Insurance companies are leery of underwriting home-owners policies in Detroit after the great recession. Many won't even touch you with a ten foot pole unless you currently have an existing policy with them. Hence, more red-lining. You may want to look into combining your auto and homeowners to see if you can get a discount. I have Auto Owners of Michigan and they underwrite all my insurance needs, but they have required me to jump thru a few hoops on a couple properties. While 2K/year seems unreasonable depending on your location and replacement value [[which is about a 500 percent increase from 1999-2000), it seems to becoming the new norm.