Yeah, we just paid you $75K to help with bills because you're a valued customer...

[Gothicsmurf]

mattm04-

That's an acceptable use, although the extra money could have gone back to the insurance company. Depending on the amount some times they say, "Yeah we would have given that to you anyway so keep it."

As far as bringing back to whole, yeah it does work, but you have to remember depreciation, and other factors.

We once had a guy who had his car stolen, after the insurance company paid off the lien and the deductible applied, he only got about $50. He wasn't happy, but he also didn't have to make car payments on a car he no longer owned... And we gave him about $1000 over blue book value for it too.

That folks is why you don't finance a car that's over ten years old.

This story is from about 5 years back so $300K was a fairly good sum for ahouse in the mid west.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

My Mother used to work in insurance. I called and read this story to her and was greeted by peals of bitter laughter.

Yeah, she says she encountered people that dumb on occasion.

[BlackIronCrown]

but Boozy, in most urban areas $300k will barely get you a condo, $300k could be a nice big house in a rural area, or it could be a dump in a city or most places near a coast, where the mortgage on a $300k house would be the same as rent on anything big enough for 2 people to live in. or maybe he fell and sued

I would say that's true only around NYC and related areas and in CA. 300k will get you a 3 bedroom house and at least half an acre intown in most cities in the Southeast. That's even in my town, Atlanta.

[thehippie777]

I am not surprised, sadly. My old roommates own a really really old house in really bad shape (mostly because they don't keep up repairs). They applied for home owner's insurance, and the house was inspected. A month later they recieved a check back with a letter telling them their house wasn't up to standard & their intial installment was refunded. Instead of using the refund for ya know...repairs to get it up to standard they blew the cash & had no home owner's insurance. Smart? not-so-much

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

I would say that's true only around NYC and related areas and in CA. 300k will get you a 3 bedroom house and at least half an acre intown in most cities in the Southeast. That's even in my town, Atlanta.

there are several areas where housing costs more than that, i know someone who moved here from plymouth mass, and got a house like you described a few miles out of town for 214k or something around there and their families asked them if they lived in a shack, but where I used to live my parents sold a 3 bedroom in town for $45k(the person who bought it sold it for $60k a couple months later) about 5-6 years ago. it was right next door to a house that cycled through about a drug dealing tenant a year though, the drug bust right before we moved was fairly sizable.

[Boozy]

but Boozy, in most urban areas $300k will barely get you a condo

I understand that, as I live in an urban area with similar real estate prices. One-bedroom condos start at about $250,000 here.

Unfortunately, regardless of what $300,000 buys you, you still need to put down a down payment and make payments.

There is a reason why I am not a home owner yet.

[friendofjimmyk]

Yeah, he probably did think "WOO HOO!!! Free money! Hey honey, lets go and buy that *big ticket item* we've always wanted!!!"

Well, if they got themselves out of debt, then they'll have to go right back in with the contractor. sheesh

[computeraide]

This reminds me of the yahoos my brother married in to. Apparently when the insurance company paid to put a new roof on their grandmother's house, they divided the money up among themselves and squandered it. Then a few years later the grandmother passed on and my brother bought the house... and had to turn around and put a new roof on it out of his pocket. You can believe when he found out the insurance company had already "paid" for a new roof that he was more than a little pissed at his in-laws.

[Seshat]

$200K Australian will buy you a very basic three-bedroom house in the least desirable outer suburbs of our major cities.
(Important note: the further out you get from the city centre, the cheaper the home is. In general, of course. Certain suburbs cost more, depending on status, facilities and views.)

It takes $300K Australian before you get a three-bedroom house in the middle-class suburbs. Upper class? Anywhere from $500K to $3M.

[Gothicsmurf]

This reminds me of the yahoos my brother married in to. Apparently when the insurance company paid to put a new roof on their grandmother's house, they divided the money up among themselves and squandered it. Then a few years later the grandmother passed on and my brother bought the house... and had to turn around and put a new roof on it out of his pocket. You can believe when he found out the insurance company had already "paid" for a new roof that he was more than a little pissed at his in-laws.

That's a common thing. If the insurance company gives you money to get repairs, you technically DON'T have to do it. (Although I would strongly recommend doing it.)

If you don't use it for repairs, the insurance company won't pay to fix it again... and your next pay out *could* be less and if anything is damaged because you didn't fix something then Insurance Nazi says, "NO MONEY FOR YOU!"

[technical.angel]

My Mother used to work in insurance. I called and read this story to her and was greeted by peals of bitter laughter.

Yeah, she says she encountered people that dumb on occasion.

AAFHeaven used to work insurance. I read this to her, and she was nearly in tears from laughing.

[mattm04]

mattm04-

That's an acceptable use, although the extra money could have gone back to the insurance company. Depending on the amount some times they say, "Yeah we would have given that to you anyway so keep it."

As far as bringing back to whole, yeah it does work, but you have to remember depreciation, and other factors.

We once had a guy who had his car stolen, after the insurance company paid off the lien and the deductible applied, he only got about $50. He wasn't happy, but he also didn't have to make car payments on a car he no longer owned... And we gave him about $1000 over blue book value for it too.

That folks is why you don't finance a car that's over ten years old.

This story is from about 5 years back so $300K was a fairly good sum for ahouse in the mid west.

It was only about a $100 left over based on multiple small overages, for example, new computer mouse: insurance said, say $25, we paid, $15, etc.

[tollbaby]

When my parents' house flooded (four times) the insurance paid to have repairs made each time, and my parents used the money to redecorate their basement.... well, if you have to have all the panelling and floors ripped out anyway, why not get nicer ones? LOL But they never bitched that they went over... they accepted that they were upgrading and so they'd have to pay the difference. I can't imagine BLOWING $75,000.... lord, with that, I could BUILD a house.

[Bluenomi]

$200K Australian will buy you a very basic three-bedroom house in the least desirable outer suburbs of our major cities.
(Important note: the further out you get from the city centre, the cheaper the home is. In general, of course. Certain suburbs cost more, depending on status, facilities and views.)

It takes $300K Australian before you get a three-bedroom house in the middle-class suburbs. Upper class? Anywhere from $500K to $3M.

Unless you are in Canberra where $200k won't buy you anything and $300k might get you a tiny apartment in a bad suburb. Our small, basic, not great suburb house was $400k. Nice apartments start at $400k and for a really good place you'd need at least $700k.

Needless to say, I couldn't afford to not use insurance money to pay for repairs!

[thehippie777]

I just found out yesterday that a company that leased a floor in the Twin Towers in NYC had an insurance policy somewhere in the $14 Million range & got over $5 Billion...what's up with that???????