S/O Homeowner's Insurance

[wendow]

While our insurance in Florida is a little higher, property taxes all depend on the county/city. Mine are about $1600 for 285,000...not horrible IMO. Remember we don't have state income tax nor do we have personal property tax.

Hmm, gonna sound dumb, but what is a personal property tax? Is that the tax you pay on your vehicle? We do have that here in CO though I think mine was about $10 for last year. I drive an older car though.

Our property taxes are low too. Ours is $2200 on a $400k house.

 

[mom2my3kids]

730.00 a year for a 120,000 home replacement cost..

 

[tvguy]

Hmm, gonna sound dumb, but what is a personal property tax? Is that the tax you pay on your vehicle? We do have that here in CO though I think mine was about $10 for last year. I drive an older car though.

Our property taxes are low too. Ours is $2200 on a $400k house.

Personal Property tax varies by state, but usually it is on the items inside your house. Things like a Jacuzzi tub. I have a cousin that lives in a city where this is an additional tax if the Jacuzzi has a step. In his city, there is also a tax on wood paneling, and granite counter tops.

 

[4shinystars]

Mobile home insurance for some unknown reason is much higher than traditional homeowner's. We live in upstate NY (north of Albany) and have great credit, never a claim. There are very few insurers that even offer it.

 

[MillauFr]

Earthquake coverage is just piss poor with incredibly high deductibles (10% of the value of the house).

Really you live in the Bay Area and have no earthquake coverage? We live in Seattle and I wouldn't want to take the risk of writing a $400k check to rebuild our house when the big one hits. Sure I'll have to come up with $40k for the deductible but at least I won't have to declare bankruptcy. It is only $500 a year extra for earthquake.

 

[wendow]

Personal Property tax varies by state, but usually it is on the items inside your house. Things like a Jacuzzi tub. I have a cousin that lives in a city where this is an additional tax if the Jacuzzi has a step. In his city, there is also a tax on wood paneling, and granite counter tops.

Oh wow!! Never heard of that. Good grief, the gov't will find a way to tax anything they can.

 

[wendow]

Really you live in the Bay Area and have no earthquake coverage? We live in Seattle and I wouldn't want to take the risk of writing a $400k check to rebuild our house when the big one hits. Sure I'll have to come up with $40k for the deductible but at least I won't have to declare bankruptcy. It is only $500 a year extra for earthquake.

Yeah, gotta agree. If I lived in earthquake territory, I'd have earthquake coverage. Same for flood if I lived in an area prone to floods. I am surprised it's not required by the mortgage company. Or maybe you own your home and that is why you don't have to have it?

 

[disneypharm]

I am curious what others around the country are paying. I was kind of shocked at what people in FL were saying they pay. We live in CO. We pay $800 annually on a 400k house.

Do you mind sharing? Where you live and what you pay?

Wow! That is a good rate. We are also in Colorado and our rate was $900 two years ago for a 450K-500K house and went up to $1100 last year after they replaced our roof for hail damage. Our rate came in a few days ago and now it is almost $1600. Who is your insurance provider and what part of Colorado? I wonder if it varies depending on the location within a state.

Had to add. That includes an umbrella policy of $1 million. Do you include that?

 

[wendow]

Wow! That is a good rate. We are also in Colorado and our rate was $900 two years ago for a 450K-500K house and went up to $1100 last year after they replaced our roof for hail damage. Our rate came in a few days ago and now it is almost $1600. Who is your insurance provider and what part of Colorado? I wonder if it varies depending on the location within a state.

Had to add. That includes an umbrella policy of $1 million. Do you include that?

We are in Littleton and replaced our roof this past November due to the hail storm the previous summer. I really am shocked our rate did not go up, and as I mentioned in another post, it actually went down $5 annually. I don't know if we have an umbrella policy. I'd have to check our policy. What is that?

 

[disneypharm]

We are in Littleton and replaced our roof this past November due to the hail storm the previous summer. I really am shocked our rate did not go up, and as I mentioned in another post, it actually went down $5 annually. I don't know if we have an umbrella policy. I'd have to check our policy. What is that?

Thanks. Then we are very close to you. Umbrella policy is a liability policy. Here is a link I found that explains it better that I would. https://www.geico.com/information/aboutinsurance/umbrella/

 

[wendow]

Thanks. Then we are very close to you. Umbrella policy is a liability policy. Here is a link I found that explains it better that I would. https://www.geico.com/information/aboutinsurance/umbrella/

Thanks! I am guessing we don't have that based on reading the description but I haven't verified it in my policy.

Btw, we have Liberty Mutual through Geico.

 

[southlakejr]

Yeah, gotta agree. If I lived in earthquake territory, I'd have earthquake coverage. Same for flood if I lived in an area prone to floods. I am surprised it's not required by the mortgage company. Or maybe you own your home and that is why you don't have to have it?

Our mortgage lender does not require flood or earthquake insurance.

I know of very few people who have earthquake insurance. Only 12% of Californians have it. The general line of thinking is that premiums are high, and the deductible is astronomical. The only way it will be worth it is if the house is virtually destroyed. In which case, a lot of people feel that the damage would be so extensive that the insurers would not be able to remain solvent.

