The Insurance Saga Continues - Sort of

As my regular readers know, we recently had some issues with our insurance company.  They threatened to drop us if we didn't get our roof replaced.  When we couldn't get it done by their deadline (which was unreasonable mind you), they did in fact drop us.  I submitted proof of the replacement on the same day they sent us a refund check which meant I then had to send them payment for the rest of our policy year in order to get reinstated.  I'd even gotten a notice saying that our policy was reinstated a couple weeks ago. 

To my horror, when I got the mail today there was a refund check from the insurance company.  My first thought, "Oh no!  They dropped us for good this time."  As soon as I got inside, I called the insurance company and found out that not only had I paid for my insurance policy, so had my mortgage company so the refund was valid.

But.... that meant that my escrow is probably low, so rather than wait for the bank to call me, I gave them a quick call to see how quickly I needed to deposit the check and then send them their payment.  Much to my surprise, I was informed that only a portion of the amount of the refund check needs to be sent to the mortgage company to cover the shortage. It turned out to be only 16.5% of the check in fact.

This particular snafu, meant that rather than my insurance company refunding me the overage in my escrow come March, I got it today.  Wahoo!  Oh, and I also found out my mortgage payment will be going down soon (although only slightly), because our new insurance premium is going down as a result of the new roof.

Sometimes the thing in the mail that you think is scary isn't.  Sometimes it's God helping you out when you need it. 

Overdue Updates

A Thing of Beauty

I've been asked about our roof a few times, so let me start off by saying that our homeowners insurance company is no longer breathing down our neck.    Yay!  The metal was installed over a 2 week period (only half of the metal was ordered at first - oops!) and installation was completed about 2 weeks ago.  The same day I submitted the paperwork letting them know it had been completed, they mailed us a refund check - ugh.  Rather than pay them the exact amount of the refund, I was told to wait till we knew what the new rate would be (new roof = discount).  I got that figure earlier this week and paid the insurance company yesterday so we are now good to go.

Front of business card

Back of business card

I also mentioned in an earlier post that I was changing real estate companies.  It's now official (I got my business cards and name tag yesterday), so I am happy to share that I am now working for Sarasota Bay Real Estate!  I also have my own website (KarrieMeHome.com) where you can search for homes in Sarasota, Manatee, and Charlotte Counties of Florida.  One of the really awesome things about this site is that you can set up your own search so that it emails you every time a new home becomes available (and I can see what you've been looking at in case you want to give me a call about a specific house you've seen).  If you want to make an adjustment for some reason, you can do that as well.  This is a wonderful feature I didn't have with my last employer.  Oh, and I can now list homes for sale too!  It's so nice not being restricted by the team I was on before.  And if you are curious... I love my new company!  The people there are wonderful.

Hubby's had some interesting goings-on at work lately too.  A few weeks back he was asked to come in to the weekly management meeting (he's not management).  We thought he was going to get in trouble, but he didn't.  The issue really stemmed from the day guy complaining about hubby fixing things (uh, that's his job) without talking to the day guy first (you want a phone call at 2AM or don't you want the paper to print before you get in at 6AM?).  Upper management gave hubby the okay to keep doing what he's been doing, so we were able to breath a sigh of relief.  In fact the only way the meeting could have gone any better for my hubby was for them to have offered him a raise (from what we understand no one has gotten a raise in 3+ years).  So how surprised were we when last week hubby was called in to work during the day to help the day guy try to fix something he couldn't figure out.  Day guy is almost eligible to retire and claims he knows how to fix everything there.  Guess not.  And how proud was I when they called hubby in because they trusted that he could do it?

As for the kiddos, my son has officially started with his FLL (First Lego League) robotics team.  They have their pre-qualifiying tournament on Nov 22 so they are meeting twice a week for at least 2 hours each day trying to get ready.  Fun times for Mommy and Daddy.

This year my daughter is signed up to participate in a mini-horse class.  She meets every other week for 3 hours each time and is learning how to care for a horse as well as how to train it to jump (and maybe pull a small cart later in the year).  She's having a blast.

