The U.S. homeowner’s insurance industry has had three straight years of underwriting losses, according to credit rating agency AM Best. Record numbers of Americans are now insured through state-affiliated “insurers of last resort” like California’s FAIR Plan, or Louisiana or Florida’s Citizens property insurance companies. These programs were designed to insure properties where private insurance companies have refused to insure or the price for private insurance is too expensive. In Florida, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. now has 1.4 million homeowners’ policies in effect, nearly triple in five years. “It used to be homeowner's insurance was an afterthought when you are looking at buying a property.

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Persons: you’re, ”, California Sen, Bill Dodd, Jeremy Porter, Fannie Mae, Todd Bevington, “ I’ve, Jen Goodlin, ‘, ’ ”, “ We’ve, ” Dodd, Dodd, Porter, Guy Carpenter, Lara Mowery, Mowery, ” Mowery, That’s, ” Bevington, Adam Beam, Janie Har Organizations: First Street Foundation, Bank of America, Treasury Department, Paradise, FAIR, Citizens Property Insurance Corp, Farm, Allstate, National Flood Insurance, Swiss, Munich Re, Hurricane Locations: California, Florida, Louisiana, Lahaina, Vermont, Maine, New York, U.S, “, Paradise, Northern California, Colorado, Munich, New Orleans, Gulf, Asheland, N.C, Sacramento, Calif, San Francisco