[MassHistPres] FW: [forum-l] Possible cancellation of property insurance in localhistoric districts

[Stowell, Stephen]

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeremy Wells [mailto:jeremyw at clemson.edu]
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 12:21 PM
To: Forum-L at lists.nationaltrust.org
Subject: Re: [forum-l] Possible cancellation of property insurance in localhistoric districts


Several years ago I checked with the insurance company that was working with the Trust to get a quote on insurance for a house my wife and I bought in Allentown, PA in a local historic district. Mind you, it was a fairly modest property--definitely on the vernacular rather than high style side of things. The quote I got back was astronomically high. If memory serves me correctly, somehow they calculated the replacement cost of just the structure at something like $750,000 to $1,000,000. (We paid $112K for the property, and it was on the higher end of the scale for the area. It was a modest 1890s brick rowhouse.) The woman I spoke to on the phone admitted they really only insure historic "mansions" and our humble property really didn't fit their model properly. I went through a local insurance company that was happy to insure the house, but still had issues with ridiculously high replacement costs. 

Apparently the assumption of many of these insurance companies is that any damage that happens to historic homes costs 4 to 5 times as much to fix as with "normal" houses. I understand that repairs would likely cost more due to higher labor costs typically associated with older properties, but this seems erroneous. Surely a complete replacement (due to a fire, for instance) would be more in line with the cost for new construction unless you want to rehire the grandsons of the original Italian stone masons to replicate the building (again, assuming a high-style mansion). But would most architectural review boards allow this anyway?

Has anyone else experienced these issues?

-Jeremy

On Oct 30, 2007, at 11:04 AM, KERRY C MC*GRATH wrote:



I do not believe there is a legal basis for canceling a homeowner policy because it is in a historic district. 



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