I normally don't flake out and change my mind once I *finally* make a decision, but this time is different. On Friday, I was supposed to call the realtor to make an offer on the house we like, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Something just didn't feel right. All day long a certain dollar amount kept swirling through my mind: It's the difference in insurance costs and taxes that we'd be paying - and it's pretty substantial. Manageable, but substantial. If I thought things were stabilizing in the insurance industry here in Southeast Louisiana, I'd move forward, but insurance companies are still looking for ways to minimize their risk and there's no telling what changed might be in store next year.
I may have mentioned this in a previous post: I have my insurance with a major insurance company. It covers my homeowners, including wind/hail damage (replacement cost). If we buy a new house, the same company will insure it, but it will drop the wind/hail coverage so we'll have to go through the state's insurance plan for wind/hail, and it would only be actual cost (depreciated) and quite expensive.
Plus the current law on the books state that an insurance company doing business in the state of Louisiana cannot drop a customer without a good reason if they've had their policy for 3+ years. A new house = a new policy. Never mind that we've been insured with them for 17 years. They could feasibly drop us within the first three years of owning the new house and then we'd have to go through the state insurance plan ($$$$) for all of our coverage.
Ultimately, the insurance represents too great an unknown variable for my comfort level so we're staying put. Perhaps in the next 3-5 years the insurance industry will stabilize (and hopefully the real estate industry won't skyrocket).
Meanwhile, my realtor put the For Sale sign up Friday. I was NOT expecting that. I thought he'd put it up Monday (today) when he came to take the interior pictures. I asked Dear Hubby to call and "break up" with our realtor, who handled the news fine. We took the sign down.
Home, Sweet Home.
7 comments:
"Something didn't feel right", "a certain dollar ammount"- Wonder where those "thoughts" came in- :-)
Could it be....GOD!! Way to listen elle, as well as use your talents to think far beyond what most people would probably do. Insurance is just that- To insure that IF something bad happens, THEN.... a lot of IF;THEN scenarios in the Bible!
Will keep prayong- you keep listening.. you family is very fortunate to have you "Watching" the nest!
Have a great week,
Bro in Christ,
John
Yes, John, I was pretty happy that I actually listened to my little voice/trusted my instincts, etc. I'm not very good at that. I tend to be very analytical and logical which makes it a challenge to trust my 'gut' (i.e. listen to God). Dear Hubby is much better at that. But apparently I'm growing!
Meantime, I've done a lot of small cosmetic things to my little house that's making it too cute to part with! :-)
You know, if it didn't feel right, then it wasn't right. I'm telling you, I have this feeling you should be adding on or something. Can you guys afford the extra payment of a small loan to do work on the house?
Go with your gut feel Elle and wish that things will progress well for you & your family.
Hey..belated Happy Mommy Day :D
seems that you are listening to the best Realtor ever!!!
I'm glad that you were listening to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. Sounds like you have great peace now. Some decisions are hard to make but in the end when you have peace you know you did the right thing.
Hi all, I'm pretty pleased that I actually "got the message" this time. Often I'm too busy thinking, analyzing, etc. that I forget to shut up and just be still..., you know what I mean?
tracey, I'm not sure whether we have room to build on - maybe I just lack vision. I also don't want to run into the pitfall of over-improving the property to the point that we're never able to re-coup any of the expenses. I do, however, think I might see whether it's possible to add a sun room of some sort to the back. To access the yard, you have to go through a door from our eat-in kitchen to our garage, then out the backdoor to the yard, so adding on a more formal room might be awkward, but a nice enclosed patio might give us more informal entertaining space.
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