[Travelassie]

We don't have a mortgage, thanks to long time planning when we were younger. We also have a hurricane hardened house, thanks to the contractor who built it for us and additional protection we have since added.

We'll see what happens with homeowner's insurance going forward. We could go bare though we're reluctant to go without liability insurance in any case, and our current insurance company did a fairly decent job at reimbursing us for our damages ( shingles torn off down to wood, resulting in water damage, water treatment system torn away from house, missing soffits, but no structural damage) in Ian. We didn't embellish on our losses, found no need to employ either public adjusters or attorneys looking to line their own pockets in the process.

I can't stress strongly enough if someone chooses to go without property insurance, especially in areas where natural disasters occur regularly ( like windstorm damage- though the naysayers tend to exxagerate even minor events for the entertainment value) to save that money that would be spent for premiums, save it diligently. So in the event the property is damaged by a hurricane, or whatever, you have resources to pay to fix the damages yourself.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

We don't have a mortgage, thanks to long time planning when we were younger.

this would describe a tiny minority of americans.............most of whom retire with nearly no savings

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by sinatras

this would describe a tiny minority of americans.............most of whom retire with nearly no savings

As I said, it took planning and foresight on our part, over a long period of time, to get there. We aren't, and never were, millionaires, but people who manage what we do have well. Living within one's means is a big part of that. It's planning and hard work, along with a mentality of self-sufficiency, not entitlement and assumption that we're owed anything without effort on our part. Though I know this wasn't your intention as you posted this article- we were supposed to be wracked with sobs and angry at our current governor and administration at the implied callous attitude of same towards these poor victims. But in reading the article, I see that most, if not all the people who were quoted in the article were not destitute, had the means to choose other options, and looked to be considering those.

I imagine had we not done planned as well as we did, we could be out there with the " large majority" of Americans ( as you claim) crying our tales of woe to a yellow journalistic rag whose intention is to stoke the righteous indignation of folks out to find fault in any way possible with a political opponent they despise. But we would never let ourselves be used that way, we'd look for our options and choose the best ones going forward. As the folks in that article will likely be doing.

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by sinatras

this would describe a tiny minority of americans.............most of whom retire with nearly no savings

About 37-38% of homeowners don’t have a mortgage. So not what I’d call a ‘tiny minority’ despite what the mortgage companies seem to wat to tell you.

Somewhat surprisingly, Florida doesn’t crack the top ten when it coms to percentage of home without a mortgage-

https://www.moving.com/tips/10-state...ee-homeowners/

[hokiepoke]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

You should be able to request a roof inspection that will give you the number of useful years left on your roof. The Florida laws passed in December 2022 included one that said insurers may not drop a policyholder's insurance policy based solely on the age of the roof, or require the policyholder get a new roof as a condition for maintaining insurance coverage with an insurer.



If your roof is only 11 yrs old, it might pay to have it inspected by a reputable roofer, your roof probably has plenty of life left in it- unless there was damage, of course.





https://www.harrylevineinsurance.com...orms-for-2023/


https://honorservices.com/new-rules-...ance-on-roofs/

Interesting - I wonder if that was the reason for the insurance rescinding the requirement only a month later.

We had a full inspection done including wind mitigation and roof year before last. The roof was deemed at the time to have "3 or less years of life" left in the inspect report that was submitted to the insurance company. The insurance notice indicated that the reason for non-renewal was due to the roof supposedly having "less than 3 years of life left". Walking around the neighborhood, it seems as if half the houses have new roof.

[norman_w]

I'm in Florida. As with everything in Florida, its a engineered to get more money. As my yacht owner said "You have to pull out your wallet and ask how much will it cost to get this done."

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

As I said, it took planning and foresight on our part, over a long period of time, to get there. We aren't, and never were, millionaires, but people who manage what we do have well. Living within one's means is a big part of that. It's planning and hard work, along with a mentality of self-sufficiency, not entitlement and assumption that we're owed anything without effort on our part. Though I know this wasn't your intention as you posted this article- we were supposed to be wracked with sobs and angry at our current governor and administration at the implied callous attitude of same towards these poor victims. But in reading the article, I see that most, if not all the people who were quoted in the article were not destitute, had the means to choose other options, and looked to be considering those.

I imagine had we not done planned as well as we did, we could be out there with the " large majority" of Americans ( as you claim) crying our tales of woe to a yellow journalistic rag whose intention is to stoke the righteous indignation of folks out to find fault in any way possible with a political opponent they despise. But we would never let ourselves be used that way, we'd look for our options and choose the best ones going forward. As the folks in that article will likely be doing.

Hey guess what! I've got GREAT news for you!

Soon, many if not most "yellow journalistic rags" in the USA will be bankrupt and out of business. Nobody wants to pay for journalism anymore, not from the Palm Beach Post or most anyone else. So very soon, there won't be anyone giving you news about "poor victims" or anything else anymore.

Good luck in your paid-off house ignoring all of the negative reality around you!

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by hokiepoke

Interesting - I wonder if that was the reason for the insurance rescinding the requirement only a month later.

We had a full inspection done including wind mitigation and roof year before last. The roof was deemed at the time to have "3 or less years of life" left in the inspect report that was submitted to the insurance company. The insurance notice indicated that the reason for non-renewal was due to the roof supposedly having "less than 3 years of life left". Walking around the neighborhood, it seems as if half the houses have new roof.

Probably is, though it seems to me that a roof that's only 11 yrs old, unless there has been damage from a storm, fire, or perhaps improper installation of some of the components, should have more than 3 yrs of usable life left. That'd be even for a a 3 tab shingle roof, I'd think.



Did the inspectors give you any particulars about just why they deemed the roof had less than 3 yrs left?



Maybe you can get a "second opinion" roof inspection by a credentialed roofer?



No surprise that many of your neighbors have new roofs- seems from what I've seen roofs are replaced en masse following a weather event that damages roofs. In this neck of the woods many of the roofs on houses that aren't new construction were replaced after Hurricane Charley in 2004, making them 18 yrs last year. I noticed the same thing happened when we lived in Miami and went through Hurricane Andrew in 1992 ( pretty much destroyed our house there). Most of the houses in our neighborhood had roofs replaced in 1992 or 1993, making them about the same age when Citizens Insurance ( which was the only insurance company that would insure us pariahs who lived east of US 1 there, and that was windstorm only for us) rolled through in 2009-2011and said we all needed new roofs and would be canceled maybe anyway, but certainly if we didn't replace our roofs- didn't matter their condition. We had to borrow money to replace our roof, but we did it as that insurance was required.



Hope you can get that roof issue resolved.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by sinatras

Hey guess what! I've got GREAT news for you!

Soon, many if not most "yellow journalistic rags" in the USA will be bankrupt and out of business. Nobody wants to pay for journalism anymore, not from the Palm Beach Post or most anyone else. So very soon, there won't be anyone giving you news about "poor victims" or anything else anymore.

Good luck in your paid-off house ignoring all of the negative reality around you!

LOL, I don't get my news from the likes of the Palm Beach Post or any other (in my opinion, of course, LOL) tabloid, for that matter.

If you think you do, I'd have to say that explains your apparent perspectives on many of these issues.


But go ahead, enjoy your judgement and righteous indignation over those who those who don't choose to engage in this particular type of entertainment, folks you know nothing about. Toodle-loo.

[blueskies2023]

Originally Posted by LKJ1988

Go bare blare and live on easy street pete.

and then what will you do?