The insurance market is recovering. Underwriting is becoming more sophisticated.

Those two things are happening at the same time.

Many people assume that because more insurance companies are expanding in California, older homes will automatically become easier to insure.

I don’t believe that’s what we’re going to see.

What I expect is a more competitive market with more disciplined underwriting.

That’s an important distinction.

For decades, underwriting focused heavily on where a property was located.

Today, insurers increasingly evaluate how the property presents risk.

For Bay Area housing built before 1960, that means looking beyond the address.

They’re looking at the condition of the asset itself.

Questions that once seemed purely technical have become financial questions:

• Is active knob-and-tube wiring still energized?

• Does the home still contain a Federal Pacific, Zinsco, Challenger, or fuse panel?

• Were additions and remodels completed under permit?

• Has the electrical system been comprehensively modernized, or only partially updated over time?

These issues don’t just affect safety.

They increasingly influence:

• Insurance availability

• Premium competitiveness

• Inspection requirements

• Financing certainty

• Buyer confidence

• Long-term property value

This is why I encourage buyers, sellers, Realtors, lenders, and investors to think differently about older housing.

Electrical infrastructure is no longer just a building systems discussion.

It’s an underwriting discussion.

And underwriting has become part of a property’s financial profile.

As California’s insurance market continues to improve, I believe the greatest advantage will belong to owners who understand and reduce property-specific risk before an insurance company evaluates it.

The market is expanding.

The standards aren’t disappearing.

They’re evolving.