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[AllanY2525]

Shar,

That is not true.  My apartment building was already vacant (AND boarded up !!)
when I bought it.  The Ohio Insurance Exchange issued me immediate coverage
for up to two MILLION dollars against fire, personal injury, etc - right over the
phone.

The two million dollar policy is only costing me about $700.00 per year in
premiums.  Not only has the Ohio Insurance Exchange covered my building
for the past year, by they just notified me that they ARE going to renew
my policy when it expires.

The property insurance business is a VERY competetive one - if the company
you are dealing with doesn't want to cover you, there are PLENTY of other
"fish in the sea".

[Shar]

My experience has been that it is newrly impossible to insure a vacant house.  My home in Boardman sat empty for two years while it was for sale.  The first year my homeowners insurance covered it and then dropped us after 12 months.  I bought just liability and fire insurance for one year for the second year for about $1,000 for the year.  No one would cover it for vandalizm.  At the end of the 2nd year, we could get no one to insure it and ended up selling the house for less than we paid for it 4 years earlier because we could not get insurance. 

My point I guess is that a lot of these homes that have burned have been vacant for a long time and you cannot insure them for any price.

[Leah]

I feel terrible for anyone who lost their home or property due to one of the arsons.  Or any other event for that matter.

But, it was mentioned that many of the owners of these properties did not have insurance.  There is no excuse for that.  If there is a mortgage on any of those homes, it is REQUIRED that they have insurance.  If these people own the homes free and clear, there is no excuse to not pay $50 a month (less in many cases) to have insurance.  Especially if they are investment properties. 

These people not having insurance just contributes to blight in our area.  If something happens to an un-insured property and the owners can't afford to fix it, there's a good chance it will be abandoned and sit there and become another eyesore in the community.  There's no excuse for this.

[Micky]

I agree with you 100% that those responsible for the arsons need to be caught before someone gets hurt or killed.

Thank you for you valuable information!

[AllanY2525]

I attended the meeting between the North Side Coalition and YFD last month at Park
Vista regarding the recent rash of arson fires around town.  The fire department could not
release many details, as there is an ongoing investigation.

One thing they did say is that there are multiple arsonists at work around the city.  Many
different theories were put forth at the meeting, including that someone might think they
are "helping" the city by burning vacant and delapidated buildings.  The problem is, some
of the homes that have been burned weren't even in that bad of shape.  Most of the homes
were in foreclosure, but some of them were in the process of being renovated when they
were burned.  Most of the property owners did NOT have property insurance, which means
they lost everything when their properties were burned.

The city and county need to work EXTRA hard to catch these criminals - before someone
gets hurt or killed.

[Micky]

Thanks for that info. 

Also, what does YFD think is behind all the arsons?
Could it be that people aren't waiting for the structures to be demolished and they're taking action themselves?  I hope not.  That endangers the neighbors and the firefighters.

[yfdgricker]

Just want to remind everyone that you can listen to the Youngstown Fire Department 24/7/365 at youngstownfire.com. Just go to http://www.youngstownfire.com/live

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