home owners insurance

[PILOON]

I was well insured with a good insurer when a pipe let go and thw water damage was extensive.
The settlement was above and beyond what I anticipated.
Must add that I declared it an income property, added lost of revenue etc.
In our region water damage from freezing is void when owner is away more than 3 days and the tenant only came up W/E's.
Fortunately the whole week had been warm and the adjuster confirmed that.

I actually came out way ahead as I did the repairs myself having entered the bidding process.

 

[JimRB]

I have insurance with Central Insurance. They were about half of State Farm or Allstate quotes. OK, maybe not half, but significantly less than the big names. I have had two hail claims they paid. My barn is insured as is my house. I can't really afford $20-30,000 in materials loss on the barn plus a few months it took me to build it. The house may not be anything special but replacement cost is probably $200k. Another hit I could not take. Given that I finally wrote the last mortgage payment this month, I have no desire to start over in case of a disaster. The deal is that you may think is is a plain jane house. To build a new plain jane house often is more expensive than buying a used plain jane house. If you have a fire, you may lose both the house and your possesions. I have no idea what my possesions are worth but I would suspect $50-100,000. I have no clue but pots and pans, silverware, TVs, clothes all add up.

I also do things that put me at risk (promote bicycle races that have their own insurance). My umbrella coverage I hope covers me and is pretty cheap.

 

[ovrszd]

I have insurance with Central Insurance. They were about half of State Farm or Allstate quotes. OK, maybe not half, but significantly less than the big names. I have had two hail claims they paid. My barn is insured as is my house. I can't really afford $20-30,000 in materials loss on the barn plus a few months it took me to build it. The house may not be anything special but replacement cost is probably $200k. Another hit I could not take. Given that I finally wrote the last mortgage payment this month, I have no desire to start over in case of a disaster. The deal is that you may think is is a plain jane house. To build a new plain jane house often is more expensive than buying a used plain jane house. If you have a fire, you may lose both the house and your possesions. I have no idea what my possesions are worth but I would suspect $50-100,000. I have no clue but pots and pans, silverware, TVs, clothes all add up.

I also do things that put me at risk (promote bicycle races that have their own insurance). My umbrella coverage I hope covers me and is pretty cheap.

How "special" or "plain jane" your property might be is irrelevant. It's still a loss. And it's still valuable property to you. Before my fire I would have never imagined that I had almost $200K invested in my shop and it's contents. In my case liability coverage is secondary. I'm more concerned with property loss due to a catastrophic event.

 

[daugen]

I'm a retired insurance company underwriter and independent agent. And a past active fireman.
So for sure I have seen and paid for things burning down. Guests smoking in upstairs bedrooms when they said they wouldn't, fireplace ashes on back wooden porch,
chimney fires that caused the total rebuild of old colonial chimneys due to mortar issues. And so many frypans left on hot stoves with resulting burned up kitchens. And where there is fire, there is smoke, and smoke damage, and for sure, water damage. And it takes professionals, with the right cleaning materials, not to further damage what you own.

My homeowner insurance in near coastal NC is seriously expensive. Much more than it was before I moved here from PA, but then I moved from suburbia to country and now without hydrants out there, it's all about whether the local volunteer fire company is staffed adequately at that moment. And boy my insurance carrier doesn't seem to have much faith in them by what they charge. What complicates matters for me is mandatory specialty wind coverage in some kind of pool, but certain carriers can integrate it into their policies. For about three grand a year when i was used to paying 1200. Gulp. 2500 deductible too, never a claim. But I also have carried a $3M liability umbrella policy for almost thirty years so you have to have an underlying homeowner policy for that.

When someone drives into a ditch and cripples themselves while watching my lit candycanes at the end of the lane, or my collection of turtles during the daytime, and they can successfully allege attractive nuisance to a receptive jury, well...I'm going to be the happiest camper in the world to hand that off to the insurance companies. Worst part is they might pay the fools some money and encourage this sort of thing...

I have to agree to the rather blunt assessment, if you can't afford a basic Broad Form Homeowners policy with a big deductible, you probably ought to work a little longer, and none of us are wishing that on any one. You should base the value of your insurance on what it would cost to rebuild the walls and even the foundation of your home. If you have a 2000sf home and building costs are $100 per sf in your area, then it's likely you need a $200k homeowner policy. If building costs are double that, or you have a custom home, coverage needs really hop up. The problem arises when your home would cost $400k to rebuild but it's only got a market value of $300k. Not usually the case with larger lots but happens all the time.

never insure for losses you can afford. Like most appliance warranties. But if you can't afford them, insure fully. then you will get best value
cut back on cable first...

 

[Industrial Toys]

We havn't had a lick in insurance for about thirty five years. If you try and have everything covered you become insurance poor and they always find a way out of a claim anyway. The honest people have to pay for the dishonest one and the scum sucking lawyers going about their evil business.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I've always carried insurance on everything. 7 years ago my Shop burned completely. Inside were my 3 yr old Dodge Cummins truck, 2 Jeeps, 2 tractors, 2 ATVs and all my tools/shop equipment. It turned out to be a $193,000 claim. I was 57 years old at the time. Without insurance I would have never financially recovered. With proper coverage it was only a slight setback and within a year I had fully recovered with a new shop, newer truck, Jeeps, Tractors, ATVs and a full line of tools/equipment.

I'll always have proper insurance coverage. And, if I never have another claim in my life the premiums I'll pay will be a very small percentage of my $193K claim. No brainer to me. I think anyone who has had a large claim would say the same thing.

Gamble all you want. Just don't whine when it goes bad.

AMEN...

 

[ovrszd]

We havn't had a lick in insurance for about thirty five years. If you try and have everything covered you become insurance poor and they always find a way out of a claim anyway. The honest people have to pay for the dishonest one and the scum sucking lawyers going about their evil business.

Hopefully you won't experience the loss I had.

 

[txdon]

I am thinking about getting rid of my H.O before I retire, I have about 8 to 10 years to go and when that happens I will just have my pension and S.S if that's still around. As far as my house its nothing special just a 1200 sq.ft. house in the country.

What value would you put on the house and contents. The contents may be more valuable than the house. Is it on a slab. The slab can sustain fire damage - pitting cracking and may have to be removed not an easy expense to absorb. I guess what I'm getting at is what are you plans if your house is destroyed. If your house and belongings are replaceable for 25K and you pay 2K a year in insurance maybe, but you still have the liability issues.

 

[ovrszd]

I pay $2700 a year for insurance. I'd hafta pay that for 72 years before it would be a financial loss to have insurance.....

 

[jack707]

I CAN AFFORD MY H.O! I just wanna be free of bills.The house is not really not worth the money! its ok but no mansion so if I lose it to fire no big deal I can live in my pole barn that's paid for!.