[veilofmistiness]

People who live in California live in an earthquake zone is earthquake insurance very expensive. Is earthquake insurance required by law? or is it just good sense to have insurance just in case.

[Steve D]

I don't believe it's required, but, it's almost a necessity if you plan on residing here in California. We recently remodeled our house, and the contractor said that insurances are moving to require everyone who has earthquake insurance to have his/her home retrofitted (bolted to the foundation) for earthquake safety. You can find more info from the California Department of insurance
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-consumers/0060-information-guides/0040-residential/earthquake-insurance.cfm#offer

[Iommi]

It is not required and the price varies by how far away you are from a fault line.

And yes, it is cost prohibitive, most people do not carry it.

Our construction requires everything to be pretty solid, so very few people actually ever have any damage.

I am building a house right now, and I swear, if there was anyway to disconnect it from the foundation (impossible!) it would roll down the mountain completely intact! Everything is bolted, welded, and then bolted some more. I also have 2 35 foot tall heavy steel beams in the front.

Fire is a bigger threat in CA then earthquakes.

[RLP]

I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 15 years and was a Commercial Lines Insurance Agent there.

No, it's not required. In fact, more people DON'T have it than do. I was an agent and I didn't carry it on my own house. It's fairly expensive.

The million dollar houses perched on the sides of hills are the ones that want it. They have the most risk and also pay the most for coverage. Some of them are perched so precariously on the sides of hills, they can't even get insured as no one will write the coverage.

The average homeowner does not carry it.

[Brian T]

It is added on to your homeowners policy. It is not required by law, but is a very good idea to have. The price varies greatly though from company to company. You may want to try a website that compares multiple companies at once to get you the best price. I am paying less than ? after I did.

Go to: http://www.insureme.com/landing.aspx?Refby=616162&Type=home

Take care,
Casey