One of those lovely unexpected homeowner's expenses

[Redraidernurse]

Yesterday I was burning a candle my mother-in-law gave me as a gift (in an open area, away from anything flammable) and stepped outside for a few minutes with my toddler, to water the garden. When I came back inside, the glass of the candle had broken and it turned into a smouldering huge black hole, cracking my kitchen counter. See picture here: IMG_0663 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Now, our counter tops are old and ugly anyway, and while we always thought it would be nice to replace them, we priced it out at home depot a while back and the cost for solid surface (nothing fancy) is right around $3,000. While we have the money to pay for this expense, it hurts my heart to pay this much!

Just a few months ago we had to shell out $7,000 for a backyard fence after our old rotted one literally got blown over and destroyed with this West Texas wind.

For all of you renters who are looking at buying a home - there are a lot of unforeseen expenses that creep up on you. Home ownership isn't all it's cracked up to be sometimes

[disneysteve]

there are a lot of unforeseen expenses that creep up on you.

That's the truth. I try and tell people that every time they say, "But I can buy a house and the mortgage payment will be the same as what I'm paying in rent." Folks don't understand that owning is much more expensive than renting with costs that go beyond the monthly payment.

Sorry about your counters. Serves as a good warning to never leave candles burning unattended. Even if you think nothing can go wrong, fires are dangerous. We rarely burn candles but when we do, we always have a plate or trivet under them just in case.

[greenskeeper]

homeowners should cover it. when I was younger my sister turned on the toaster oven w/o the bottom plate. Burned the counter and we got it replaced through the insurance.

[disneysteve]

homeowners should cover it. when I was younger my sister turned on the toaster oven w/o the bottom plate. Burned the counter and we got it replaced through the insurance.

No way would I file an insurance claim for such a small amount. Save your insurance in case anything big ever happens. Keep in mind that most insurance companies will cancel your coverage if you file 2 claims in a 5 year period regardless of the amount of the claims. Pay the little claims yourself. Keep the insurance for catastrophic stuff.

[greenskeeper]

whats the point of having insurance if you don't use it? $3k minimum claim? No insurance company will cancel you for 2 claims in 5 years....give me a break. Raise your rates...yes...cancel? Unless you burn down your house twice maybe.

[disneysteve]

whats the point of having insurance if you don't use it? $3k minimum claim? No insurance company will cancel you for 2 claims in 5 years....give me a break. Raise your rates...yes...cancel? Unless you burn down your house twice maybe.

You might want to check on that. Our coverage was canceled (actually it was a non-renewal, not a cancellation but the end result is the same) after our 2nd claim. It took me lots of phone calls to find a company that would even write us a policy after that as soon as they heard the claim history. The more people I told our story to, the more similar stories I heard in return. It is much more common than you may realize. And the amount of the claim is irrelevant. A claim is a claim so a $1,000 claim counts against you just as much as a $10,000 claim. I've read that even calling your agent and inquiring about coverage can count as a claim even if no claim is ever officially filed and no payout actually occurs.

[MonkeyMama]

I'll have to agree with Steve on this one! Read the news lately???

No way would I file a homeowners claim for $3k. That is chump change. We try to limit our insurance for truly catastrophic things.

I believe the deductible on our homeowners policy is $3k, anyway. There is financial incentive to take the bigger deductible (lower insurance) and leave the insurance out of the small stuff.

[DebbieL]

Count me as a definite "no" on the insurance claim. You don't want to jack your rates up (and they will) over something so minor (in the big scheme of things). We had a small kitchen fire last summer and never filed. We had to replace our range hood, repaint the underside of some cabinets, repaint part of the wall, etc. It only cost about $150. I'm sure for minor things it just isn't worth increasing your insurance rates.

[AtoZ]

Don't file a claim with your insurance. At teh very least you will see a rate increase. I experienced thsi first hand even though the claim was very small. Luckily the countertop is all that was affected. You might consider cutting the section out and installing a recessed cutting board or work surface depending on the location?

[disneysteve]

Another insurance issue to keep in mind - claims can count against you when it comes time to sell the house. The CLUE report gets pulled and having too many claims on file can make a house very difficult to sell.

I agree that it sucks but that's the way insurance works.

[jpg7n16]

They probably did some study that showed that people who file claims, file more claims than people who don't lol

[snafu]

If you or DH are a bit handy, it is relatively easy and less expensive to replace counter top laminate. The old laminate can be 'ironed' off, the glue released by a moderately hot iron. If you can make the surface smooth, you can glue laminate atop existing laminate rather than replace all the counter. Talk to someone at your home improvement outlet, they may know a tradesman who replaces laminate. Updating countertops can help the value of your home should you wish to re-sell sometime in the future. Watch for sales. Likewise, Craig'slist often has countertops listed.

