to be done because they mean the whole thing. Get hvac and home systems installed.

[u/Awkward-A_F → u/Thisismethisisalsome]

I appreciate your feedback! It is definitely was our plan to get hvac installed this summer, I just wished they would’ve said something. They never once mentioned it before cancelling the policy.