Home Owner's Insurance
Well, I called around to get quotes for homeowner's insurance today. And the quotes are all over the place!!!
I called AAA and was provided with two different options for coverage due to the age of the home. I was offered a replacement value cost using today's materials. So if a tornado went through, the insurance company would build me back a 2200-square-foot home using drywall instead of plaster, plywood instead of oak boards, etc. Using their algorithms, they came up with a replacement value cost of $325,000! That's quite a fancy home!
Add in to that the $80,000 in replacement cost for the machine shed and barn, and I am sitting on an expensive property. But that wasn't the half of it. Nearly literally.
The other option would use materials that were used in the home to keep it basically authentic. In other words, the historic home would be built with "historic" materials. The plaster walls would stay. The woodwork would not be cheap balsa or pine. And figuring the replacement cost this way, the company came up with a replacement value cost of...
$670,000!!!
As the insurance agent said, "They just don't make them like they used to."
My mind still can't fully wrap itself around that idea. That this house in new condition is a $670,000 quality custom-built home. It's hard to fathom. I mean, I get it. Oak is more expensive than cheap OSB (wood scraps glued together). Plaster is an art and skill. Drywall is cheap and nearly anyone can hang it. So I get it. But wow!
All things considered, I am looking at $1420 per year (using the lower rate). Frustratingly, AAA forces you to then insure $243,750 of personal property. I have maybe 1/10th of that. But they won't let you change the Personal Property line. "We base that personal property value off of your house value. As a percentage. We can't alter that." Really?!
To put it into perspective, the $670,000 quote listed Personal Property at $502,500. One-half million dollars of STUFF to put into this house. Nope.
But I'm paying for it one way or the other since I can't change it!
State Farm came in nowhere close (nearly $600 higher). "But if you bring your vehicles over, we'll give you a $600 credit..."
Sheesh.
It's just money, right?
I called AAA and was provided with two different options for coverage due to the age of the home. I was offered a replacement value cost using today's materials. So if a tornado went through, the insurance company would build me back a 2200-square-foot home using drywall instead of plaster, plywood instead of oak boards, etc. Using their algorithms, they came up with a replacement value cost of $325,000! That's quite a fancy home!
Add in to that the $80,000 in replacement cost for the machine shed and barn, and I am sitting on an expensive property. But that wasn't the half of it. Nearly literally.
The other option would use materials that were used in the home to keep it basically authentic. In other words, the historic home would be built with "historic" materials. The plaster walls would stay. The woodwork would not be cheap balsa or pine. And figuring the replacement cost this way, the company came up with a replacement value cost of...
$670,000!!!
As the insurance agent said, "They just don't make them like they used to."
 |
| Really?! |
All things considered, I am looking at $1420 per year (using the lower rate). Frustratingly, AAA forces you to then insure $243,750 of personal property. I have maybe 1/10th of that. But they won't let you change the Personal Property line. "We base that personal property value off of your house value. As a percentage. We can't alter that." Really?!
To put it into perspective, the $670,000 quote listed Personal Property at $502,500. One-half million dollars of STUFF to put into this house. Nope.
But I'm paying for it one way or the other since I can't change it!
State Farm came in nowhere close (nearly $600 higher). "But if you bring your vehicles over, we'll give you a $600 credit..."
Sheesh.
It's just money, right?
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