Will Your Leavenworth Home Insurance Go Down?

 
State Agency Grants Some In Leavenworth New Lower Fire Insurance Rating
(The following is a guest post by Eric Kossian of Leavenworth Insurance)
 
Some Leavenworth area residents will benefit from Fire Chief Kelly O’Brien’s successful effort to have the rating agency for fire protection classifications reevaluate Fire District #3.

 
Chief O’Brien was able to prove that those county residents that reside within 5 miles from a district fire station and have a standard fire hydrant should now qualify for a lower rating of 6, to match the 6 rating inside Leavenworth city limits.
 
 The Washington State Rating Bureau verifies the rating for each piece of property in the state for insurance companies. The better the fire protection, the better your insurance rate will be. While Seattle is a class 2, residents inside Leavenworth city limits have had a class 6 for years. However, a house just across the street outside the city limit, was higher, even though they both used the same hydrant and were serviced by the same fire trucks. Kudos to Chief O’Brien for getting that changed effective Dec. 1, 2011; it took several years of diligent effort.
 
This mainly will financially benefit residents just outside town who have had hydrants for years. But it will also affect some of the upper Titus Rd and Ski Hill area residents who had hydrants put in on their streets over the last decade but were outside the city limit, so did not previously qualify for a class 6. It also helps property owners trying to put in subdivisions in those areas.
 
Photo Courtesy on Karin Beil on Flickr

 
 
Those with a rating higher than 6 that are still within 5 miles of a fire station pay a little higher insurance rate.  Those beyond 5 miles from a station (Class 9 & 10) pay a 3-5 times higher fire insurance premium than inside the city (Class 6), due to the higher risk of total loss of a remote property.
 
If your location was affected by the rate revision, your Leavenworth home insurance premium should automatically go down, by your renewal at the latest, if your property was affected.
Click here to read the Fire District’s press release or to see a map of the Fire District.
 
 If you want to get a free report showing your specific fire zone rating for your property anywhere in WA state, feel free to email or call Eric. He has password access to the rating bureau and can email you a copy of the report for your home.
 
Eric Kossian, is an Underwriting Specialist and Agency Principal for Leavenworth Insurance and InsurePro. He can be reached at [email protected]
or by calling 1-877-548-5488.