re: Homeowners Ins: Rate increase is too much

Homeowners insurance is a loss leader in most states for insurance companies. That basically means you should get the best deal bundled with your car policy (Insurance companies lose money on home insurance and offer it mostly as a marketing effort to cross lines of insurance).

Some companies look to throw out cheap policies and gobble up market share. Allstate is one of those. If rate is all you care about, switch elsewhere and then shop Allstate again in the future.

I don't know the LA market. But Nationwide and American Family appear to be growing. They may be depressing rates to buy market share as well.

Keep in mind that insurance is a big balloon. The companies squeeze prices down somewhere and have to make the revenue up elsewhere (sometimes in large rate-hikes).

I personally like AmFam, Liberty Mutual, and independent agencies (Encompass, Safeco, Auto Owners, and Cincinnati).

Good luck.