I saw a headline declaring that vinyl records outsold compact discs for the second year in a row. Until last year, vinyl hadn't outsold CDs since 1987. For an old dude like me who loved his old vinyl, this was music to my ears...yes, pun intended. It appears that people have again realized that older is sometimes better than newer. While I don’t expect or want push lawn mowers to make a come back, many insurers treat old houses like push lawn mowers banished to rust away in the dusty back corner of the garage.

Here at iMGA, we think of old houses like a smooth sounding vinyl record. They built better houses back then with character. With fewer and fewer markets writing older homes while also raising rates and deductibles, we want to remind you that we love to write older and smaller homes. We write them in cities and in small towns, or in rural and unprotected areas as well. We write all ages of homes, rental dwellings, and mobile homes.

When writing older homes, remember that updates for plumbing, electric, and HVAC allow us to lower our rate depending on what updates were done, and when they were done. So, PLEASE remember to ask your clients about updates. And…please don’t just check yes in updates box. Please enter them into the drop down which is in the middle of the page once you check the updates box yes. You and your clients will be very happy that you did.

In March, our average year built was 1962 for new homeowners policies with houses built between 1916 to 2019. Our average year built was 1977 for new dwelling policies in March with houses built between 1910 to 2024.

Here is a small sampling of some highlights of the new policies that we wrote in March.