|
State Farm is dropping 72,000 policies in California https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-state-farm-insurance-149da2ade4546404a8bd02c08416833b It's only 2% of their california policies but given they are issuing no new ones it's pretty notable.
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 17:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 21:15 |
|
|
The second and fourth charts in this article are pretty interesting 2nd: sales of existing homes dropped to post 2008 era levels for the only time except a brief stint during covid lockdown 4th: despite potential buyers with unrealistic expectations, prices have only gone down ~0.6% and only very briefly before rising again for very long periods of time https://wolfstreet.com/2024/03/21/amid-weak-demand-for-existing-homes-active-listings-price-reductions-jump-listing-prices-weaken/ None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who is a long time reader of the thread, but it's nice to see common sense represented in such clear charts
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 17:57
|
|
|
Hi folks. Hopefully this is is a useful place to post my question. 2 years ago I purchased a new home in Seattle. Maybe a year after that I got a letter from my mortgage company saying my homeowners insurance dwelling coverage is insufficient and must either cover the unpaid mortgage amount (lol) or include replacement cost coverage. I was confused so I called my insurance company (Am Fam through Costco) and tried to figure out what I needed to do. They were confused as well but this did lead me to discovering their square footage for my house was off by a decimal place so we fixed that. Because I live in a HCOL area I had already increased my replacement coverage by like 20% over what they suggested because I was paranoid and kept that increase after they corrected the replacement coverage for my correct square footage. They didn't have any other suggestions other than resending them my policy. I assumed this would solve the problem because I thought the issue was my square footage was off but I couldn't verify this with anyone because they only give you an email address, fax number, mailing address, and web upload portal to provide evidence of the issue being fixed and state my insurer is the best to ask questions about this. It's been about a year and I got another letter stating the same thing. What the gently caress do they need from me? A brief reddit search makes it seem like this isn't uncommon for areas where real estate is ridiculous. This feels like a situation where having an actual local agent would be helpful in getting this resolved.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 18:42
|
|
|
perhaps it is time to involve your attorney of choice?
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 18:43
|
|
|
Teabag Dome Scandal posted:Hi folks. Hopefully this is is a useful place to post my question. 2 years ago I purchased a new home in Seattle. Maybe a year after that I got a letter from my mortgage company saying my homeowners insurance dwelling coverage is insufficient and must either cover the unpaid mortgage amount (lol) or include replacement cost coverage. Call them directly. Do enough digging and you'll get a phone number with a person attached to it. That information exists somewhere, start digging and call numbers that seem associated with it and if you're enough of an annoyance eventually you'll get one that works. I managed to get the support number for my bunch of idiots by calling their product line and eventually getting through to a person who gave me the right number just to be rid of me.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 18:46
|
|
|
I had a similar issue with my earthquake insurer and the only solution was to get my insurance broker to deal with them, which is a roundabout way of saying this is one reason to use an insurance broker.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 18:49
|
|
|
Deviant posted:perhaps it is time to involve your attorney of choice? That's kind of an expensive solution to something that might get solved with a phone call. I'd re-upload what you have again. If the mortgage is owned by a bank you can try calling their general line and asking if they can direct you. If you really can't get a hold of them I think you need to just keep sending what you have and highlight the replacement cost numbers and they'll need to get you more info.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 18:50
|
|
|
Teabag Dome Scandal posted:Hi folks. Hopefully this is is a useful place to post my question. 2 years ago I purchased a new home in Seattle. Maybe a year after that I got a letter from my mortgage company saying my homeowners insurance dwelling coverage is insufficient and must either cover the unpaid mortgage amount (lol) or include replacement cost coverage. SFH, townhome, condo? Sometimes people get the wrong insurance coverage by not understanding what the HOA is actually responsible for. Also as home values/construction costs increase you also need to account for that in what you have for insurance coverage.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 19:19
