Keeping Home Insurance after retirement (social security, separate, adult, payments)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If I slip and fall and break something in my body in your yard, can you afford to pay my $1.5 million in doctor, hospital and surgery bills? Plus my "pain and suffering"? and My lost wages, and future lost wages if I cannot work again?
If you think $4k is too high, shop around. OR buy a smaller home that might be less costly to insure. Or move to a less costly area of Fl or another warm state.
PS: anyone who makes a homeowner's claim is likely to be dropped, location of south FL has little to do with it.
Up here, fires in winter due to faulty heating is about as common if not more common than hurricanes in S Fl. MANY MANY people don't have homeowners insurance and lose everything. That's really sad as our homeowner's insurance is only $300/yr. Can't be an awful lot for more for them as the houses are mostly similar and the expensive homes tend NOT to burn down.
There is also an impression that "if you can afford to retire to FL, you are rich" and can "afford it", so they charge you.
But, I wouldn't, I repeat, I wouldn't go wihtout the insurance!!!!
PS: I lost a house I rented to a fire many many years ago. Thank the stars I had a small $10K renter's insurance policy, and that, my dear, did NOT cover the cost of replacing everything I owned!!!
If my insurance ran 4K per year, I would be trying to find something cheaper. I would definitely think about raising my deductible. What's the value of your house? And if it was destroyed, what would the insurance company pay? Can you afford to replace your home if it is destroyed? Things you need to know!
A long time ago an insurance person explained how to figure out what your deductible should be. She asked me if my door was destroyed, could I afford to replace it or would I need insurance and file a claim? I replied that I would be able to afford a new door. Next she asked if my garage was destroyed, would I file a claim or just replace it myself. I told her I would need insurance for that one. She then told me my deductible should probably be from 1 to 5K because I was able to take on some of the risk myself.
A friend of mine paid for top dollar coverage on a mobile home for 15 plus years. The MH was destroyed by a tornado. Pretty much just gone. Total loss of the home and all his belongings. By the time the insurance company depreciated the home and it's contents, he ended up with a few thousand dollars. Nothing even close to what it would cost to replace what he lost. I think it's stories like these that make people think they shouldn't insure a home that's paid off.
I think you still need insurance. But you need the RIGHT insurance!
I agree wholeheartedly! I'm probably overinsured on my house, but I don't care one whit. Not only do I have homeowners insurance, but since I'm only 3 blocks from a major river, I have flood insurance even though I'm not in a flood zone. (I've been here during a hurricane when 103 mph winds pushed the boats at the marina up on the shore, so storm surge is a possibility.) I also have an umbrella policy. The flood insurance and the umbrella policy together cost only $600 a year; the homeowners is a little less than twice that. I have limited options for insuring my house due to the age and the low purchase price, but I need it because it would cost a lot to replace the house with equivalent construction (replacement would not be possible, because old-growth materials in that quantity would be prohibitively expensive now.)
Oh, I agree totally with the OP's accountant's advice. Just like we decided to drop life insurance because, look, we keep paying the premiums and we're not even dead Like who needs it?
Doesn't homeowners insurance cover more than just your physical home? For example, if someone is injured on your property and you're found to be liable, doesn't it cover that person's resulting bills?
We had an ice storm (big chunks of ice falling like hail) 3 years ago. It destroyed over 50% of the roofs in our area. With a $500 deductible it replaced our roof for over $13,000 paid by the insurance company. We had the roof inspected and replaced a few shingles damaged by wind a few months before, and the roofing company had written us an opinion the roof was in excellent condition and would last for the foreseeable future (under $300 in repairs). That inspection got us off with no deductible for the years we had the roof.
We could have afforded to replace the roof, but I would have hated to pay for it myself. Our home like yours is Free and Clear of all financing, but if we had a fire, I would hate to loose more than half a million dollars it would cost to replace the house (insured for the replacement value).
That sounds like a lot. Even in Florida.
Shop the current coverages/deductions etc
Do you have the sort of wealth required to "self insure"?
For the 1% the accountant might be correct.
For the rest of us... I'd say she's an idiot.
(shop for a new accountant while shopping for a new HI insurance agent)
Replacement Value. with a high deductible
I'm not even going to read the rest of this thread because this is perfect advice.
Signed, an ex accountant.
PS - good tax Accountants are rarely good sources for financial and investment advice.
I was in the OPs situation almost exactly:
-Lived in South Florida
-Paid off house
-$4666.08 annual premium to Allstate. No claims ever.
-$6040.00 hurricane deductible, $1000.00 other peril deductible
I wanted to drop hurricane coverage which would drop the premium to about $1300 but wife refused, so we kept it. Sold house two months ago and now travel full time in the RV. It was a happy day when I cancelled the homeowners policy.
I agree with the others who respond to the "shop around" idea. That is simply not feasible in Florida. I'm no fan of Allstate but was actually thankful they didn't drop me during one of their rounds of dropping policies. The majors don't write policies anymore or at least like they do elsewhere. The smaller players, whom you have never heard of, have shaky financials and/or poor reputations/bad claim handling etc.
AFAIK no insurance company will write a policy in Monroe County (Florida Keys). People there must use the state run insurer of last resort called Citizens. The rates are astronomical but that is what people anywhere in the state must use if no company will write them.
Your home is your largest investment, and the place where you live. To not insure it would be a little nuts unless, like the others have said, you are wealthy enough to walk away from a loss of that size and just shrug your shoulders and buy a new house out of pocket. Florida is one place that is so often beset with natural disasters from hurricanes to floods to sinkholes and lightning strikes. I wont even live there, let alone live there without insurance.
This right here is why we have umbrella policy on our home and business. The lawyer fees. The policies are so cheap is more than worth it.
Our house is paid for, we have plenty of money could rebuild easily with it, to the same high standards my house is.
I would NEVER be without homeowners Insurance. And I live in NV which is low on the scale for natural disaster. Do have earth quake insurance. $60,000 deductible. Its not very expensive either. Have it cause one of my friend husbands is a geologist engineer and he recommends it.
Isn't Fl about the highest place for disasters to happen?
Never mind the storms and flooding. OMG Sink holes. There a sink hole map on line, that shocked me. Had no clue this was as big of an issue as it is.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
