I was tremendously disorganized and I guess depressed for a while and I let my home insurance lapse, for several years now.
One company said they wouldn't sell me any becuase I didn't have any. They consider those who let their insurance lapse to be a risk.
If I find a place with lower standards, will they insist on inspecting my house? It's safe enough, but an incredible mess.
I want to clean up, and I will, but I need insurance now.
Any recommendations of what to do or what insurance company to call?
I live alone. Things piled everywhere, the middle of the living room, the family room, and the bedrooms are full, and the sofas and spare beds are loaded with stuff, the right half of the stairs is full of stuff to go up or downstairs but there is no way to take the stuff to the next floor until things there are put away, unwashed dishes, tv's and stereos I intend to fix stacked up 2 tv's high.
I live alone, and don't even have company because I"m embarrassed. No one to start a fire but me, and I won't.
The front sidewalk where the mailman has to come is has a little unevenness where one sqare is a half-inch lower than the next, but the bushes keep him from walking on that part. The bushes cover half the width of the sidewalk for 8 feet. Is that a problem> There's enough room for one person but not two side-by-side. (I want to trim them, but I want to go to a garden shop for advice on how to do a nice job.)
The area 4 inches around the furnace is clean. No flammables except properly closed cans of turpentine, alcohol, and aerosol cans.
The broiler pan in the stove has grease in the bottom and could use cleaning.
The rear deck is crumbling and I was going to put in a nice larger one. But I could repair this one in 4 hours if there will be an inspection.
I am at a loss of how to take this one. Is it a troll or is it for real. I have known several cases that come close to fitting this case, but there are just a few things that seem to scream troll like "The area 4 inches around the furnace is clean. No flammables except properly closed cans of turpentine, alcohol, and aerosol cans."
In the event you are for real, start today and pick a small area or project. Something that you can complete today and take care of it. Tomorrow take on a little larger project and keep going. Consider contacting family or friends to help out. I suspect they will be happy to help. If you are a senior citizen call the local senior center and see if they have help available. Get you mind into the right mode. Consider if you really need some of those things that you have been saving, especially those that need fixing. Likely you will never ever need or want them, they have been replaced by better.
You, kind sir, are my late uncle reincarnate. He lived alone in a smaller home quite literally full to the rafters with stuff. Not garbage or filth - that went out on the curb every Friday - but he kept literally EVERYTHING else. When the gentleman died, his estate removed 30,000 books and cancelled
84 magazine subscriptions including "Flying" and "Parents" - he was a lifelong bachelor with no children and didn't even have a drivers license, much less a pilot license. The company that cleaned out the house filled and emptied a 40 cu. yd. yard roll-off dumpster (the biggest they have that you usually see behind large shopping malls) SIX TIMES. The house had deteriorated substantially but was still liveable.
He, too, let his house insurance lapse.
The VERY FIRST thing the executor did was to get insurance on the house. They insured the place AS IS.
Call a company every day or so until you get the coverage you need. They are regulated by your state so there shouldn't be much difference for basic coverage.
If they must inspect the place, and they probably do, let 'em. So what if it's a mess? It's YOUR house, it's YOUR life and you're hurting NO ONE else.
Obviously, Uncle Bob had problems (depression among them), but he was a good man and gentleman in every respect. The issue(s) that caused your situation are beyond the scope of a home repair newsgroup, but give yourself credit for posting.
Get the insurance and let 'em inspect the place. A little embarrassment is a small price to pay for protection of something of considerable value.
Your best bet for homeowner's insurance is to contact an agent. The agent has a profit motive for getting you a policy.
When I moved in 1984, my wife was startled by the viciousness of my dumping. Until a year ago I had bank statements and checks going back to 1968. We are planning to move in the next 1 to 3 years so I started dumping early. It took me three days to shred
1968 through 1995. I shoulda got a bigger shredder.
The major part of the question was, will there be an inspection?
If I knew I were going to have an inspection, I would postpone or further postpone the summer projects, even though some are important, and work on what it takes to pass the inspection.
c>>>
And you're right.
I appreciate the interest you all have taken, and I could have added two words to one paragraph, but didn't think of it:
"The area 4 inches around the furnace is clean. No flammables except properly closed cans of turpentine, alcohol, and aerosol cans."
I could have included "in the basement" after "flammables" but I didn't think to do so.
The list of problems with the house was in the order I thought of them, but the second sentence here is only related to the first in that the furnace reminded me of the basement. The flammables are not within 4 inches of the furnace. That's the last place I would put them. I certainly wouldn't call those 4 inches clean if they contained cans of turpentine and aerosol cans! They are on the other side of that room. There is nothing within 4 inches of the furnace, but maybe I have to extend that to 6 or 12 inches. I don't know what it takes to get demerits in an insurance inspection. I don't even know if they do them for homes, and that's my big question.
