I’m not talking about what the government says the cost of living index or increase is. I’m not talking about politics and which party or which president is or is not responsible. I’m talking about the predicament we’re all finding ourselves in. I’m turning off comments because no matter what I say, someone will find this political and I promise you . . it is not. In my opinion, both big parties are pretty much worthless and this is based completely on these yahoos who get elected who are middle class folks and after a few years, they’re millionaires or more and most of their constituents are still in the same spot they were in years ago and in the same spot they will be in years from now.
So . . we got our homeowner’s insurance bill this morning. It jumped 60%. My house didn’t get larger. My house hasn’t gone up a tremendous amount in the past two years. There was a huge increase in value . . before we bought it. In fact, house sales for anything over about $200K have about come to a standstill. A few months ago, the house behind us would have sold within days and about three weeks after it hit the market . . no contract. We’re seeing more and more houses over $400K on the market. In this area, much over $350K and they’re way expensive for most buyers.
We bought insurance on this house in 2020. It was about the same in 2021. In 2022, it went up about 20%. Today’s jump was 60%. That means in about three years, our insurance costs have gone up 80%. How do people handle this who are living paycheck to paycheck and barely affording their house note? If our insurance was added to a house note, we would be paying $350 for insurance, which with today’s increase, would be $135 per month more than they had been paying and, while I’m not complaining about property taxes . . they’re relatively low here, we would be paying $216 per month in property taxes. That’s $566 per month we’re paying in something that, in my opinion, has nothing to do with the actual house cost.
There’s nothing we can do about it. When the electric bill goes up, we can raise the thermostat, cook less to keep from heating the house, take shorter showers to cut back on hot water use. When gas goes up, we stay home. When food costs go up, we find ways to stretch the food budget.
When the property taxes and insurance costs go up, other than canceling the insurance . . there’s nothing we can do.
I don’t have answers. I don’t have suggestions. I’m just venting. It’s frustrating. I keep thinking . . how much will it go up next year?
I did call two other insurance companies. We will change . . probably to State Farm. USAA was a good bit less on the cars but close on the house but they have about a $20K deductible on wind/hail damage and if I had to guess . . IF we have damage, it’s going to be wind/hail. State Farm was a little more on the cars, a lot less on the house and a good bit less on the excess liability policy. They still have a lower deductible for wind/hail. They said MO did have a big increase this year and they’re hearing there may be another one next year.