OCEANSIDE, Calif. — Tim Gordon says a recent letter from his insurance company caught him off guard.
Gordon owns a couple of rental properties in Oceanside and Ramona and said he learned earlier this year his commercial policy would be ending.
“I started calling other vendors to see as a backup, and then I realized just how ugly it was. I would have companies either not take my call. The minute I shared a Ramona zip code, they didn't even want to discuss it with me.”
Gordon, a real estate investor, believes his Ramona apartment complex was the culprit and says that even though the property is downtown and surrounded by concrete, he thinks it was considered high risk for fires.
“It's what I would consider like a toxic zip code.”
He said some companies told him to get a quote, he’d need to insure both his properties and every car he owned with them.
What's been your experience getting insurance in San Diego? Email austin.grabish@10news.com
The California Department of Insurance told ABC 10News that over 100 insurance companies are writing new homeowners' policies in the state.
But a longtime insurance broker says that’s not actually the case.
“We called every single one of them, and there were less than a dozen of them that were writing without restrictions,” said Los Angeles broker Karl Susman.
Susman said he’s being told by insurance companies to either limit the policies he writes or is told not to write at all.
“In California right now there's a real crunch for insurance availability.”
He said ever since insurers like Allstate and State Farm have halted new homeowner’s policies, rates have started to go up from existing companies who now have more risk.
Susman said many new home buyers are not able to get insurance for houses they’ve made offers on.
“We'll get calls from real estate agents panicking because in the 11th hour, they're trying to get their clients’ escrows to close, and their lenders require home insurance and they're not able to get a policy.”
Foremost is the latest company to halt new home insurance policies in California starting August 1st.
The company said current customers are not impacted by the change.
Foremost is owned by Farmers Insurance, which recently announced it would cap new policies to 7,000 a month in California.
Gordon said his two properties almost went without insurance but after four months he was able to get them covered for more than double what he was paying one year ago.
“It really felt like it came down to the wire.”
Susman is warning home owners with existing policies to have auto-pay set up.
He said some insurers are starting to cancel customer coverage as soon as a payment is missed because California is no longer profitable.
"Hold on to that tightly. You don't want to let that policy lapse," he said.