Also, the Loma Prieta in 89 was brutal, but still did not cause (in the vast majority of cases) the type of damage that would justify the deductible. The most common were chimneys separating from houses (which was a problem in and of itself because we have so few stone masons out here) Generally, it seems that folks that live in "earthquake country" are far less afraid of earthquakes than those who do not.

For flood insurance, we are considered to be a special risk area because of our proximity to the creek behind our house, and an annual premium would start at 3500 a year. However, we are not in the 100 year flood plain, and so our lender does not require it. I should add that our backyard also has a drop off, to make the creek even further. The creek would have to swell to probably 18 feet deep and over 50 feet wide to come anywhere close to touching the house, for a creek that rarely has three inches of water, less than a foot wide. So our proximity to it makes us a special area, but there isn't any history of floods in the area.

 

[wendow]

Generally, it seems that folks that live in "earthquake country" are far less afraid of earthquakes than those who do not.

This is so true! I have several good friends in CA and they are not afraid of quakes in the least. Still shocks me that only 12% of Cali's have earthquake insurance.

 

[sukhakuli]

I live in So Cal, and earthquake insurance is ridiculous. It doesn't really cover you between the high deductibles and high premiums. We don't live in an area at risk for a major earthquake, so we're OK. We pay 1100/yr for 5200 sq feet. I'm not comfortable sharing what our house is worth.

 

[MillauFr]

I live in So Cal, and earthquake insurance is ridiculous. It doesn't really cover you between the high deductibles and high premiums. We don't live in an area at risk for a major earthquake, so we're OK. We pay 1100/yr for 5200 sq feet. I'm not comfortable sharing what our house is worth.

I guess I don't understand how it won't cover me? If my house is totaled the insurance company will send me a check for $360,000. There is no way I could afford to rebuild without the insurance. In Washington State the historical records show a magnitude 9.0 quake every 300 years. The last one was in 1700. Portions of Seattle rose or fell up to 10 feet during that quake. Most houses and many of the high rises will collapse or be badly damaged in a similar quake.

 

[southlakejr]

I guess I don't understand how it won't cover me? If my house is totaled the insurance company will send me a check for $360,000. There is no way I could afford to rebuild without the insurance. In Washington State the historical records show a magnitude 9.0 quake every 300 years. The last one was in 1700. Portions of Seattle rose or fell up to 10 feet during that quake. Most houses and many of the high rises will collapse or be badly damaged in a similar quake.

I can't speak for everyone, but for us the insurance wouldn't matter. If we had "the big one" tomorrow and my house was leveled, it wouldn't matter if we had the insurance or not since we do not have the cash for the deductible, nor do we have access to that kind of money. Normally, we could use our house as collateral since we have a fair amount of equity, but not in this case. I'm not saying it's a perfect scenario by any means, but I'm not going to pay thousands a year for insurance that has a deductible higher than what I could afford to pay. Without the ability to pay the deductible, it would be the same thing as not having insurance at all.

Perhaps someday when our retirement accounts are better funded and we have more assets to pull from, we will consider it. Until then, we can do a decent amount of retrofit to the house for the cost of one year's policy.

 

[disneypharm]

Thanks! I am guessing we don't have that based on reading the description but I haven't verified it in my policy.

Btw, we have Liberty Mutual through Geico.

Thanks. We have American Family. DH says that he can't shop around for a new company until 2 years after a claim, which will be this coming December. I guess we will wait until next June to get a less expensive policy. I still would like to keep the Umbrella policy.

 

[hlg22]

I can't speak for everyone, but for us the insurance wouldn't matter. If we had "the big one" tomorrow and my house was leveled, it wouldn't matter if we had the insurance or not since we do not have the cash for the deductible, nor do we have access to that kind of money. Normally, we could use our house as collateral since we have a fair amount of equity, but not in this case. I'm not saying it's a perfect scenario by any means, but I'm not going to pay thousands a year for insurance that has a deductible higher than what I could afford to pay. Without the ability to pay the deductible, it would be the same thing as not having insurance at all.

Totally agree. My parents live in Southern California, and are retired with their house paid off. They are normally very risk averse and financially cautious, but they have never had earthquake insurance either. In talking to them about it, they did seriously look at it but on top of the very high annual cost for the premium, I believe the deductible would have been something like $75k to replace a house valued at $500k (not including land value). Plus the coverage excluded damage to a bunch of things like their pool, fences, etc. - that would add conservatively another $30k or so, out of pocket. They bought the house 25 years ago when it was much less expensive and do not have $100k+ to spare. The policy was also very limited on coverage of the contents of their house. It just does not make financial sense for them in their early 70s - god forbid the big one does hit, they would still own the land outright and could sell after a bit and most likely still get a decent amount of money that they could use to rent something nice.

 

[christineann]

I agree with the posters about the high deductibles. When we got flooded in 1989, we were able to pay the deductible. The deductible has increased so much now that I will be better off financially if the house gets totally destroyed than if it can be repaired. Sad!

 

[MillauFr]

I can't speak for everyone, but for us the insurance wouldn't matter. If we had "the big one" tomorrow and my house was leveled, it wouldn't matter if we had the insurance or not since we do not have the cash for the deductible, nor do we have access to that kind of money.

If the homeowner couldn't raise the funds for the deductible the insurance company would pay them nothing? That doesn't sound right to me but I am no expert and it may work that way.