I have been with State Farm for maybe 40 years. No claims in the last 10 years and before that only 4 in 30 years. My home had an increase of 19%. If this is any indication my rentals will also go up a lot. We did have a lot of fires in California last year.

Any recommendations will be appreciated.

Their cost of doing business went up.

Guess that isn't good news for your customers.

If you don't like that prospect, there might be other markets that are less risky.

I have a lot of income property, all types and many sizes from small to large. Most insurance carriers clean house every couple of years to trim away excess liability.

When my apartment buildings got to a mature age, over 50 years old, the Insurance Company's try to tax on extra charges to discourage me from renewing my policies with them.

With one insurance company (Farmers), I had over a dozen policies with Zero Claims in 30 years. But these properties posed a "risk", so my premiums went up by around 30%.

So I contacted my agent and got a lot of double talk. Excuses a mile long. So I had it out with him. Here is the basic items they were concerned about:

a) Roof: FARMERS: You have an old roof, it's going to leak? It's 50 years old. Robert: I am a licensed contractor and have replaced the roof twice in the 30 years I've owned this property. I did the work myself, exceeded code and pulled a permit. It's all on file.

B) Farmers: Your plumbing is old galvanized pipes. With age they will crack and leak. Robert: I have replaced all water supply pipes with Copper, Schedule "L", the good stuff. And I added leak sensor alarms and a master shut off for each apartment. NO leaks. Done with permits, and myself.

C_ Farmers: Power, you have old wiring. Robert: No I don't! It's all been replaced with new THHN 12 AWG wire with new panels and meters. All with permits.

After Farmers started to lie and "make up" reasons why my premiums needed to go up, I then moved to:

Safeco.

Travelers

Geico

and then also small carriers that insured in my local area such as Crusader Insurance Company (Crusader). When I last looked them up they have only 50 million in assets. But I thought they were a California Admitted Carrier. They covered my "C" rated apartment buildings for a good rate, but I didn't have water coverage. So if a pipe burst, they wouldn't cover the clean-up or repairs. It was a gamble but their prices were 1/3 off other companies.

Geico is only good for B+ properties, or upon inspection they will cancel a new policy.

Safeco never gave me any problems.

I still have some policies with Farmers, 1 to 4 unit apartments. And have some companion earthquake policies with CEA.