Homeowner Premium Surprize

**JanH** · 07-07-2007, 08:00 AM

Wow! Here on the Texas coast, we pay 1000 for homeowners for a modest house, 1000 for windstorm, 400 for flood. About 2400 total. My brother in another state probably pays about a fourth or less of what we have to pay--for a bigger house. And our area is not as pretty as Florida. So we can't even say we live in beautiful surroundings. LOL . Your costs are astronomical!

**Aleta** · 07-07-2007, 08:14 AM

I would consider my house fairly modest with a little over 1600 square feet on a 5300 size lot. We have had a lot of business move out although I saw the other day that North Carolina is now seeing high property tax rates because if its new destination from expensive states. By the way, we have State Farm. I read a lot of these posts and can't believe how much lower the premiums are.

**JanH** · 07-07-2007, 08:17 AM

Our house is about the same size and we have State Farm, also. They dropped the windstorm on us this year so we have had to go with state windstorm coverage which is more expensive.

**Ima saver** · 07-07-2007, 08:23 AM

Well my house is pretty big, over 3200 square feet on the main house with an extra two car garage with bathroom and efficency apartment. My total state farm insurance is about $1000 a year. Now I know why everyone is leaving Florida other than the heat!

**Aleta** · 07-07-2007, 08:33 AM

Not only that but because of property values many of us feel trapped in our homes because if we move, we will be taxed on the new basis. We had an article where one house was taxed at $1800. , and one down the street was taxed at $8,000. plus. So, we're all getting hid both ways down here. I won't even talk about our private health insurance

Sounds like it's time to have another tea-dumping- party!

**JanH** · 07-07-2007, 08:38 AM

Yikes! Sounds like Florida is going to have reverse migration in the next years. Those are awful numbers!

**Aleta** · 07-07-2007, 08:44 AM

Forget about in the next years. They're doing it now. I have never seen so many signs up for sale. Many of my friends are on their way out. My problem is that I have 2 sons that live in this state and a new Grandbaby. But, it's becoming so difficult now that it[s now pay for your insurance and taxes, or contribute to your retirement funds. We have had alot of companies that were well-known and based down here to leave. Our building codes don't help either. They almost want you to build a concrete house. (just kidding) but the requirements are too expensive.

**JanH** · 07-07-2007, 08:54 AM

Some of the insurance companies here won't cover older constructed houses anymore. They will only insure new construction built to hurricane code. I wonder if that is why I see houses on the market for longer than I expected. It might be harder to get insurance for existing houses. After retirement, we will probably move farther inland. Now, I wonder if we will be able to sell our home when we do. Probably not without some updated hurricane stuff added.

**Aleta** · 07-07-2007, 09:02 AM

We have been told to maybe buy some land a few years before we retire, so that we could start building and you can always put your house up for rent until you sell it. I think that you don't have to add the hurricane stuff unless it's a new construction. If you were to update your house, you would need to meet the code. You could call and find out the information you're interested in. That's pretty smart anyway.

**JanH** · 07-07-2007, 09:09 AM

I wondered why three houses in our neighborhood went up for lease this summer. Maybe that's what they are having to do. You're right about the codes. We need to find out what we should do when we get to that part of updating. Unlike here, poor Florida can get hit by a hurricane from any angle. Here, we can move inland away from the biggest impact of the storms. Unfortunately now, with the last few weeks of rain, Texas has flooded everywhere. I think I will always keep some type of flood insurance!

**JBinKC** · 07-07-2007, 09:15 AM

I am curious what is the value of the house for that premium?

**Ima saver** · 07-07-2007, 09:25 AM

My house value is over a half million. I pay $1000 in house insurance and $2200 in property tax. (2 acres on creek) That is double what it was last year.

**JBinKC** · 07-07-2007, 10:06 AM

My cheapest premium is 1/70th the value of my house. I have never filed a claim. That my friends is a big rip off!!!!

**JanH** · 07-07-2007, 10:16 AM

State Farm didn't raise our insurance rates too much after our claim. For which I'm grateful. But they eventually dropped our windstorm because we barely missed the deadline of moving our autos to them. They made a exception of those who had all their insurances with them. We were not informed about the auto exception until after the fact. Neither was our agent. Our agent went to bat for us and argued longtime customer and all, but to no avail. They have taken care of all the windstorm paperwork for us. They even called to make sure I knew the windstorm people were coming by to check the new roofing. I do appreciate how they've kept up with things for us, inspite of the windstorm issue. It was out of the agent's hands. Our house is tax appraised for 105,000, but replacement value for insurance--building from the ground up in this area was 170,000. So we insured for that amount. With insurance outside of flood totaling about 2000. Our taxes are about the same since we also have drainage district taxes. After this rain, I'm so glad we have the drainage people. Worth every penny. Cities near us that don't have it are under water a lot of times.

Homeowner Premium Surprize