By Karen Moeller, on January 22nd, 2026 
For many years, homeowners insurance followed a predictable script. The house itself mattered most. Age of the roof. Square footage. Replacement cost. Claims history.
That is changing.
Across the St. Louis region, insurance underwriting is becoming increasingly location-specific, meaning where a home sits now plays a larger role in coverage terms and pricing than many buyers and sellers expect. This shift is not universal across all insurers, but it is widespread enough to be affecting real estate transactions in noticeable ways.
Communities like Eureka often feel this change sooner, not because something Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 14th, 2025 
Missouri Insurance Department halts cancellations for storm-damaged homes
If your Missouri home was damaged in the spring 2025 storms and you’re still working through repairs, your insurer cannot cancel or non-renew your policy because of the storm damage or related claims. In a new directive, DCI ordered companies to keep coverage in force for storm-affected residential properties statewide for weather losses occurring after March 1, 2025. The department also told insurers to reverse any cancellations or non-renewals already sent out for this reason. Normal exceptions still apply, such as cancellations for non-payment and properties that weren’t damaged. The bulletin notes Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 5th, 2025 
Homeowners in the St. Louis metro area might be hearing about skyrocketing insurance premiums, but there’s some good news—our region is in a much better position than many others. A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) shows that while homeowners insurance costs are up 33% nationwide since 2020, much of that increase is hitting high-risk disaster zones and areas heavily reliant on reinsurance. Unlike coastal states dealing with hurricanes and wildfires, Missouri and Illinois have far less exposure to these risks, and insurers here aren’t nearly as dependent on expensive reinsurance policies. That means while we’re Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 24th, 2025 
As wildfires devastate parts of Los Angeles, it’s a sobering reminder to St. Louis homeowners to assess their own fire insurance coverage. While wildfires aren’t a concern here, house fires caused by electrical malfunctions, kitchen accidents, or lightning strikes are an ever-present risk. Ensuring you have the right coverage in place can make all the difference in protecting your home and your financial future.
What to Know About Your Homeowners Insurance Policy
Fire damage is typically covered by most homeowners insurance policies, but understanding the details of your coverage is critical:
Policy Limits: Are the coverage limits sufficient to rebuild Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 18th, 2024 
The St. Louis Business Journal today published an article with the headline “A hidden cost of homeownership is mounting — and approaching crisis levels”. The article began with “homeowners across the country are facing an insurance crisis — and it’s driving up housing costs”, and then quoted a study indicating that 72% of U.S. homeowners said the cost of their homeowners insurance had increased over the past year. Well, sometimes it’s better to not have ocean views, mountains, and the like, and to be situated in the middle of the country like we are here in St. Louis—and this would Continue Reading →
By John Donati, on October 7th, 2022 Did you know that you can save some serious money on your homeowners insurance with the right combination of smart technology? Not only can you save some money, but you can make your life safer and more convenient. Did you know there are roughly 50 million households with smart tech and the number one device present in these homes has nothing to do with saving money, convenience, or safety? Weird, I know. More on that later. Today, I’ll cover a few of the smarter items that can be integrated into your home that could pay for themselves.
