State Insurance Ruling Generates Sigh of Relief from Homeowners
Coastal homeowners applauded the ruling by North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin to deny the excessive rate increase in homeowners’ insurance premiums that had been requested by the North Carolina Rate Bureau in 2014.
Almost all of Carteret County was targeted for a 35 percent rate increase, but following an extensive public hearing, Goodwin determined the rate request “was excessive and unfairly discriminatory” to the coastal region, especially Carteret County.
Therefore, he ordered a 5.6 percent decrease for the Bogue Banks beaches territory and reduced the increase for most other sections of the county to 3.1 percent.
“Obviously, this was good news for residents, and it helped propel a bit of a rebound in the local real estate market, by restoring ‘consumer confidence,’” said Mike Wagoner of the Carteret County Chamber of Commerce.
“The public hearing process also served to reinforce the vital need to seriously revamp or overhaul the methods and systems used to establish homeowners’ insurance rates in North Carolina,” he said.
“As a result, several ‘insurance reform’ bills were introduced in the 2015 session of the General Assembly, which were generally supported by Senator Norman Sanderson of Arapahoe and Representative Pat McElraft of Emerald Isle.