Protecting the life you've cultivated
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Who We Are
Are rising tax burdens, rising crime, and underperforming schools making you worried? If you’re at the point where you’re thinking about moving, we’re here for you.
We watched our own family and friends move away. Rising taxes and fees made hometowns unaffordable. And others moved away because they feared that taxes, crime and schools were heading in the wrong direction.
But you shouldn’t have to uproot yourself because of decisions made at city hall or the state house. That’s why we started PLACECovr. Our mission is to protect homeowners like you from ever-rising tax burdens and declining public services. So you can stay in your community, close to friends, family, and your livelihood.
How it Works
Coverage protects you against rising tax burdens, rising crime and declining schools, as measured by TownScoretm and StateScoretm. A drop in a Score corresponds to an increase in estimated out-of-pocket costs when these events occur. The larger the Score drop, the larger the impact on your wallet. And not just this year, but over time. Why? When taxes rise, you’ll pay more this year and every year in the future.
Protect yourself from the long-term impact of taxes, crime or schools moving in the wrong direction today.
Easy to buy
- Select your property’s location.
- Select the Score drop protection level, 60 to 120 points.
- Select the coverage amount, from $5,000 to $30,000.
- You can buy coverage up to the wallet impact to a maximum of $30,000.
Easy to collect
- At any time during the policy period, if the Score drops by the Score protection level, the policy is “triggered.”
- We notify you.
- You receive the check for the coverage amount, in full.
- Nothing to claim, nothing to prove, as long as you still own your property.
When a Score Drops, what’s the Impact on your Wallet?*
| Score Point Drop |
Wallet Impact Town State |
|---|---|
| 100 | $30,000 $44,000 |
Why So Big?
Scores capture the long-term impact from what happens today. If taxes rise by $1,000, they stay up! And add-up to $10,000 over time. And higher public debt, higher crime, and weakening schools mean higher out-of-pocket costs that persist over time as well.
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Why Buy
When your tax burden rises, you make hard budget decisions. When crime rises, you need home security. When schools decline, you supplement your child’s learning. In short, you pay more. And not just today, but well into the future. How much does a $1,000 tax increase actually cost? Over time, it adds to more than $10,000.
FAQ
Who calculates TownScore and StateScore?
We license the Scores from a third party. See www.townscorereport.com.
What's inside a Score?
Current tax burden (what you pay now), future tax burden (additional taxes you are expected to pay in the future to amortize all of the debt of all of your taxing jurisdictions), property crime, crimes against persons, and the quality of the public schools where you live.
What taxes are captured by the Scores?
For TownScore, all taxes and fees from all local taxing jurisdictions are captured, such as local income, sales, and all other taxes and fees from your town, county, sewer, water, school, fire and any other taxing district. For StateScore, all taxes and fees from all state taxing jurisdictions are captured, including income, sales, transfer, excise, estate, and state-levied property taxes.
What is the difference between taxes and tax burden?
Taxes are what the taxing jurisdictions take out of your wallet. Tax burdens are these same taxes expressed as a percent of your household income (your “wallet”).
What is meant by “future tax burden?”
Future taxes are what you will pay in taxes in the future because of the debt that your taxing jurisdictions carry today. If your taxing jurisdictions have borrowed a lot of money and hold a lot of debt, you will have to pay-off that in the form of higher taxes in the future.
What kinds of debt do my taxing jurisdictions have?
Bonded debt, for example debt used to finance school construction or water treatment plants; unfunded public sector employee pension funds; and unfunded public sector retiree health care funds.
How often are Scores updated and how many times during the policy period?
Scores are updated quarterly, and your TownScore or StateScore will be updated four times during the policy period.
Are TownCovr and StateCovr insurance policies?
Yes, they are what is known as “parametric” insurance policies where your claim payment is based on a parameter, namely, TownScore or StateScore. This makes claims payments easy and automatic where you have nothing to prove!
Are the policies annual?
The policies are annual policies based on a trigger occurring during the one-year policy period.
Can I renew my policy?
Once your policy expires you may buy another policy. We will send you a reminder to let you know that your policy expiration is coming up and give you the option to buy a new policy so you have no gap in coverage.
Can the policy be triggered more than once during the policy period?
If your score drops by the trigger, we send you a check for your full coverage amount. At that point, your policy expires.
If my policy is triggered, do I have to wait to collect payment until my policy expires?
No. If your Score drops to or below the trigger Score at any point during your policy period, we will send you payment.
How do I file a claim?
If your policy is triggered, we will notify you and send you a check! Unlike a traditional insurance policy, there is no claim filing to make. However, if you believe that your policy has been triggered and do not hear from us, you can contact us through the My Account section of the website.
I have a policy but want to sell my house. Can I transfer my policy to my buyer?
You may request that your policy be assigned to the buyer of your home. Requests will not be unreasonably denied.
Will the insurance cover an increase in tax burden that I will experience in the future or just the increase during the policy period?
The coverage is designed to cover you long-term from a worsening tax, debt, crime or schools that occur during the policy period. For example, if taxes rise today by $1,000, you will pay the extra $1,000 in every year in the future, which becomes $10,000 over time, and you would have the option to select this amount of coverage.
How much do the policies cost?
Depending on the Score Protection Level and Coverage Amount that you select, premiums will range from less than $100 to as much as $700.
Are policies available by zip code?
You buy coverage based on your primary state or local taxing jurisdiction, which in many cases are different from zip codes. You can buy coverage on your state, city, town, township, borough or unincorporated area of your county.
My mill rate went up, why did my policy not trigger?
There are several reasons: You may have selected a Score Protection Level greater than the movement in the score; Scores reflect taxes for the average homeowner in your town or state. If your home’s assessment grew by more than other homes in your town or state, you may have experienced a bigger jump in property taxes compared to the average property owner; The tax burden captured by the score reflects all of the taxes and fees that people in your town (or state) will pay to all of the local (or state-level) taxing jurisdictions, including local property, income, sales, and other taxes as well as fees; Scores also reflect indebtedness, crime and schools. Even if tax burdens spike, if this happens concurrently with a decline in crime, or an improvement in schools, or a reduction in debt, the town’s TownScore or state’s StateScore may show limited movement. Like all insurance policies you buy–from life insurance to fire insurance, you hope to never have to use it!
Do I need to own a home to buy a policy?
You may buy a policy if you own property or are about to purchase property. If your policy is triggered, you need to own the property at that time in order to collect your selected Coverage Amount.
Can I buy more than one policy?
You may buy both a StateCovr and a TownCovr on any property that you own, but you cannot buy multiple TownCovrs or StateCovrs on the same property.
How much would my taxes or crime need to rise, or school performance to decline, to make my TownScore drop by 60 points?
Tax burden would need to increase by 0.8 percentage points, future tax burden by 0.6 percentage points, crime and public safety by 0.18 percentage points, and school performance would need to decline by 5.4%.
Ready to Protect the Life You’ve Cultivated?
Whether you are on a fixed income, a grandparent who wants to be close grandchildren, a commuter who needs to be close to work, or a parent who doesn’t want their kids to change schools, our coverage means you can stay in your community and enjoy the life that you’ve cultivated.