My daughter walking "her" mini-horse Headliner

Brushing Headliner

We've also gone on a few field trips already this year to a science museum, aquarium, and zoo.

Making a stop animation film

"They are really soft."

So cute

Needless to say, my family is very busy these days.  Especially considering in a couple days we have grandparents coming into town for a week.  We have some fun stuff planned with them, so I'm sure I will have more pictures to share after that.

The Clock is Ticking

A little over a month ago we were told by our homeowners insurance company that we needed to replace our roof or they were going to drop our insurance.  Finding insurance in Florida is hard enough as it is.  Add to that that our house was built in 1970 and it's even harder.

A week ago, we received the money from the home equity line we applied for.  We also got the permit to do the roof work ourself.  With the help of some wonderful friends and family we were able to get the old shingles and tar paper off in 2 days.  It was tough work, but from what I've been told it'll be the hardest part of the process.

Unfortunately, since then it's been raining every day so we haven't even been able to get our first inspection completed (there are 3 different inspections we need to pass).  Not only am I watching our deadline quickly approach, but we are constantly checking and adjusting the tarps to make sure they are covering the roof so we don't get any leaks.

With just over 3 weeks left till our deadline, I pray the rain stops long enough for us to get the roof done soon.

The Joy of Homeownership

Have you ever heard a story of something that happened to someone and say to yourself, "What?  I've never heard of such a thing."?  I have, but I didn't think it would ever happen to ME.

A couple weeks ago we were contacted by our homeowners insurance company.  They stated that they needed to send someone out to do a 4.1 inspection on our house.  This inspection is pretty common in Florida and is required for all homes over a certain age when you first get your policy.  For those not aware, this inspection looks at the main (aka. expensive) components of the house: the air conditioner / heater, plumbing, electrical, and the roof. 

Although our house was originally built in 1970, there were many updates to the house before we moved in.  We knew the electrical and plumbing had been updated in the 90's and the roof was updated around the same time.  We knew the roof was getting old but were told when we bought the house a couple years ago that we had maybe 5 years left.  So our big concern was the air conditioner.  Hubby has fixed it to help limp it along for a while and we were worried the inspector would say it's too old.  When he didn't even look at the air handler (the thing hubby fixed), I thought we were in the clear. 

Unfortunately, that was not the case.  The middle of last week we were informed that if we don't repair 3 things, our insurance will be dropped.  The first thing mentioned was that we needed to power wash the outside of the house.  Say WHAT?!?!?  Yep, they will cancel our policy if we don't power wash our house.  And yes, every time I think about that my mouth drops. 

The second thing is that we have 2 very large trees in front of our house and some of the larger branches reach over the house.  That one's legit.  In fact, we started work on it last fall but haven't finished.  So now we have the incentive to finish sooner rather than later I suppose. 

The third and final thing is that we have to replace the shingles on our roof.  Like I said before, we knew it was coming.  We just thought we had a few more years.  So when I was informed last week that we had till Aug 2 to get everything done, my heart skipped a beat (or three).  You see, with hubby being without work for a while, we had to dig into our savings and we haven't been able to replenish it back to the point where we could redo the roof and still have money left in savings.  That means we have to get a home equity loan of some sort.  Those take time.  I've been told it could take up to a month to get approval.  Umm... that takes us beyond Aug 2 right there!  So I explained to the lovely people at the insurance company that there is no way we can get it done that quickly.  They were SO generous (insert sarcasm here) and extended the repair date to Sept 9.

Needless to say, I've been on the phone a lot the last few days.  Scheduling contractors for bids.  Contacting the county to see about whether we want to do it ourselves.  Contacting the bank to get the home equity stuff rolling. 

Contractors start coming today, so hopefully we will know how much it will cost soon.  First thing on the list is working on the branches (that way if they damage the roof, at least it wasn't the NEW roof).  We can do this ourselves while we wait for the home equity approval too.  Then we deal with the roof.  And after all the roof work is done, we can power wash the house (I'm sure the roofing will add some dirt and grime so might as well clean that off at the end).

Now I'm off to have a little lunch before the first contractor of the day shows up.  Wish us luck!