States set insurance rates.
Every state is raising the state cost on insurance for business owners, in particular small business owners who own commercial property. Throughout the US, rates are increasing by 50-100% by January 1st.
Insurance agents are on the phones daily with their clients telling them that their rates are going up to those amounts, which will bankrupt everyone from a hotel owner who owns the property that a Holiday Inn sits on, to a child daycare. ON the other end of the phone lines are business owners sobbing, knowing that their company is finished.
Friends of mine are business owners in Michigan and New York, and their insurance is going up from 30K to 80K per year. Yes, that's sometimes an over 100% increase. They’re being told that even other insurance companies are doing the same, so the business of “shopping around” for other insurance rates is next to impossible, regardless of how good your track record is. If you’ve never filed a claim, your rates are still going up. It’s much like a car owner who is insured and never gets in a car accident. Your rates will still go up over time, even with the best driving record on the planet. The problem is, car insurance isn’t even close to property insurance and that is a bubble that won’t only burst, it will never re-inflate.
If you thought that people’s businesses closing for the COVID lie was bad, buckle up. With less people around from the Bioweapon, and companies needing to stay afloat, their orders are to raise the rates, and if owners decide to sell, who are they going to sell to exactly? You guessed it. BlackRock.
The same is true for farmland. Farmers are dumping land by the hundreds of acres, because they can't afford the higher taxes. The buyers? Well, you know who.
This is what happens when there are less people around. The rates are set by government in an attempt to make up for the difference. Only this time the difference isn't coming back.
It’s about to get way worse in 2024.
Here in southern VA, my homeowners policy renewal just doubled. It's triple what it was in 21. My auto policy has also increased roughly 90% from '21 and 60% from last year.
To be fair, $300 a year on the homeowners was due to a claim, but it proceeded to increase another nearly $900 at the next renewal, 2 years after the claim.
No accidents or tickets or claims for me or my wife, only one of four vehicles covered beyond liability.
And my property tax valuation just went up 49.7%, (the lefty board of supervisors has yet to adjust the actual rate)