Farmers Mutual Insurance of Nebraska
Carrier website links, underwriting access points, mapped product lines, and appetite notes in one place.
This appetite summary is only a guide. Confirm eligibility, submission requirements, restrictions, and binding authority directly with the carrier or underwriter before relying on it.
Carrier appetite summary
Preferred business - Owner-occupied, well-maintained 1–2 family dwellings meeting structural, heating, roof, and plumbing standards. - Coverage A limits up to $300,000 within the agent’s binding authority; higher limits require underwriter approval. - Dwellings with solid, continuous masonry foundations for standard HO-2/HO-3 forms; sound roofs of composition shingle or metal within acceptable age; central, thermostatically controlled heating for preferred forms. Key structural/eligibility rules - Binding authority: Agents may bind any risk that fully meets the manual’s underwriting rules; maximum Coverage A they may bind is $300,000. Risks outside rules or above this limit must be submitted unbound for underwriter review. - Minimum Coverage A limits by form: HO-1 $30,000; HO-2 $50,000; HO-3 $100,000; HO-4 $10,000. - Foundation: HO-1 may allow pier with skirting/underpinning; HO-2 and HO-3 require continuous, solid masonry foundation. - Heating: HO-1 may allow space heaters; HO-2 allows floor furnace, circulating, or baseboard; HO-3 requires central heating system, 25 years old or newer, thermostatically controlled, properly vented, with ductwork to each room (wood furnaces allowed if meeting these criteria). - Roof: HO-1 & HO-2 – shingle, metal, slate, or clay acceptable; HO-3 – shingle or metal only, generally not older than 25 years. Rolled or Ondura roofing is not acceptable for the HO-3 package. - Occupancy: HO-1/HO-2 – one- and two-family dwellings acceptable; HO-3 – one-family only (no duplex or multi-family under HO-3 form). - Plumbing: HO-1 may allow galvanized; HO-2 and HO-3 require copper or approved plastic plumbing. Restricted or declined risks (operational takeaways) - Do not bind HO-2 or HO-3 where the dwelling lacks a solid masonry foundation, has outdated/unsafe heating (no qualifying central system for HO-3), disallowed roofing (rolled/Ondura for package policies, or roofs beyond the age guidelines), or substandard plumbing (galvanized on HO-2/HO-3). - Multi-family risks (more than 2 family units) are outside the standard homeowners program; two-family only allowed on HO-1/HO-2, and not on HO-3. - Policies previously canceled by the company cannot be reinstated with premium alone; require underwriter involvement and a signed statement of no loss. Geographic notes - Farmers Mutual of Nebraska primarily writes in Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota through independent agents; specific town or territory acceptability and any catastrophe- or hazard-driven restrictions are managed by the underwriting department and may not appear in the public homeowner rules. Agents should confirm any town-level or hazard-zone limitations with their underwriter. Submission and binding expectations - Agents may bind only when all underwriting rules are met and Coverage A is at or below $300,000. Anything outside these parameters, or where any guideline is not clearly satisfied, must be submitted to underwriting for prior approval. - New business or reinstatement after cancellation requires adherence to payment rules; premium on canceled policies cannot be accepted without underwriter approval. Reinstatements require a signed no-loss statement. - Agents should ensure that applications clearly describe occupancy, construction type, roof material/age, heating system type/age, and plumbing type so underwriters can verify compliance with form-specific rules. Producer/broker notes - Independent agents have broad binding authority within the rule set; however, underwriters retain final acceptance authority on marginal or exception risks. - For risks not fitting the homeowners manual (e.g., larger farms, special property, or higher limits), agents should consult underwriting for placement in another appropriate company program rather than forcing an exception in the standard home form.