if you've claimed water damage on your homeowner's policy

[fuckyourcouch]

what was the aftermath?

after our basement flood bullshit last week, landscaper's insurance is saying his coverage is actual cash value only, not replacement cost. this is basically worthless because nothing in the basement was brand new, and depreciated cost isn't going to do shit to replace anything (i assume).  they said we could do the claim on our insurance, which should cover replacement, and then his insurance would pay our insurance the ACV portion of the cost, as well as pay for our deductible.  i also assume our insurance would go after him and the builder legally as they already mentioned it the first time we called.
this was also our realtor's advice.

HOWEVER. everything i read online says never make a water damage claim on your house because even if it's not your fault your rates will increase big time, and it's a huge red flag that can make your house uninsurable (and therefore unsellable later) due to concerns over mold, etc.
if capital gains tax under 2 years in a house was not a thing, i would sell and move tomorrow because i am so tired of this builder and their bullshit throughout everything, and i don't want to be stuck here in another year when that 2 years is up because of their negligence.
when i was in middle school, our house flooded in a tropical storm and it definitely sold later, but there was also no claim because insurance wouldn't cover it. and that was a long time ago so i have no idea if things have changed since then.

so. if you have made a similar claim or bought a house with a claim or anything like that, wtf happened later?
i don't want jacked up rates, i don't want to get stuck with an uninsurable house, or anything else, but i need more than depreciated value to replace my ruined shit, and some of it was antique wood furniture we borrowed from my parents that needs repaired, not replaced.

help

[whitemerlot]

Even if you don't make a claim on your insurance, you have to disclose any known issues or flooding.

I made a large claim on my house due to hail damage to the tune of 17k and my rates have not gone up in 2 years. I know that's different though. My understanding with the hail damage was that whether we made a claim or not, the rate would or wouldn't go up based on the number on claims in the area. That may be wrong though.

ETA
niq just did a water damage claim.

[scottyderp]

First went okay.  Basically, dehumidifiers came and clean-up occurred, then flooring was replaced.

We had two instances of flooding that was not our fault and the second one was not covered.  We were actually dropped and had to find new insurance. 

[scottyderp]

If it's any consolation, we sold that house in a few months with no issue.

[fuckyourcouch]

Sept 10, 2015 19:16:17 GMT -5 whitemerlot said:

Even if you don't make a claim on your insurance, you have to disclose any known issues or flooding.

I made a large claim on my house due to hail damage to the tune of 17k and my rates have not gone up in 2 years. I know that's different though. My understanding with the hail damage was that whether we made a claim or not, the rate would or wouldn't go up based on the number on claims in the area. That may be wrong though.

ETA
niq just did a water damage claim.

I do know we would have to disclose it, which sucks, but I don't think that would have the same effect of what I'm reading. Google tells me that a claim ends up putting you in a database that any insurer can pull a report from, and then can deny coverage because the water damage is a red flag.

It's not like it is a severe claim, maybe 5k in replacement and damage, only insulation on the walls which the builder is replacing, etc. But I'm not going to eat that cost and this entire thing is insanity to be.

[bugandbibs]

We had a leaking fridge water line that cost a huge amount of damage and kept us out of our home (in a hotel for over 2 months). My insurance did not go up. We sold our home a few years later in less than a month (listing to close).

So, it doesn't have to be a big deal. Ours wasn't an ongoing water issue though. Just a one time freak thing.

[fuckyourcouch]

Sept 10, 2015 19:41:11 GMT -5 bugandbibs said:

We had a leaking fridge water line that cost a huge amount of damage and kept us out of our home (in a hotel for over 2 months). My insurance did not go up. We sold our home a few years later in less than a month (listing to close).

So, it doesn't have to be a big deal. Ours wasn't an ongoing water issue though. Just a one time freak thing.

Yeah, this was supposedly a freak "perfect storm" situation.

Thanks for the anecdote.

[madringal]

Our waterline from the fridge leaked and caused about 12k in damage. Our insurance did go up, but just by like $100/yr. No idea if it was caused by our claim, but even if it was - it will take a long time to outweigh the benefits of having made the claim.

My sister is in the middle of a giant water damage claim that resulted in having to gut her kitchen. Again, even if her insurance doubles, it will take decades to outweigh the financial benefit of the claim.