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I live in Oklahoma. Contrary to popular belief, getting your house destroyed by a tornado is unlikely. But hailstorms are on the rise and roof replacements ar
by tfandango 3y ago
I live in Oklahoma. Contrary to popular belief, getting your house destroyed by a tornado is unlikely. But hailstorms are on the rise and roof replacements are becoming more frequent because of them. Insurance has gone up A LOT for everyone, regardless of insurer, and for me despite installing hail resistant shingles last time. I am wondering what happens when people here can no longer afford insurance even though these are not luxury second homes. My agent told me that Texas and Oklahoma are becoming the most expensive states to insure.
- bushbaba 3y agoone solution is to exclude hail damage to roofs from basic home insurance policy. Similar to how earthquake and flooding is a separate policy.
- tfandango 3y agoIt would likely be required by mortgage companies because a new roof is 20-30k on the low end. Otherwise the risk of losing their investment is quite high.
- mechagodzilla 3y agoIt's more that those states are becoming the most expensive to maintain intact houses in, with the increased insurance a side effect of that. I know someone in TX that has needed a new roof like 6-7 times in 10 years because of hail damage - the insurance company has been bleeding money on their house for a decade, but that's because the house has actually been sustaining significant damage every single year. The only answers to that over any length of time must be: 1) improve roofing so that they're not sustaining damage so frequently (even if it increases costs), 2) decrease the value of housing so much that replacing the roof out-of-pocket every year just becomes 'cost of doing business', or 3) stop living there because it's just intrinsically expensive. "Pay $1k yearly insurance and average $10k yearly damage" for a whole region is not going to last much longer.
- tfandango 3y agoI think I am paying 3500/year now, up from 2800. My house is on the larger side (4 bedrooms), so far, I've had 2 roofs (one on my prior smaller house) in 20+ years. For me it's been 1 roof every 10 years. But I know someone who got a roof replaced and it was immediately destroyed again by a second storm. I on the other hand, fought with State Farm for 6 months about some dumb piece of metal that was dented. So, while we got hit by the second storm and likely sustained more damage, it didn't matter. It's becoming more difficult to find a place to live that does not have some potential issue, be it water, weather, heat, cold, earthquakes.... supervolcanos :)
- toddmorey 3y agoAt that point, wouldn't a standing seam metal roof be the best investment? The cost is about 3x, but beats an annual roof replacement.
- alistairSH 3y agoI've wondered the same about storm damage in Florida. There has to be a better option than shingles, even really high quality shingles.
- seanharper 3y ago+1 for metal roofs -- I run an insurance company that specializes in high risk areas. Metal roofs are a superior technology to shingles and tiles.
- Spooky23 3y agoMetal roofs last 3x longer but cost 7x more. Depending on climate there’s some other options too.
- alistairSH 3y agoMetal roofs last 3x longer but cost 7x more. ... in a non-hurricane zone, right? Sounds like some of these coastal areas are on a ~5 year roof replacement cycle. Up here in DC, shingles last for 30+.
- JSeymourATL 3y agoUpvote for HNers in Oklahoma!
- tfandango 3y agoha one for you too then!