Homeowners Insurance

[BrokenTrack]

But.......if you paid the $42,000 of insurance premiums, with a 2% cash back VISA card, you could have earned $840 (2%) cash back!

That is true!

My wife was a high end banker so we know all the tricks they use to get money out of people. She really struggled because the bank wanted her to push, push, push credit cards, car loans and other financial crap on people. She could look at the financial statements and knew them having more loans WAS NOT IN THEIR BEST INTEREST, and if it did not work well for them, where she could help them and not get them into more fiscal problems, she just would not do it. That obviously went against the will of the bank.

A few times people would call up and say they were closing accounts in an effort to get out of debt, and rather then try and talk them out of closing those accounts, she would say "Good for you". That did not impress the bank any though.

It was kind of goofy having her as a banker, just because we believe in not having debt, and using only cash.

I admit we have taken some risk over the years, but look at where it got us? As a Christian, this is a hard situation to discuss because "pride goeth before a fall", so I do not want to sound boastful, yet you want to show others too, "the borrower is slave to the lender", and good things happen when you do not get into debt. But there are 2000 versus in the bible on money, so spending money wisely is no big secret. Anyone can read what to do...

I do kind of miss her days working as a banker though; just because she dressed pretty sharp for work.

 

[Tomtint]

Our total insurance costs are near 60k a year. This includes all autos, business liability, workers comp, Homeowners, Shop contents, and a basic life insurance policy.... it's ridiculous..

 

[atsah]

it's ridiculous..

It's also MA..

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Our total insurance costs are near 60k a year. This includes all autos, business liability, workers comp, Homeowners, Shop contents, and a basic life insurance policy.... it's ridiculous..

Yep... I hear you. Just payed 2nd 6 month payment for workman's comp... 15k. Liability was another 11k, I believe. That's x 2 for the year... And our clients cry about what it costs today...

 

[bunyip]

We pay $400 for public liabilty of $20m, all based on earning potential and loss for the potential victims.
Not covered with our property insurance.
3 cars at roughly $750 each, home and contents about another $1k.

 

[YanmarFever]

Homeowners insurance? Ha Ha Ha they want $5200 for my house for just a year. Insurance is one of the biggest rackets in America.

Like Broken Track said, stay out of debt, and owe no man anything, you will sleep better too.

 

[Will_C]

Well I hate insurance bills myself-but unless true"self insurance" is in place, people are foolish not to have coverage. True self insurance means the ability to to pay off potential liability claims with out bankrupting yourself, as well replacing vehicles, houses, tractors, or whatever.

I have also seen self employed people locally that have had catastrophic medical bills without any health insurance. I did contribute to fund raising for them, but it kind of bothered me to see them driving 60k plus vehicles while not paying for health insurance.

 

[denmis]

So if you take out a policy for 200K on a property that's worth 400K, you want 400K if it's destroyed?

I'm no mathematician but that makes no sense..

That's not what "co-insurance" means. If you insure a $400k property for $200k, the insurance company will say that you are "self-insuring" half the property. If you have a $300k claim, they will only pay half of the claim (i.e. $150k), notwithstanding you have $200k in coverage. Their theory is that since you are "self-insuring" half the property, you are responsible for half the claim yourself. Usually you need to have coverage of at least about 80% of the value of the property to avoid the co-insurance clause in the policy. Sort of makes sense, since they don't want you to pay a premium on half for the value of the property under the assumption that the odds are you won't have a total loss. Or one can say that it's their way of making you buy more insurance and have a larger premium.

 

[atsah]

That's not what "co-insurance" means. If you insure a $400k property for $200k, the insurance company will say that you are "self-insuring" half the property. If you have a $300k claim, they will only pay half of the claim (i.e. $150k), notwithstanding you have $200k in coverage

Ya, that makes sense..

 

[Bird]

It's very difficult to actually compare insurance policies and rates because of subtle differences. I've had policies with quite a number of different companies in my lifetime, and I HOPE I'm currently paying the best rate. I have both homeowners and auto insurance currently with AAA. And last year I threw them a curve that took them awhile to figure out. As with many people I'm sure, the homeowners and the auto insurance expired, or renewed, at different times. Many, if not all, insurance companies give some discount if you have both kinds of insurance with them. So in order to make it easier to compare, I wanted both of mine to expire/renew at the same time. They finally figured out how to do that.

Now AAA used to have 3 levels of homeowners insurance; currently 2 levels; Deluxe Policy and Premier Policy. Premier being the best coverage and the one we have. I also prefer the annual premium which AAA uses instead of the 6 month policies. Zillow.com currently shows the value of our place to be $209,444. The tax appraisal is $206,682.

So our current insurance coverage is:

Dwelling $197,000
Other Structures $19,700
Loss of Use $39,400
Unscheduled Personal Property $118,200
Personal Property Off Premises $11,820
Deductible (1%) $1,970
Personal Liability $200,000
Medical Payments to Others $5,000

Total Net Annual Premium $1,797