So, I'm back on the insurance issue again. Days after telling the agent I wanted to get insurance, they finally got back to me telling me they can't help me because I don't know the age of the roof and other systems! I gave them a second chance after having bad experience with them once before, but they've totally screwed me. I've contacted Nationwide now, and at the very least they'll be able to hook me with the FAIR plan.
The agent I spoke to seems to be confident that I'll be able to get a nationwide plan though, which means less money out of my pocket. I just wish the agent had said something sooner. I'm pretty sure that I even said something about the other insurers to State Farm, but oh well, screw them!
Update: After looking back, it took the State Farm agent 4 working days to even get back to me when I first requested we write the policy. I know for a fact that the age of the house was discussed, but also pretty sure that it was stated up front that I had no idea how old the major systems in the house are.
Needless to say, I wrote a scathing review of the agent on their google places page; quoted below:
I was severely disappointed with the service I got from this agent. I am purchasing a new house and this was the only insurer that I contacted that knew the age of the house and gave me a quote knowing I didn't have any information on the age of the systems within it. After agreeing to the quote I was told (after hearing nothing for 4 days) that they needed to know the age of the internal systems, and without that information they wouldn't be able to write me a policy. It blows me away that they knowingly wrote me a quote for insurance that they knew they wouldn't be able to write.
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Order of Events
A few people have voiced their concern about the order in which things have been done in the process of buying this house. Specifically related to the home inspection and signing the contract. For the most part, they said I should have had the home inspected before I signed the contract to buy the house.
It makes sense that you don't want to commit to buying a house without knowing the house isn't in really bad shape and need a ton of repairs. It's good to know that you'll be buying a quality home.
The thing is, the contract itself stipulated that I had 10 days from the date it was signed that I could cancel it for any reason. That gave me the ability to lock in the home, keeping another from buying it before me, and the time I needed to get the home inspected, making sure that the house was something I actually wanted to buy.
I'm fairly sure this is a common thing, possibly even a state requirement, when buying a house. Everyone I've asked about it at least followed the same procedure as I did, putting in an offer, then having the home inspected after. With the 10 day window at the beginning of the contract to cancel for any reason, I felt confident in signing the contract before having the home professionally inspected.
Now, this is also the reason I was stressing so hard earlier. I only had a 10 day window to figure out everything. I had to know that there wouldn't be any major hurdles to buying the house, and if there were, I'd need to know right away. So I made sure I got all my paperwork into the lender right away, made sure I got the inspection done, made sure I could get insurance. Any one of those things going wrong could have meant I wouldn't be able to close on the house and if it happened after that 10 day window, bad things would happen.
At this point, I'm sure there's going to be more to stress over, there will be more things that pop up that I'll need to deal with. But right now, I've done everything I can do to make sure it all goes as smoothly as possible, and I'll have to deal with anything else as it comes along.
It makes sense that you don't want to commit to buying a house without knowing the house isn't in really bad shape and need a ton of repairs. It's good to know that you'll be buying a quality home.
The thing is, the contract itself stipulated that I had 10 days from the date it was signed that I could cancel it for any reason. That gave me the ability to lock in the home, keeping another from buying it before me, and the time I needed to get the home inspected, making sure that the house was something I actually wanted to buy.
I'm fairly sure this is a common thing, possibly even a state requirement, when buying a house. Everyone I've asked about it at least followed the same procedure as I did, putting in an offer, then having the home inspected after. With the 10 day window at the beginning of the contract to cancel for any reason, I felt confident in signing the contract before having the home professionally inspected.
Now, this is also the reason I was stressing so hard earlier. I only had a 10 day window to figure out everything. I had to know that there wouldn't be any major hurdles to buying the house, and if there were, I'd need to know right away. So I made sure I got all my paperwork into the lender right away, made sure I got the inspection done, made sure I could get insurance. Any one of those things going wrong could have meant I wouldn't be able to close on the house and if it happened after that 10 day window, bad things would happen.
At this point, I'm sure there's going to be more to stress over, there will be more things that pop up that I'll need to deal with. But right now, I've done everything I can do to make sure it all goes as smoothly as possible, and I'll have to deal with anything else as it comes along.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Homeowner's Insurance Update
Ok, so I just got off the phone with State Farm and they saved my bacon! They quoted me at just over $1,000 for a year which is about in line with what I was expecting. Of course, if I get an alarm system installed and move my car insurance to them, my rate would go down, but for the time being I have my quote, which was the last piece of the puzzle for the mortgage.
I was really fearing I would have to go into the Georgia FAIR Plan, because that didn't sound like it would be a good thing. The FAIR Plan is insurance for people who need insurance but can't get it for one reason or another. Basically, the highest risk group gets to pay twice as much for less coverage.
Obviously, if that was my only option, I'd have to go with it, but luckily I can avoid that, at least for now. I'm sure I'll have to see about updating some parts of the house in the next few years, but those are expenses I can prepare for ahead of time. As those updates are done, my premiums will hopefully go down too, saving me more money in the long run.
I was really fearing I would have to go into the Georgia FAIR Plan, because that didn't sound like it would be a good thing. The FAIR Plan is insurance for people who need insurance but can't get it for one reason or another. Basically, the highest risk group gets to pay twice as much for less coverage.
Obviously, if that was my only option, I'd have to go with it, but luckily I can avoid that, at least for now. I'm sure I'll have to see about updating some parts of the house in the next few years, but those are expenses I can prepare for ahead of time. As those updates are done, my premiums will hopefully go down too, saving me more money in the long run.
Homeowner's Insurance
So, I got an e-mail with a list of all the stuff that the lender wanted as part of the mortgage process. It didn't take me long to get it all together, it's been less than 24 hours and I have everything, except one. Quote for homeowner's insurance, and it's a dog.
The Road so far:
I contacted Progressive, I have my car insurance through them. They were unable to help me, because the age of the house, I needed to know how long ago the major systems (heating, roof, electrical) were replaced, and I don't know. They sent me to one affiliate, but they couldn't insure me because the value of the house didn't match the market rate or something like that.
I also tried contacting Allstate, but they won't quote me homeowner's insurance without also quoting me for auto. I decided to put that off, because I don't want them to possibly ding my credit by running it more than it needs to be.
My next call is to a State Farm agent. I've been somewhat reticent to call them because of a bad experience with them in the past, but if they're able to give me what I need, history won't be enough to stop me from using them.
The real problem is homeowner's insurance isn't something you can get a quick and easy quote on the internet and I have to talk to a real live person to get a good quote fast. And it's still a little early and a lot of the nearby offices aren't even open yet.
I'll continue calling around and will update you on any new developments as they occur.
The Road so far:
I contacted Progressive, I have my car insurance through them. They were unable to help me, because the age of the house, I needed to know how long ago the major systems (heating, roof, electrical) were replaced, and I don't know. They sent me to one affiliate, but they couldn't insure me because the value of the house didn't match the market rate or something like that.
I also tried contacting Allstate, but they won't quote me homeowner's insurance without also quoting me for auto. I decided to put that off, because I don't want them to possibly ding my credit by running it more than it needs to be.
My next call is to a State Farm agent. I've been somewhat reticent to call them because of a bad experience with them in the past, but if they're able to give me what I need, history won't be enough to stop me from using them.
The real problem is homeowner's insurance isn't something you can get a quick and easy quote on the internet and I have to talk to a real live person to get a good quote fast. And it's still a little early and a lot of the nearby offices aren't even open yet.
I'll continue calling around and will update you on any new developments as they occur.
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