There's some good news on the home insurance front.

After disaster hits, you expect homeowners insurance policy rates to rise.

But that's not what's happening in California.

Southern California's devastating wildfires damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 homes. But analysts say there's little if any chance homeowner policy costs will rise.

How's that possible?

California insurers understand the risk of California wildfires and plan for the danger. Insurers reserve premiums to give them the ability to pay claims after wildfires and other disasters.

That's according to Insurance & Technology, an analyst for the insurance and technology industries.

And credit rater, Moody's Investor Service agrees that the insurance industry's financial stability will remain sound after the claims are paid.

California also enforces strong consumer protection law which forbids insurers from refusing policy renewals after a declared state of emergency.

Insurers are often seen as the bad guy, but Insurance & Technology reports technology helped California's insurers quickly respond in the field to wildfire claims.

And respond they did.

After the California wildfires, several insurance companies imposed a freeze on cancellations of policies held by delinquent home owners. Others processed claims for homeowners whose policies had lapsed.

And still another company offered to rebuild some homes according to stronger "green" building code standards -- at no additional costs to the policyholder.

Southern California's wildfires scorched some 500,000 acres, resulting in nearly 23,000 insurance claims -- for auto and commercial policies, as well as homeowners policies.

Some of the losses were devastating. But, for the most part, homeowners suffering losses needn't worry about extra insurance costs.

Published: December 24, 2007

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.