More than 50% Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on April 25th, 2022 The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) is the state agency that investigates complaints against insurance companies made by consumers in Missouri. Annually, the DCI releases its complaint report reporting on the complaints made in the preceding year by company, type of insurance, etc. In compiling the report the DCI assigns a “complaint index” to each company, based upon the number of complaints the department received for a consecutive three-year period relative to the amount of product-specific premium a Missouri licensed company experienced that same period. An index number of 100 means that the department received the normally expected Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on January 23rd, 2022 Most anyone that is interested in buying or selling a home is pretty much aware of two things: there is a low inventory of homes for sale and prices have increased a fair amount as a result. That part is likely largely a result of basic economics related to supply and demand. When the demand is greater than the supply, prices will increase. In St Louis, home prices have done just that. As the chart below (exclusively available from MORE, REALTORS®) illustrates, the median price of homes sold in January 2020 was $221, 200 and in January 2021 was $245,000, Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on May 10th, 2017 The Missouri Insurance Department announced they will have Consumer specialists in place this week and next at Multi-Agency Resource Centers (MARC) throughout the state to assist flood victims with their insurance claims. Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on February 17th, 2016 Credit reporting giant, TransUnion, did an evaluation to determine if there was any relationship between homeowners with criminal charges, including traffic violations, and their homeowner insurance claim loss ratio. What TransUnion found was that there was a “strong correlation between violation activity (traffic and criminal violations) and homeowners insurance loss ratio performance.” Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on August 8th, 2014 Homeowners Insurance is something that most homeowners have, but many don’t necessarily understand all the nuances of their policy or, in the case of policies that may have been originally purchased years ago, may not know that they don’t have sufficient coverage today. If there are problems with the policy or with the company the policy is issued by, the time you find out is typically after a loss is suffered and the homeowner goes through the claim process. Continue Reading →
By Diana Davis, on March 21st, 2013 Making Sense of Confusing Real Estate Terms
If you are buying, selling or refinancing a home you will come across real estate terms and industry lingo that may sound foreign to you. To help address this issue, below you will find definitions for the most common real estate terms that you are likely to come across when buying, selling or refinancing a home. If you have other questions about title insurance, or the role of the title company in these transactions, please contact me and I’ll be happy to help.
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By Robert Fishel, on October 19th, 2011 Not knowing what you can afford – What the lender says you can afford and what you know you can afford may not necessarily be the same. Looking at homes that are outside your price range can put you in the dangerous position of trying to stretch beyond your financial means. Be sure to consider all of your monthly expenses when budgeting for your anticipated mortgage payment. Continue Reading →
By Robert Fishel, on May 12th, 2011
What a great time to be a First Time Home buyer! Historically low interest rates and great home prices! However, the home buying “process” can be a difficult if the borrower is not prepared and have not done their homework.
Before making offers and writing contracts, talk to your mortgage lender and get Pre-Qualified for a loan. Pre-Qualify means you can confidently begin house shopping in the appropriate price range.
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By Dennis Norman, on March 11th, 2011 The Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I.) just published the results of a survey of homeowners that showed almost half of the homeowners surveyed believe that coverage limits of their homeowners insurance policy are linked to the value of their home. However, this is not the case according to the I.I.I. “The real estate value of a home, that is the price you can buy or sell it for, has absolutely nothing to with the amount of insurance needed to financially protect the homeowner in the event of a fire or other disaster,” said Jeanne M. Salvatore, senior vice president and consumer Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on December 10th, 2010
Ah, the reverse mortgage battle continues…Consumers Union says their risky and dangerous; RetireSafe, a grassroots organization that advocates on behalf of seniors says they provide financial independence to Seniors…so who’s right?
First off, I have to say that I personally feel reverse mortgages offer an excellent opportunity for seniors to live a better life, or get them through a tough financial period, by tapping the equity in their homes. I have written before about a friend of mine, Tom Carter, who has helped dozens of seniors over the years with reverse mortgages. Having said that, obviously, like almost Continue Reading →
By Dennis Norman, on October 8th, 2010 Dennis Norman
Today, Trulia released it’s “Rent vs. Buy Index” which established a price-to-rent ratio for the 50 largest cities in America (by population), then, based upon that ratio, determined which cities it makes more sense (financially) to rent versus buy.
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By Dennis Norman, on June 3rd, 2010 Dennis Norman
Last month I did an article, “Should You Rent Or Buy A Home?“, in which I discussed a survey that was done by the National Apartment Association which indicated 76 percent of consumers surveyed believed renting to be a better option than home ownership. Well, today Trulia released it’s new “Rent vs. Buy Index” which established a price-to-rent ratio for the 50 largest cities in America (by population), then, based upon that ratio, determined which cities it makes more sense (financially) to rent versus buy.
The index looks at the total cost of home ownership on Continue Reading →
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