Grand Strand residents concerned about large increases in homeowners insurance

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) -- The cost of living is going up for many along the Grand Strand, with home prices more than $100,000 more compared to previous years.

Darell Unzker is one of many residents in the Market Common area who saw a 24% to 40% increase in their homeowners' insurance.

"It's been going up like crazy, way more than doubled within the last, say three or four years," Unzker said.

Some residents like Patricia Gonzales said they were never given an explanation or notice about an increase until they called.

"Some homeowners insurance companies are pulling out of South Carolina," she said. "And so they're shopping around for different rates and the wind hail addition to it is what causes the increase."

Gonzales said this is a hard year for many residents who have faced inflation and the increase in cost of living. Community members hope the government will step in.

"I know it's not going down. I don't remember the time if it's ever going down. But we are of course, where we are," said South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. "This is a hurricane territory and costs of homes are going up and up. And then that happens, insurance rates go up."

McMaster said he is hoping that the $200 million the Office of Resilience on Disaster Recovery recently received will prevent Grand Strand homeowners from experiencing high insurance cost.

"Take action and do things to reduce flooding and to alert people to where they are," he said. "It's dangerous to build a house if it's [going to] flood there every five years -- you don't want to build a house, build it somewhere else and you won't have that insurance rate problem."

However, residents are afraid of what could happen if the cost continues to significantly increase.

"People are going to drop coverage, I guess, depending if their house is paid for or not," Gonzales said. "They'll have to make decisions and have to make cuts in order to be able to make their payments."

Another issue residents brought up was that it has become hard to shop around for homeowner insurance because most of the companies are the same price.