No one likes increases but at least you have nominal title to the property. The rent for an apartment in my area now pretty nearly equals or exceeds the total payment each month for my home loan. We closed in April, 2000. App $500 for tax-insurance, $400 interest, $400 principle. We pay extra prnciple every month.

PF, maybe a part-time job can help you, hospitals, grocery store, or just OT.

I work in the ghetto and run a lot of appts in ghetto apt. bldgs. I was in one last week where the lady told me her rent was going up by $500/mo. I was surprised they could get $500/mo at all for that hovel. But her rent was going from $1100 to $1600. I think my mortgage is $1700 PITI now and it's a nice big house with a yard and a pool. I can't even imagine living in a hovel for nearly the same money and on a fraction of the income.

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
The rent for an apartment in my area now pretty nearly equals or exceeds the total payment each month for my home loan.

Yeah, that's been the case around here for a while now, even before the crazy housing market of the COVID era.

High apartment demand + low apartment supply = Inflated apartment rent costs.

It's cheaper to just buy a house.

quote:

I work in the ghetto and run a lot of appts in ghetto apt. bldgs. I was in one last week where the lady told me her rent was going up by $500/mo. I was surprised they could get $500/mo at all for that hovel. But her rent was going from $1100 to $1600. I think my mortgage is $1700 PITI now and it's a nice big house with a yard and a pool. I can't even imagine living in a hovel for nearly the same money and on a fraction of the income.

People who can't / won't make good financial decisions for themselves will always be ass-raped. It's the same with buy here - pay here car lots, check cashing places, ABC furniture rental, and all of that other shit. People continue to patronize those places because they made piss poor decisions and can't get a proper mortgage. I have zero sympathy for them.

Oh, I know it. The demographic I work in has gotten every single life decision wrong. You couldn't try to get it more wrong than these folks have by accident. But, if I can save them a few bucks with what I do, I will sleep fine at night.

$1K increase for insurance is crazy

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Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by mr kablammo:
The rent for an apartment in my area now pretty nearly equals or exceeds the total payment each month for my home loan.

Yeah, that's been the case around here for a while now, even before the crazy housing market of the COVID era.

High apartment demand + low apartment supply = Inflated apartment rent costs.

It's cheaper to just buy a house.

In 2003 I compared what I was paying in rent versus a monthly mortgage on a new 3 bedroom house and it was pretty close - granted I had to move a little further out of the cities to do it. Within the last year they put up at least 3 large apartment complexes in our tiny town and the rent for a single bedroom apartment is more than my mortgage + utilities. I think that's just nuts, but they seem to fill them pretty quickly.

Just got my renewal for 2024. Homeowners went up over $1100 for next year. Monthly payments jumping from $250 to $343 next year. Insane. I’m absolutely livid. I’ve got to find a way to build my Morton on my rural land and get the fuck out of Texas. Property taxes + homeowners, getting as expensive as California, if not already there. And this is ironic because millions of people from that got damn state and moved here, and ruining our way of life. They brought the expensive all with them in a got damn trailer.

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Property taxes + homeowners, getting as expensive as California, if not already there. And this is ironic because millions of people from that got damn state and moved here, and ruining our way of life. They brought the expensive all with them in a got damn trailer.

Similar here in FL with all the people that fled the north, driving property prices up, a couple of hurricanes two years ago and bam prices are up.

Hows the energy situation there, ours is nuts here, think we hit an all time high of $700 in July...

My homeowners, auto, and motorcycle insurance went up substantially last July and both the auto and motorcycle are going up again in January. I really hate these 6-month insurance policies.

Fortunately, I live in a sane county whose commissioners decided that with 100k new taxpayers that existing taxpayers rates need decreasing more than the appraisal increase. In other words, I'm fortunately paying less property tax than last year despite the appraisal district increasing appraised value the maximum allowed by state law.

When I retire in 4 to 6 years, I'm moving away from the 5-figure property tax bills. I've checking out actual property taxes, sales tax, and income tax in a few locations. I could have the same appraisal value, but actually have acreage and lower cash outflows in the 3 locations I'm considering. Need to narrow it down over the next few years, and makes sure the elected officials don't do anything stupid.

LOLOLOL That's nothing. My insurance has gone from $2400 to $9700 in the past 10 years, but was as low as $3600 5 years ago.......come to Florida if you want to see real increases. It really sucks. This is a 1700 sq ft house with 2 car garage.

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Originally posted by HRK:

Hows the energy situation there, ours is nuts here, think we hit an all time high of $700 in July...

I would say the kwh rates have doubled in the last 5-6 years. I took care of that in 2014 installing 35 panels on the house. I leased them. They are stronger than the roof. And I don’t have to insure them since they are leased. Anything happens I call a company to fix anything related to them.

I just need to deal with the fact I’m getting taxed and priced out of my native home and state by foreigners moving here. I’ve got to come up with the cash to finish remodeling my home so I can sell it. And simultaneously have to get my Morton built at the same time. Fun times.

Paying off the mortgage and not paying the insurance can be a sound financial decision.

I’ve said it for awhile, even when you ‘own’, there are similarities with renting.

With homeowners insurance, the 1st thing is to have the deductible $1k, or higher, if able. Like with vehicles, fix the little stuff yourself or out of pocket.

