Yahoo Finance New Orleans widow forced to sell ‘forever home’ as soaring insurance costs outpace her retirement budget
A New Orleans senior has been forced to put her “forever home” up for sale due to the soaring cost of Louisiana homeowners insurance.
The math no longer made sense for Cheron Brylski, a widow trying to cover her mounting property costs on a fixed retirement income.
“My property taxes are high, but they’re frozen because of my age at this point. But my property insurance is very, very high,” she told FOX 8.
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Brylski bought the 3,400-square foot property on Coliseum Street in Uptown New Orleans with her late-husband Harold in 1995. Three decades later, she now owns the home outright but still has to pay nearly $15,000 a year to insure it.
In total, she pays $2,500 a month just to cover her property taxes and ever-increasing homeowners insurance premiums, which has left her struggling to live within her retirement budget.
“And I’m not the only one in New Orleans experiencing that,” she said. “You can drive around this neighborhood and others and see tons of ‘For Sale’ signs.”
Here’s why home insurance in the Pelican State is so expensive.
Many are suffering
Homeowners in Louisiana face the second-highest property insurance rates in the county — behind only Florida, according to digital insurance agent Insurify.
The average annual cost of insurance in the state is $6,354, per Insurify data — but the insurance experts expect that to jump another 23% in 2024, hitting a whopping $7,809 per year.
Those averages really put Brylski’s painful $15,000 insurance bill into context. Of course, her premium is likely higher because of the size and value of her property — the couple spent years investing “sweat and tears into renovating it” and she’s now listed it for sale at $1.1 million — as well as the property’s vulnerability to extreme weather rolling in off the Gulf of Mexico.
Brylski believes she is one of many New Orleans residents listing their homes for sale as a result of sky-high insurance premiums. While that belief is anecdotal, Mark Rodi, a broker and owner of RE/MAX Affiliates in Metairie, told FOX 8 he’s not surprised that insurance is impacting local property sales — especially among older sellers, like Brylski, with limited incomes.
“There are a lot of widows and widowers who are on fixed incomes or some kind or Social Security — and when you have a [home] insurance policy that doubles or [more]... it’s going to affect your lifestyle,” said Rodi, whose been in the real estate business for almost 50 years.
After three years of “battling” with the decision of whether to sell the family home or soldier on through her financial pain, Brylski ultimately decided “downsizing” was her only option.
She listed the 4-bedroom, 2.5-bath house for sale and is now facing an uphill battle to find buyers willing to take on the home’s hefty seven-figure price tag — with the added knowledge that insurance costs in Louisiana will likely continue to increase.
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An insurance crisis
Louisiana is battling similar insurance challenges to Florida and other coastal states.
After a steady stream of severe storms — and the influx of costly insurance claims that come with them — property insurers in the Pelican State have been left with two options: charge more in order to cover their claims, or stop providing coverage in the state.
In the past few years, multiple homeowners insurance companies have either gone insolvent or stopped selling policies in Louisiana, according to Insurify, which has resulted in fewer options and higher prices for consumers.
As a result, the number of people turning to Louisiana Citizens — the state-backed insurer of last resort — has ballooned. In late 2023, it carried more than 140,000 policies, almost four times the number it held when Louisiana's insurance crisis erupted in the wake of Hurricane Ida in 2021.
To manage this influx — and the same weather-related property risks the private insurers are facing — Citizens requested and received approval for a 63% rate increase in 2023.
If you’re in the same boat as Brylski, there are things you can do to improve your chances of getting a reasonable home insurance bill. For example, don’t just settle for the first home insurance quote you get. Shop around and compare multiple options to find the best coverage and the best price for you.
It also pays to spend a little on mitigation (if you have any spare change). Many insurers will give you a discount for installing water sensor technology to detect flooding. They will also recognize efforts to disaster-proof your home, such as installing backflow valves if your home is in a flood zone.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