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:SFH, townhome, condo? Sometimes people get the wrong insurance coverage by not understanding what the HOA is actually responsible for. Also as home values/construction costs increase you also need to account for that in what you have for insurance coverage. SFH I bought this deep in covid when construction materials were insane and specifically increased the coverage amount by 20% for this reason. It is currently 450k for a 1700sqft house which seems reasonable to me? Anyway, I did call and the woman was helpful but also a little laissez faire about it ("sometimes it's just a suggestion"(???????)). What I mostly got out of it was there is a field on my account where it says "Replacement Y/N" and mine currently says N. She suggested uploading all of my documents which seems silly because the letter and the automated system correctly read off my coverage amount but w/e. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the suggestions all.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 19:44
|
|
|
Motronic posted:Unfortunately somewhat correct - it depends on the segment of the market you're in. The high end market is absolutely different than the "what's the lowest payment I can get for 4 bedrooms" market. But good houses absolutely exist and are being built today. In fact many of the oldest houses you're likely to see are still around because they were this. I live in one. The place I came closest to buying was pretty much this, a bespoke house built for a Doctor in the 60s, well taken care of, huge crawl space, visibly heavier and more solid supports for everything, above code spacing. Nothing creaked, it was almost wierdly sound proof and DENSE in a way I've never really experienced anywhere else. Ultimately I underbid vs other offers because of my specific living situation (currently active travel nurse) and because it was in a Greenville NC, while I couldn't find any evidence the house itself had ever flooded I know from experience and location I'd likely need to invest in a kayak to leave when the hurricanes flooded green mill run every couple of years and turned the hill into an island. I grew up in a 1880s 2 over 2 style farmhouse, and it was still technically functional but I'm going to have to do some major structural work to make it sellable when my parents pass. I helped my dad do some of the renovation when we fixed up the bathroom and everything inside the walls is a horror show, much less all the termite damage to the gigantic beams under the house. Seems like a still standing house from about the 50s to the 70s is the sweet spot for fairly modern construction materials and layouts while still having good old growth lumber and decent carpentry.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 21:59
|
|
|
awkward_turtle posted:Greenville NC, while I couldn't find any evidence the house itself had ever flooded I know from experience and location I'd likely need to invest in a kayak to leave when the hurricanes flooded green mill run every couple of years and turned the hill into an island. Lol I was a captain in the fire department there when the Tar ended up about 6 miles wide after hurricane Floyd. Spend 12 hours sandbagging the power station. Then the army corps released water from upstream without telling us how much and it overtopped our sandbagging. This happened right as we got back to the fire house. Big blue flash in the distance, and the lights went out. For the next 10 days I believe. I hated that miserable swamp town. The only redemming thing left is Parkers Barbecue.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 22:13
|
|
|
Just got a notice of cancellation for my home insurance from Farmers. I'm in DFW Texas and the reason for cancellation is that my dwelling amount is above their allowable limit for my area now, unless I also have an auto policy with them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 22:36
|
|
|
awkward_turtle posted:Greenville, NC The place I only know as the home of Mr. Beast's empire
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2024 22:55
|
|
|
Welp Put down an offer on a brick ranch built in 1972 four doors down from my mother in law (who is a lovely lady) and it's been accepted It appears to be in (relatively) decent condition throughout but has not been updated in any significant way since the 70's. Original lemon yellow carpet! lime green kitchen! popcorn ceilings! A dedicated HAM radio room! 2300 square feet and a half acre back yard filled with pine trees I have so much work to do now Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 15:02 on Mar 23, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 13:13
|
|
|
I'm through the inspection phase. Radon was high and some roots in the sewer pipe were the biggest things. My agent here actually did good and got the sellers to take a nice amount off the purchase price when I figured they wouldn't give an inch.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 16:12
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:A dedicated HAM radio room! pics needed, this sounds like peak 70s
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 17:53