Keep up on things, prevention. Maybe turn the water off if gone a long time. I just changed out my 2 sump pumps, a little over due.

Often with changing you get a low rate for a year then it’s right back up. The details matter, maybe you need the bells & whistles, maybe not.

Our Homeowners policy with Farmers went up 1200.00 for a total of 2700.00 for next year. Autos went up 300.00

Everything goes up but or pay/retirement checks

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Paying off the mortgage and not paying the insurance can be a sound financial decision.

Once I get my building built on my land and moved. I should be 100% no mortgage. At that point, yes sir, I’m just going to save monthly, say $200-300, and keep it in a savings account. No more homeowners. It’s just nothing I can do now. I’m not paying off my current house because I want to sell it and move before that happens.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
.... not paying the insurance can be a sound financial decision.

Hello what?

For what is probably 25-50% or more of many people's total assets, you're recommending taking the risk of it evaporating rather than pay a premium of probably <1%-2 or 3% for insurance? Not to mention this is there only resource for somewhere to live other than spending other assets to rebuild, rent, etc.? (Mine currently .5% of replacement cost, not including land.)

Heck, even all that premium isn't for replacement only, but liability and other coverages. Surely you aren't suggesting going naked on that as well?

For anyone considering this, please check your umbrella policy as well. Most require a certain level of homeowners liability.

I get that the numbers on Florida coast and similar are going up a lot, but even at that there's probably an increased actual risk underlying some of that premium difference, not just the greedy companies.....

^^^Nuts. I had a really long reply and lost it just before I hit Post Now.

I said nothing of the sort. My point was you need to evaluate your own situation and make informed decisions. I have homeowners insurance on our home where it makes financial sense.

My short example is the $10k out the door including a helmet motorcycle that I bought in 1998. The next day, I found out insurance was going to $5k a year. The state I lived in didn’t require insurance on motorcycles as long as you wore a helmet. The crazy part was: had I bought a Ducati 916 for $3k or $4k more, the insurance would only have been $700 a year. Anyway, I still have the motorcycle and I’ve spent $400 in repairs that insurance would have covered.

The really long example, which I’m not going to retype, is my house in Florida. When the insurance got to be $10k a year, I paid my then $100k mortgage off. I’m sitting here, 17 years later, through the power of compounding on the savings of the what surely would have been ever increasing insurance rates, with more than enough money to build a new house should this one be destroyed. The best part is, that money is still growing and I still have the house. If had paid the insurance all those years, all I’d have is a now 47 year old house.

Without going into all the details, it worked for me because the waterfront lot my house is on was and still is worth more than the house. Had I suffered a catastrophic loss early on, I would have been able to get a loan to rebuild. My financial and job situations improved since the first loan that I paid off, so I had no reason to believe I wouldn’t be able to get another one.

I suffered little damage after taking the full 150mph force of Charley. I’ve made sound improvements since then and suffered only $500 of damage from Ian. My neighbors on each side whose houses where built at the same time by the same builder to the same standard as mine did not make the improvements I did. They suffered between $75k and $150k each of damage. In fact, the neighbor on the one side may not be allowed to make repairs due to the 50% rule.

I invested my premiums, which is what the insurance company would have done after paying for my agent, his employees, his rent, the company’s employees, their fancy downtown skyscraper, their stockholders, the IRS, etc. I can also afford a nicer car than my agent now.

I’m not knocking insurance, insurance companies, or agents. They’re in business to make money. It’s up to me to decide to if what they are selling is of value to me. Sometimes it is and other times it is not.

Believe it or not, my original response was twice as long with numbers and calculations including probabilities to back up my choice.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Paying off the mortgage and not paying the insurance can be a sound financial decision.

Bingo! Refusing to pay these scumbags anymore is the best decision I made. Assholes tried to scare me. Told them to go pound sand.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

Believe it or not, my original response was twice as long with numbers and calculations including probabilities to back up my choice.

Man I get it. You made solid financial decisions and you covered everything yourself instead of relying on this bullshit insurance model. I’m pushing to be you in the future myself. I’ve already designed my metal building with Morton and that mother fucker is a tank that I’m not going to be concerned with. I’ll likewise pay myself a yearly stipend that will go into an account or accounts, investments, etc, and be able to rebuild should anything happen. This is a racket man. We had that week long freeze here. Because of the structural upgrades I’ve done over the years, improvements, etc, I suffered zero damage and didn’t make any claims. But I’m paying like I did.

It’s the same thing with vehicles. I had someone back into my truck, hit and run, in a parking lot. I could have easily filed a claim but at $1500 repair, talked to my broker and both agreed it wasn’t in my best interest as I’ve got multiple vehicles and claims could hit me hard. Even a comp claim, which hit and run falls under, they aren’t supposed to raise your rates but I know from the past, they will. They can get away with most anything they want. 2.5 years later, with a new bumper sitting in my garage it still isn’t fixed because the body shop I use, since Covid, is down staff, hard. Since my repair is me out of pocket and a minor job, it’s continually kicked to the curb. I think the best thing I can do, for my life, is go rural and get away from urban/suburban areas and all my costs are going to significantly decrease. No more tornadoes to deal with either. Just rain and hail. And that isn’t going to do shit to hi-rib steel.

Hoa fees are higher tha taxes. Bloodsuckers. Get very little in return.