Fix-it #2: cover laminate with tile sheets, easy to do but demands 3 steps, moderate cost depending on tiles chosen

[rob62521]

Sorry about the counters! Accidents can happen so quickly.

As for homeowners, I would have to agree -- until one actually has a home, one might not realize all those lovely little things that crop up. Our nice little "surprise" was termites. We just had a bad feeling and called the guys to come check. (Neighbors had them, so we figured they left their house and invited themselves over). So, we are now paying big money to have them treated and hopefully kicked out. While the guy was checking, he noticed that my dryer hose was no longer hooked up and fixed it while he was there, but said if it had been left that way, it could have caused some trouble with the humid warm air being pumped into the crawl space.

[Robert742]

As an agent who used to sell auto & home insurance, I'm glad to see the good advice on this thread, clearing up the usual misconceptions.

What insurance is really for: insurance developed as a method to avoid financial ruin from a large financial loss, such as your house burning to the ground. Although no one wants to pay $3,000 out of pocket for house repairs, $3,000 is not going to bankrupt anyone.

The best approach to home insurance is to have adequate coverage for large losses -- including protection from flood & earthquake depending on the risk of these events at your location, have an emergency fund to cover the largest losses you can afford to retain, take a high deductible, keep your premium as low as possible for the coverage you need with a reputable insurance company, and plan to never place a claim unless you must. Sounds like a great deal for the insurance companies, huh?

Many insurance companies pay out more in claims than they take in premium dollars for homeowners insurance, so customer selection can be strict. As others have stated, you will most likely be non-renewed if you have had 2 claims in 5 years. If you have had 1 claim in 5 years, you will not qualify to obtain insurance from many companies. Statistics show people that have had recent claims tend to have more claims in the future. Unlike auto insurance, many homeowners insurance customers never have a claim.

Look at what happened in this case: there was fire damage due to an unattended candle. Insurance companies want to avoid customers making these type of mistakes. In a business where the customer pays $500, and can get $300,000 if the customer's house burns to the ground, insurance companies need to avoid customers with a greater than average risk of having a claim to be able to stay in business and keep rates competitive.

Unfortunately, in some areas of the USA prone to large property claims, such as Florida, even prudent and careful customers have a hard time getting insurance due to their location.

If something happens to your home, and you call your insurance company's claim department, you create a paper trail of information. For example, your bathtub overflows causing some water damage. You call the claims department, but it turns out the cost to repair is less than your deductible. Nothing was paid, but the event is now part of you and your property's claims history as a claim opened, but closed without payment. This situation will not increase your rates or (most likely) result in non-renewal. But if you call to get a quote from another insurance company, they will rate you, or accept or reject you, based on losses to your property -- whether they were paid by insurance or not. The bath tub overflow will be treated like a claim. Since there is a link to problems with mold from damage to property caused by water, many companies will not insure you. In fact, this claim history at your property can hurt your chances of selling your home, since buyers may have a hard time getting home insurance due to the prior water damage.

If something happens to your home, or you have a hypothetical question (it is ALWAYS good to pose questions of coverage as hypothetical until you know you want to file a claim), it is usually okay to discuss it with your local agent without creating a paper trail.

I know not everyone has the financial resources to be able to pay $3,000 claims out of pocket. The good news is some insurance companies offer guarantees to not cancel your insurance if you have claims. Your rates will go up, but you don't have to worry about losing your homeowner's insurance because you have a run of bad luck and need to file claims.

The best strategy for everyone -- to keep you insurable and your insurance rates low -- is to be as careful with your property as if you had no insurance at all, do everything you can to prevent losses, and pay for what you can out of pocket.

[Frugal]

I agree that home ownership has a lot of unexpected costs. We got a new house, that helps decrease our expenses.

I think if the candle had burst in an apt., a landlord would probably have still have tried to charge you to repair the counter.

Where we used to live in an apt., when we checked out they listed prices of things like replacing a whole countertop, and it was the same cost or more as doing it yourself.

We also have to pay soon to put up a fence. Yikes! Plan on budgeting more anytime you live in a house, over an apt. It is harder to save money in a house, but at least you have something you partially own, and you don't lose money on rent each month. We are paying into something we can eventually get a return on hopefully.