|
|
|
Man_of_Teflon posted:pics needed, this sounds like peak 70s It's mostly cleaned out, the only HAM radio remnants were the giant antenna base in the back yard, a wire lead exiting the house to it, and a truly giant world map lying against the side of the ham room. I don't have a lot of photos because we snagged it before it went up on Zwillow etc. / before the flippers found it, which is kinda the dream (various family found out it was going to be sold soon),. but here are some I took during our walkthrough:  front door from the inside!  Kitchen!  living room!  Original carpet!  washer/dryer/pantry -> toilet -> ham radio closet (sure) Significantly lower price than the house we're currently in, with significantly more square feet, but of course it needs a lot of work. Hpefully the inspection doesn't find any nightmares. Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Mar 23, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 18:38
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:70s house This is super cool to see something like this still in tact. I wouldn’t knock you a bit for getting rid of the kitchen fluorescents though.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 19:13
|
|
|
Keep that carpet imo, you never know when you may need some 1960s DNA for a hobby project
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 19:21
|
|
|
Better than the 1977 shag I just had to rip out.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 19:23
|
|
|
That kitchen...and bath. Definitely keep the carpet, though. I see that appreciating in the coming decades as the patina continues to mature.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 19:36
|
|
|
Matryoshka SexDoll posted:I wouldn’t knock you a bit for getting rid of the kitchen fluorescents though. I wish I'd gotten a pic of the original lime green in-wall 1960s general electric oven still in working order What we probably will keep is the cabinets. They're made of, like, actual wood! Not pressboard! either that linoleum goes or I do tho Hieronymous Alloy fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Mar 23, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 19:42
|
|
|
Inner Light posted:The place I only know as the home of Mr. Beast's empire There's... not a lot in Eastern NC. I was 12 and an hour north (an even poorer, swampier area) during Floyd, but I was also in the area for Isaac, Dennis, and Fran. Driving to and from the hospital for my shifts in a town bisected by flood water probably does not include my all time smartest driving decisions. The city has improved a lot over the years though. It was basically dormant for about 8-10 years after the 2008 collapse killed a lot of businesses but now that the Triangle is becoming prohibitively expensive there's more and more spillover to Wilson, Rocky Mount, and Greenville. To keep it to the thread I wanted to pull some zillow examples of how insane home prices had gotten even in completly dead, rotted out agricultural towns in the Northeast of NC but they seem to have, if not normalized, at least become slightly more sensable. At one point when I was house hunting it wasn't unusual to see 400k asking in town literally an hour from the nearest movie theater, cultural anything, or starbucks where the largest employer in the county is a chicken processing plant. Now those houses are "only" 200k. I do occasionally find myself lusting for the charms of a minimally updated farmhouse that predates the first world war but would also probably drink glycophosphate if I had to live out there full time again.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2024 20:33
|
|
|
Coming from Minnesota where such is fairly unheard of, I was shocked to visit Vancouver, BC, and discover that double doors for entryways were everywhere. Just a regional status symbol?
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 02:16
|
|
|
I was going to say that Asheville was one of the main places my former employer was targeting as a hub of Biotech and Med Devices... but then I realized that was Asheville, SC.  Hieronymous Alloy posted:I wish I'd gotten a pic of the original lime green in-wall 1960s general electric oven still in working order Those cabinets do look well-made. You can strip and paint just the face of them, there are companies that specialize in that.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 15:21
|
|
|
SouthShoreSamurai posted:I was going to say that Asheville was one of the main places my former employer was targeting as a hub of Biotech and Med Devices... but then I realized that was Asheville, SC. Asheville is actually in North Carolina as well, but is a whole world away in terms of housing market. Asheville was expensive before nearly everywhere else in NC because it is beautiful, in the mountains, etc.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 16:17
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:The flipper who bought my parents' house made a lot of boneheaded design choices that made no sense for the area and he wound up having to sell at the same price that he bought it at Putting the exact same grey kitchen and bowl sink bathrooms in every house doesn't always work?