If they don't, I can apply for insurance on Monday. If they do, I am afraid to apply because I see that my car insurance company keeps track of every little thing I say, for years, maybe for decades. For example, they know I asked them for home insurance and they know they turned me down once, years ago (because I had let it lapse.)
And I fear that all the insurance companies share this sort of info. They've been sharing auto accident or auto insurance revocation information for a decade or two or three, haven't they? By now, I figure they may share everything.
So if I call for insurance and I learn that I need an inspection, and I say, OK, how is four weeks from now? it will look bad. If I let them come and I fail, that will look bad. And I think they will save the info for years, and send it to some clearinghouse so that everyone else will know when I apply somewhere else.
I was hoping to insure with a company that would tolerate my lapse of insurance, possibly because their premium is higher (something like assigned risk auto insurance), and then after a couple years, switch to my auto insurance company, whose rate is probably lower than the one that will take me now, and then I'd be back to a normal rate, and I'd have 1 company to deal with for home and car, instead of 2.
I only mentioned the furnace and the flammables, because if there is going to have to be an inspection, I was listing anything that could possibly raise the interest of the inspector. And I figure anything that could possibly cause a fire or a fall might. I forgot but I think I also have benzene and naphtha, all bought in proper cans from a place like Home Depot, and all tightly closed. And only 1 quart cans. But because I have so many different solvents, for different purposes, I am afraid that would raise a red flag for an inspector, even if no single can is a problem at all.
"The broiler pan in the stove has grease in the bottom and could use cleaning."
I mentioned that because it can start a fire. I know because the pan itself has already caught on fire twice. These are fires that could destroy my oven thermostat, and maybe my oven, but since I'm sitting there at the time, and I have a fire extinguisher 10 feet away, I doubt I'll ever let it get worse than that. It's like a small rectangular cake pan with a corrugated perforated tray that sits on top of it. The grease drops down to the bottom, so you can keep broiling on it without making the food greasy, but eventually somehow, the same heat that won't set fire to 2mm. will set fire to a half inch of grease (or maybe it takes more). (Maybe the deeper fat bubbles and the bubbles burst and hit the bottom of the top tray, which is hotter, and sets that on fire.) Who keeps track of this stuff more than fire insurance companies? So does that mean it's obvious that I should get rid of it. Yes, but tomorrow night I'll be hungry again, and I'll want to make a hamburger or lamb chop or garlic bread.
So the major part of the question was, will there be an inspection?
(If I knew I were going to have an inspection, I would postpone or further postpone the summer projects and work on what it takes to pass the inspection.)
Roger gave one of the best answers I got, but he wasn't sure about this.
Calling an agent is a very good idea, but I can imagine an agent saying "No inspecition, just come in and fill out the form." and all of a sudden** the home office emails me and says, There has to be an inspection. We'll come any time of day you want, or any day you want, but it has to be in the next 10 days. Or 5 days. After all, they know that someone might get up enough energy to clean for the inspection, but be back to a fire-hazard, accident hazard in another 2 months. They must have this attitude or they wouldn't say, We don't insure people whose insurance has lapsed. OTOH, they still might not do inspections because that is a lot more time, effort and money for them than just asking questions on the phone. So that's why I asked.
**Long ago, I let my car insurance lapse because I stored the car and went out of the country. I was using the same agent as my mother. When I got back, I called my mother and asked her to reinstate my insurance. The agent told her that he couldn't do it because I was
2000 miles away and wasn't there to sign the application. (before fax machines) That turned out to be a lie. They didn't like me because they had low-balled me on the only accident claim I ever filed and I argued with them and got another 100 dollars. So I'm stuck in this far away city on a Saturday, at a pay phone, calling every car insurance company in the yellow pages. They all say or have machines that say they are closed until Monday. But one says it's open, and I go immediately and fill out the forms and pay, and they say iirc I'm insured, but they definitely say I"m not really insured and I won't be "totally" insured until the insurance commissioner opens on Monday. Well I didn't have an accident in the next two days, or next two years, so I don't know what would have happened, but I'm pretty sure, I could have just waited until Monday and had my choice of companies. They didn't commit any crimes, I'm almost sure, and there would have been no point to my backing out of the deal (which I probably could have if I insisted) but they got me in there. I can easily imagine an agent saying, No inspection, figuring I'll pass the inspection anyhow.
And I believe you, Dick, that he will push for me to get the policy, but he might fail anyhow.
If I knew I were going to have an inspection, I would postpone or further postpone the summer projects and work on what it takes to pass the inspection.
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