A boarded-up home sits along the beach Sept. 12, 2008, as Hurricane Ike approaches Galveston, Texas. As the 2009 hurricane season arrives Monday, many homeowners are finding insurance is either more expensive, or harder to get.

Charlotte, N.C. ? As the 2009 hurricane season arrives, many homeowners are finding insurance is either more expensive, or harder to get.

Homeowners from New York to Florida and in the Gulf Coast region are again seeing premiums rise and coverage change. And more are being dropped completely by their carriers as insurers try to limit their exposure in high-risk areas.

“They just don’t like being in the business … too much risk,” said Scott Hall of Market Street Advisers, a financial advisory firm in Wilmington, N.C.

Homeowners’ insurance premiums are up about 3 percent nationwide and probably more in some coastal areas where the potential for damage is greater, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based industry group. The hurricane season starts Monday and runs until Nov. 30.

Several factors are affecting premiums and coverage, including the $26 billion insurers paid out on catastrophic losses last year and the impact of financial market turmoil on the companies’ earnings. Changes in state regulations are also driving some premiums higher.

Late last year, Allstate Corp. and State Farm Insurance Cos., two of the nation’s top home and auto insurers, raised premiums in states including Texas, saying the increase was needed to offset a rising number of claims. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit the U.S. in September.