The fleecing of the American Homeowner.

DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
hanimmal said:
I really wasn't trying to call you out on it, and do not blame you for keeping the money.

It sucks. I was in sales during the lead up to the '08 financial collapse and know that I profited off of it too. It is that crap feeling when I think back to how many times I would run peoples credit for something and see how hard it was for them to cover everything and go ahead and toss it onto a free 12 month program that would greatly inflate when they didn't pay it all off before the year was up.

I wouldn't call them (the insurance companies) gamblers as much as a bunch of people making money looking the other way at all the little micro tears in the fabric keeping it all together because, well, what would you do?


I think insurance is great and am happy that he had the option of using it to fix the damages he faced.
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Understandable.... I was the asshole you didn't want to be in front of when it came time to sign your paperwork on your car/truck. 32 years in the biz, and of course you're on commission. I'd sell people shit they didn't need, or even know they had. I just wanted to max out the LTV on that note, and stay within the guidelines of the lender. Sure, I felt shitty about it. Greed is just human nature... to an extent. There was only one time in my career that I pulled a customer aside and said "Hey bud.... ummm.. I don't know how to say this, but you can't afford this truck".. he was a good guy, and a repeat customer that I had taken a liking to. Had the owners known about that, I'd have been fired. But, the sub-prime customers was a smash and grab around the time you're talking about (pre-08'). Of course after that long, you kinda get used to the guilt. Im glad I retired out in 2019. The car biz is just sitting in a glass bubble all day, watching the wind blow. Boring. I still work for them as a vendor doing thier inventory pics for their website, and producing TV commercials for them. It was pretty cool to watch NFL this season, and seeing my own commercials on there. I work like 1 or 2 1/2 days a week. No stress.

Phytoplankton said:
I'm in the same boat, they'll dump my ashes in the river in front of the house. The property has been in the family for 70 years, and some of my fondest childhood memories of this house are duck hunting with my grandfather. Gramps paid $600 each for the two river front lots in 1953. One lot just sold down the road for 280K, and it's not even a deep water lot!
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Yeah man, if you're lucky enough to fall into that situation, just stay put. I can't imagine the stress of paying ~$1400 a month again, or whatever it was. I paid everything off in 2015.
 
DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
But.... what worries me a bit come renewal time in October, is that I won't be able to get enough coverage in case an F5 tornado comes through and levels everything to the slabs..... or that the premium is going to be stupid high. I watched a documentary (30min) on Hulu called "Disaster Uninsured". It was pretty interesting and scary at the same time. People living in a 5th wheel after thier shit got blow away in a hurricane, and fighting for almost 2 years with thier insurance company. One couple on that documentary are being forced to move from CA because thier premiums went to over $13,000 a year. And it's only a 2 bed/1 bath home on a lot. Crazy.
 
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Phytoplankton

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
But.... what worries me a bit come renewal time in October, is that I won't be able to get enough coverage in case an F5 tornado comes through and levels everything to the slabs..... or that the premium is going to be stupid high. I watched a documentary (30min) on Hulu called "Disaster Uninsured". It was pretty interesting and scary at the same time. People living in a 5th wheel after thier shit got blow away in a hurricane, and fighting for almost 2 years with thier insurance company. One couple on that documentary are being forced to move from CA because thier premiums went to over $13,000 a year. And it's only a 2 bed/1 bath home on a lot. Crazy.
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I crunched the numbers on the flood insurance, and I could have rebuilt the house from the slab up for what 15 years of premiums would have cost me. Since the house was built in 1955 it’s flooded three times, only once was there ever water in the garage, the living quarters are on the second floor, the garage is 6 feet below sea level! Bottom line with my property, the property will still be there. It’s just the house, which cost. 5k to build in the 1950’s.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
Phytoplankton said:
I crunched the numbers on the flood insurance, and I could have rebuilt the house from the slab up for what 15 years of premiums would have cost me. Since the house was built in 1955 it’s flooded three times, only once was there ever water in the garage, the living quarters are on the second floor, the garage is 6 feet below sea level! Bottom line with my property, the property will still be there. It’s just the house, which cost. 5k to build in the 1950’s.
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Louisiana?
 
DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
Here's the bad thing about what's going on right now. People who do have mortgages have to have insurance by law. A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck, and when they see a $200-$600 increase in thier monthly payments to cover escrow, or fall out of qualification with an insurance carrier, what happens then? I got a feeling there's going to be a lot of foreclosures in the near future..... BlackRock is prob rolling thier hands together right about now.
 
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Phytoplankton

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
Here's the bad thing about what's going on right now. People who do have mortgages have to have insurance by law. A lot of people live paycheck to paycheck, and when they see a $200-$600 increase in thier monthly payments to cover escrow, or fall out of qualification with an insurance carrier, what happens then? I got a feeling there's going to be a lot of foreclosures in the near future..... BlackRock is prob rolling thier hands together right about now.
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Several home sales in my area have fallen through due the the high cost of insurance, required by the bank because of the loans. They only way around it is an all cash offer or “alternate” financing.
 
DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
Phytoplankton said:
Several home sales in my area have fallen through due the the high cost of insurance, required by the bank because of the loans. They only way around it is an all cash offer or “alternate” financing.
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This is why I say there's going to be a ton of repo's/foreclosures. The previous housing crash was due to over lending to sub-prime customers. This time around, its going to be a forced payment increase to perfectly qualified customers who just can't afford it. There's got to be some sort of legislation that's going to have to step in and change things.... and they prob won't do it anytime soon. Or maybe they just want it to happen?
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
DoubleAtotheRON said:
This is why I say there's going to be a ton of repo's/foreclosures. The previous housing crash was due to over lending to sub-prime customers. This time around, its going to be a forced payment increase to perfectly qualified customers who just can't afford it. There's got to be some sort of legislation that's going to have to step in and change things.... and they prob won't do it anytime soon. Or maybe they just want it to happen?
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only way for that to happen is to oust Republicans at the polls. They’re in with the kids putting hotels on Park Place.

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DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
Admittedly, Im not near as educated in politics as most of you on here. Im more versed in finance. So, why is this happening now?... and Im in the middle here. Neither far left or right.
 
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Phytoplankton

Well-Known Member
DoubleAtotheRON said:
This is why I say there's going to be a ton of repo's/foreclosures. The previous housing crash was due to over lending to sub-prime customers. This time around, its going to be a forced payment increase to perfectly qualified customers who just can't afford it. There's got to be some sort of legislation that's going to have to step in and change things.... and they prob won't do it anytime soon. Or maybe they just want it to happen?
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I think it will end up being like Ca. “assigned risk” car insurance (usually reserved for drunk/really bad drivers, who can’t get insurance). You’ll get it, but it’ll cost you! Either that or the individual states will become the insurance company, still far from optimal.
 
cannabineer

cannabineer

Ursus marijanus
DoubleAtotheRON said:
Im not totally sure how far up the political chain Insurance Companies run, but didn't all of this happen (Fed rate hikes, insurance rate hikes) during this current Democratic administration?
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Fed rate hikes have been a long time coming due to Republican slash& burn economics.
Insurance rate hikes are multifactorial in nature. Two big causes are
1) actuarial changes brought on by the leading edge of climate
2) Republicans “having the backs” of insurance firms in Congress, blocking any challenges to the “small government” dishonesty that is assisting the billionaires in cleaning up.

 
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