Actually some are meant not to live in a single dwelling. They don't seem to know what is going on around their place. Some years ago, a couple won a nice size bungalow on a raffle. All their life, lived in an apartment. They were so excited to move into nice house. They did not even last one year living in a house. After ~3 months they went back to old apartment. Claimed keeping a house was such a headache.
I am very glad I can do most of my own repairs but have enough sense to hire a qualified contractor when necessary.
I've been in my house 35 years and it's been long paid off. The rents have gone up so high around here that if I did not own my own home I could not afford to live in this neighborhood.
My taxes are less than half of what a small apartment goes for right next door.
Again, not knowing your specific situation regarding climate, etc. I don't know if this applies...
You have a 25 year old roof on top of a roof that is what? 15, 20, 25 years old? Obviously that roof was failing or you wouldn't have re-roofed.
Roofing technology, from shingles to nailing patterns to underlayment have changed dramatically in the 40 - 50 years since your first layer was put on.
So now you have a 2nd roof that is probably near the end of its warranty period on top of a roof that is way behind its warranty period and mostly likely not installed using "modern day" methods.
If I were a Ins Co, a lender or even a buyer, I would be really concerned with a roof of that age, condition and installation method.
I think you did the right thing. I'm surprised the insurance company wouldn't write the policy for everything but roof-related damage, and then when you eventually got a new roof, increase the coverage and the premium to cover everything.
Who said they were properly installed. That was part of the complaint? There's nothing people can't do wrong, especially if they have no experience or they drink too much.
Nothing to do with insurance companies, it is simply human nature.
I once went into a hat store and when I described the type of hat I was looking for (to the owner) he informed me they "don't have anything like that."
After looking around a bit I found what I was looking for and triumphantly brought it up to the counter. "Oh" he said, "that's not a hat, that's a cap!"
Way too funny to get upset. I gave you the short version as I had to go through the same thing with the color and size.
ters are incompetent or dishonest. I had a water damaged floor. All that was needed was a few pieces of flooring replaced next to a sliding door - a small job that I could have done. But I called BS Farm to see if insuranc e would cover a professional job. They sent an inspector/adjuster over and right off the bat wanted to tear up 1000 sf of hardwood flooring, most of the main part of the house. He gave me a contractor to call. I knew it w as crooked and never followed up. Ended up replacing one slat and all was fixed. Total cost - one six-pack for a helpful neighbor.
when I called them, they considered that a "claim" and up went the premium.
e $1300-1500. They would not pay that much on my old car but offered to ha ve one of "their" shops fix it. Their "fix" would have been to knock out d ents and paint only that part, trying to match the old faded paint. Cost f or them to paint the whole car was $3K. Funny - out front of the shop was a sign "We welcome all insurance coverage"
e had for 20+ years. Last year I made 2 payments at once because of being out of town for the next one. Instead of doing as I asked, they counted th at as one payment and invoiced for the 2nd payment as usual. A few days af ter that I had a flat around 11pm and called their 800 roadside assistance number which never answered. I called every 10 minutes for a half hour, th en called the local tow. I sent the receipt in with a note explaining it. They never replied. I ran across the receipt 6 months later and called. T he explanation was what I just said, that I had missed the 2nd payment and insurance lapsed 1 day before the tow. This was not in keeping with their promised "grace period" but they would not budge. Plus they had added on a reinstatement fee that I had not noticed at the time. I asked how long I had had the insurance, and the gal looked it up - "Since 1993". "How many claims have I filed." "Non
t error charge." "No."
he payment is due.
FYI...Travelers recently went to "tier system" coverage.
formatting link
In the past 2 years I've added 2 additional vehicles to my policy. One vehicle is listed as "garaged" in the city where one of my daughters goes to college (she's 22, been driving for about 5 years) and another is garaged in a different city/college (she's 23, been driving for about 2 years). Obviously my rates went up substantially when the cars were assigne d
100% to these fairly new drivers who live away from home.
Last November my agent called to tell me that Travelers was going to move me to their tier system. They increased the amount of coverage for certain items while reducing my rate by ~40%. The monthly reduction basically cover s the loan payment on the used car we just bought for my oldest daughter.
One reason my car insurance is low is because I have no moving violations. Got a speeding ticket a few years back and I was so polite to the small-town policeman he told me to take it to court and "they'd do something to help me out."
It was a $90 ticket and I said, that would not be necessary, but he really urged me to take it to court.
Then I realized that for insurance purposes I did not want that on my record, my rates would probably go up...so I went to court and before I could say anything, the magistrate asked me if I'd like it changed to a non-moving violation with the same fine...so my insurance rates would not go up.
That was easy.
After I got home I pulled the paid ticket out of my pocket to see what they got me for. Yikes: Vandalizing a street sign! So now I am a hardened criminal but one not paying much for car insurance at least.
A little bit of each, when I was working I put the maximum amount allowable in my 401k. so counting my company's contribution and interest, though it is not huge fortune, at least I do have a bit of it saved.
All those years I scrimped and saved (and stayed put) while I watched my co-workers continually grow dissatisfied with the "bigger and better" houses they kept buying.
Since my actual savings account pays something like 0.02% interest, no real need to keep much money there other than enough to pay off my monthly bills.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.