SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) – Construction crews have already put up the frame on Cheri Sharp’s new house, but she still questions whether rebuilding was the right choice after California’s most destructive wildfire took her old home in wine country nearly a year ago.
She’s had to dip into retirement savings to cover a $300,000 shortfall in her homeowner’s insurance coverage.
“We just kind of thought we were taken care of,” Sharp, 54, said about her insurance policy. “If I had to do it over again, I’d probably change my mind and move.”
This Nov. 2, 2017, photo provided by Alex Apons shows his house and car that were leveled to ashes after the deadly October 2017 wildfires ravaged his Coffey Park neighborhood, in Santa Rosa, Calif. Apons said his insurance policy fell $200,000 short of what it cost the 34-year-old new father to rebuild his home. He and his wife wanted to stay because they had a baby on the way and both have deep family roots in the area. (Alex Apons via AP)
The wind-whipped wildfire that tore through Northern California in October 2017, killing 22 people and destroying more than 5,500 structures, left many people in Sharp’s position: underinsured and having to scramble for money to build a new home on their property.
Santa Rosa was the hardest-hit city, with entire neighborhoods burned to ashes. But as of late August, only nine of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost here had been rebuilt, according to figures from the city’s permitting office. Another 520 or so were under construction.
Many homeowners say they are locked in negotiations with insurance companies for additional money to cover the cost of building a home at the edge of the San Francisco Bay Area, where a technology boom has sent home prices skyrocketing. That, coupled with competition among neighbors for construction crews and materials, has left many homeowners hundreds of thousands of dollars in the red.
For Santa Rosa native Alex Apons, 34, the insurance shortfall on his home in the tidy Coffey Park neighborhood was $200,000. He and his wife wanted to stay because they had a baby on the way and both have deep family roots in the area. They used every insurance dollar they received to pay off the mortgage of their 4-year-old home that burned. There was nothing left for a down payment on construction.
“We had to drain our bank account,” said Apons, now father to a 5-month-old boy, Etienne. “After everything is built, we’re looking at a monthly payment on that loan that’s $1,000 more than what our mortgage was before.”
Other fire victims are still torn by indecision that has kept them from committing to a rebuild – do they stay and bear the costs or start over elsewhere?
“The idea of leaving California is very hard, but on the other hand, I don’t know if I can recover from all the trauma of it without removing myself from all the stimuli,” said Katherine Gaynor, 67, also a former Coffey Park resident.
Besides the Santa Rosa blaze, several other major wildfires the same month took out thousands of homes elsewhere in Sonoma County and in neighboring Napa County. As of April, nearly two-thirds of those fire victims wanted to rebuild, but most had yet to settle insurance claims for their property and belongings, according to a survey by United Policyholders, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps people understand their insurance policies. Two-thirds of respondents reported being underinsured by an average of $317,000.
Insurance industry experts warn that many Californians whose homes have been destroyed in this year’s wildfires also will discover their policies will not cover the cost of a new home, leading to similar rebuilding delays. So far in 2018, wildfires have scorched about 1,000 square miles (2,600 square kilometers) in parts of Shasta, Trinity, Mendocino, Lake, Colusa and Glenn; more than 1,200 homes have been destroyed, and nine people have died.
Insurance companies value homes using factors including their size, purchase price and the price of homes around them. Few homeowners update their policies annually to keep up with inflation, labor and material costs and home upgrades that increase the value. Insurance companies want to keep premiums low to compete with rivals and attract customers.
When Apons’ wife, Heather, called their insurance company this month to request a new homeowners’ insurance quote, the agent provided a figure that would pay them $340,000 less than the current price tag to reconstruct their house. The agent said better coverage would raise their premium considerably, she recalled.
“I’m like, ‘I don’t care. I don’t ever want to be underinsured again,'” she said.
After massive fires across Southern California over the past decade, the state Department of Insurance found that insurance companies often understated replacement costs to potential customers and omitted or misrepresented fees for permitting, architects, labor and zoning, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones said.
A false sense of security is common among the insured because most rely on insurance companies for details, said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, an advocacy group for insurance consumers.
“If anything, people suspect they’re over-insured,” she said.
Bach said out-of-town insurance adjusters often fail to properly value homes in the San Francisco area. In Sonoma County, property values increase about 10 percent every year, according to Pacific Union Real Estate, a leading real estate group in the region.
Jim Whittle, chief counsel for trade group the American Insurance Association, said it’s up to consumers to make sure they have enough insurance. After mass catastrophes, “there’s almost always going to be situations where people don’t have quite what they wanted or expected,” Whittle said.
Sharp and her husband, Paul, held hands on a recent morning as they surveyed construction of their new home on the Santa Rosa property where they raised their kids, held backyard parties and enjoyed the sunset. They know their use of retirement savings to fund the project will make it harder to live comfortably and travel as they age.
“Our life from here on out is very different going into our retirement years,” Cheri Sharp said.
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In this Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018 photo, a burned tree sits in the foreground of Cheri Sharp’s new home under construction in Santa Rosa, Calif. After she lost her home in the deadly October 2017 wildfires, Sharp discovered her insurance policy didn’t cover the actual cost of rebuilding her home and had to dip into retirement savings to fund the rebuild. Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa, the hardest-hit city, have been rebuilt. (AP Photo/Lorin Eleni Gill)
In this Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018 photo, Cheri Sharp, 54, speaks with a contractor at the construction site of her future home in Santa Rosa, Calif. Sharp and her husband Paul, right, are using retirement savings to fund the rebuild after they realized their insurance coverage fell $300,000 short to finance the replacement of the home they lost to a wildfire in October 2017. (AP Photo/Lorin Eleni Gill)
In this Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018 photo, Cheri and Paul Sharp stand among the wooden beams framing their future home in Santa Rosa, Calif. The Sharps who lost their home in the October 2017 Northern California wildfires, hope to move into their new house by the end of November. Santa Rosa was the hardest-hit city, with entire neighborhoods burned to ashes (AP Photo/Lorin Eleni Gill)
In this Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018 photo, Alex Apons, 34, walks through the wooden framing of his house under construction with his five-month-old son Etienne in Santa Rosa, Calif. Apons’ original home was destroyed on the same property in October 2017 by a wildfire. Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa, the hardest-hit city, have been rebuilt. (AP Photo/Lorin Eleni Gill)
In this Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018 photo, Alex and Heather Apons show their 5-month-old son Etienne his future room in the home they are rebuilding in Santa Rosa, Calif. The original Apons home was destroyed by a wildfire in Oct. 2017. Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa, the hardest-hit city, have been rebuilt. (AP Photo/Lorin Eleni Gill)
FILE – In this Oct. 9, 2017, file photo, a firefighter walks near a flaming house in Santa Rosa, Calif. Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa, the hardest-hit city, have been rebuilt. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
In this Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018 photo, Alex and Heather Apons and 5-month-old son Etienne walk around the home they are rebuilding in Santa Rosa, Calif. The original Apons home was destroyed by a wildfire in Oct. 2017. Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa, the hardest-hit city, have been rebuilt. (AP Photo/Lorin Eleni Gill)
In this photo taken Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, a sign from an insurance company sits at the edge of a Santa Rosa, Calif., property that was destroyed in the deadly October 2017 wildfires. Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa, the hardest-hit city, have been rebuilt. (AP Photo/Lorin Eleni Gill)
FILE – This Oct. 11, 2017, file photo shows an aerial view of homes destroyed from fires in Santa Rosa, Calif. Nearly a year after California’s most destructive set of blazes in state history, only a fraction of nearly 2,700 single-family homes lost in Santa Rosa, the hardest-hit city, have been rebuilt. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
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