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 17:39
|
|
|
Sir Tonk posted:Putting the exact same grey kitchen and bowl sink bathrooms in every house doesn't always work? God I loving hate bowl sinks.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 19:31
|
|
|
Cyrano4747 posted:God I loving hate bowl sinks. The ~400 ft^2 condo I had back in the day decided to maximize the space in the extremely tiny bathroom by putting in a vessel sink (so that there was some shelf room underneath it). And while that was a smart strategy, they made the fatal mistake of choosing a clear glass option, like this:  Let me tell you, that thing would get dirty so fast. You basically had to wash it every single day if you didn't want to see the remnants of when you brushed your teeth that morning every time you went to the bathroom.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 20:05
|
|
|
LanceHunter posted:The ~400 ft^2 condo I had back in the day decided to maximize the space in the extremely tiny bathroom by putting in a vessel sink (so that there was some shelf room underneath it). And while that was a smart strategy, they made the fatal mistake of choosing a clear glass option, like this: I don't even buy that edge case, because you can just install a vanity with a slightly higher top to give you that interior shelf space. In that photo, what's being gained by not just having a vanity that is level with where the top of the bowl is now? Anyone using it still has to be able to get over the lip of the raised bowl, so it can't even be an accessibility thing. Plus, now you have a relatively complex nook surface to clean - the curved wedge of space between the bowl and the vanity. Instead of having one, flat surface with a bowl in it that you can wipe down relatively quickly you've got this weird overhang from the bowl to collect all manner of dust and bathroom grime.
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 20:15
|
|
|
Cyrano4747 posted:God I loving hate bowl sinks. they should have stayed in euro dance clubs where they belong!
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 20:21
|
|
|
awkward_turtle posted:There's... not a lot in Eastern NC. Strong agree
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 23:08
|
|
|
Hadlock posted:Strong agree You were in the part that actually has stuff, comparatively. Think about those of us who have lived in Greenville!
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2024 23:11
|
|
|
I actually like the kitchen. Replace the Formica with something nice, remove the ghastly blind, switch the built-in burner to induction, switch out the floor and lighting, and you're good. drat, do I envy the in-wall oven. e: A fast cheap way to modernize old cabinets is to find new hardware in keeping with current tastes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2024 00:09
|
|
|
I found this pic online, pretty sure it's the same oven as the one in the house: Arsenic Lupin posted:I actually like the kitchen. Replace the Formica with something nice, remove the ghastly blind, switch the built-in burner to induction, switch out the floor and lighting, and you're good. drat, do I envy the in-wall oven. this is the plan but that's a lot! plus maybe also change out the popcorn ceiling if doing lighting anyway right now we're considering maybe terra cotta or talavera tile but very much still brainstorming.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2024 01:13
|
|
|
Hieronymous Alloy posted:I found this pic online, pretty sure it's the same oven as the one in the house: Our house had one of these when I was growing up, cherish it. Those ovens were badass
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2024 02:10
|
|
|
QuarkJets posted:Our house had one of these when I was growing up, cherish it. Those ovens were badass Not having to bend down and put your face into the hot gases of the oven when you're deciding if the pie is done is priceless.
|
|
#
?
Mar 25, 2024 03:20
|
|
|
I have no idea how to choose a buyer's agent. This entire industry overloads my overtuned sales-pitch-filter, so I don't feel like I can use my judgement. Anyone I talk to, the "they're definitely selling something" impression maxes out the meter with no room to differentiate. These instincts are often inconvenient, never moreso than here. I put out feelers for recommendations, and got back a few very strong ones. So I called two realtors, had a phone chat with both, and now I have two realtors trying to talk me through the next steps with still no way to decide which one to dump. I'm honestly about ready to flip a coin. Ditocoaf fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Mar 26, 2024 |
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2024 01:40
|
|
|
Flip a coin. If you think both are solid and you can't make a decision pick one arbitrarily. It's probably better to start spending your energy elsewhere.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2024 01:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 4, 2024 21:15 |
|
|
Alright, cool, glad to hear someone say that's not ridiculous.
|
|
#
?
Mar 26, 2024 01:50
|
|