Home insurance renewal shock

[Ice_Major]

Originally Posted by BijouBaby

Yes, as I said, I have factored in my mortgage (at very low interest), fees, taxes, insurance, maintenance, my HOA fee, and still there's quite a financial gap btwn renting and owning in my community.

Furnishing?? I'm pretty sure that a renter also furnishes their home just like homeowners, so not sure where you came up with that one. And it's still much less to live in the home I own than if I were to rent it from someone. Roughly half. It's always been true that you need to live in your home at least 5 years before selling, due to the expenses involved in purchasing a home. Nothing new about that. But if you stay past 5 years, it's increasingly worth it with each passing year.

And what about the transactional cost of renting? I remember high deposits, especially if you have pets. Then rising rents every year and often terrible neighbors when I lived in apartments and condos. Then landlords would find some reason to keep at least part of your deposits when you leave, not to mention the high cost of moving each time. Then you have to do it all over again with the next rental. It's expensive to rent and often makes for a transient lifestyle. I'm glad I don't have to live like that anymore, and I have accumulated much more wealth owning homes (trading up with each one) rather than renting with nothing to show financially from the experience.

Typically, when people purchase a home, they purchase new furnishings to go along with it, since well now they are permanent to might as well jazz up the place. There are also things that must be purchased which are typically included in a rental (such as blinds). If a family is coming from something smaller such as an apartment, there will be more sq. footage to decorate. A course it varies by person. The transactional cost between buying and renting aren’t even close. The average closing cost is somewhere between 3% - 6% of the home value for a buyer. Never seen a deposit (even for people with horrible credit) that high. There is also the opportunity cost which comes with placing a down payment. While an individual may not have anything to show for it financially from renting (at least directly), renting does afford a greater level of freedom. That's probably what I miss most about renting. Could leave in 1 year. Could up and move to another city or state much easier. Renting is also overall less stressful. I'm not saying renting is overall better. Personally, I believe if you are going to stay in each area for longer than 5 - 7 years, it better to just go ahead and buy. I’m happy with my decision to buy, but I can’t say its best for everyone.

[Ice_Major]

Originally Posted by CarnivalGal

My mom recently sold her condo and bought another one nearby (both in South Austin). She did a leaseback on the one she sold for 30 days. She needed to switch her insurance from homeowners to renters for those 30 days. She called her insurance company, Nationwide I believe, that she's had for car and homeowners insurance forever. They told her they are not underwriting new renters policies in that zip code (78748) due to the high risk of wildfires. It just makes sense that those who are still writing new policies are raising prices.

Not trying to turn this into a climate change discussion, but one can't deny the weather seems to be getting weirder. We had back to back winter storm events. The summers are becoming longer and drier. A hurricane is about to strike California. Making matters worse, people are moving to disaster prone areas. New Hampshire may be cold, but has water and much more stable weather.