Coming Home after the Camp Fire

Janderso

Jeff Anderson
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Mar 26, 2018
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My motivation for this follow up thread is a status report for those who have asked, and a lesson to consider from an insurance perspective.
Over 27,000 residents were homeless after the November 8th, 2018 Camp Fire. The most destructive in the states history.

It''s been hard for a lot of people, the town is being cleaned up right now with housing starts popping up here and there. Over 9,500 properties have been cleaned already. Our property was cleaned last week.

My wife and I are settled into our new home in Chico. Life is good as we are moving on.
We were fortunate, our insurance company, Horace Mann, just wrote big checks.
This is a great opportunity to look at your home owners policy.
If your home and shop burned to the ground, is there enough Dwelling A coverage to rebuild with today's new construction requirements?
Is there enough dwelling B coverage to replace the outbuildings, fencing, landscaping etc?
Is there enough Content coverage to REPLACE everything in your home, shop, safe etc?
Do you have adequate contingency coverage for the time you are living in a hotel or apartment while the home is being rebuilt?
Please consider these questions carefully.

In our case, due to the elevated cost of home values we paid a premium. We did not have enough coverage to build a home in Chico and we weren't willing to wait years to have our new house built on the property. We own the Paradise property, we own the Chico home. We have furnished our new home, I have a great start to my shop tool inventory and machine tools.
We had to use some of our content money to furnish our home and shop so we came very close.

We are very happy in a home we never would have considered.
I didn't want a pool, we have a pool and I love it. The grand kids like it too. We are in a great neighborhood with side walks and we are close to downtown.
My wife does not have a garage to park her car in, she gave me all that space for the shop.
I am retiring in a few years, I think we will stay right here and watch the trees grow.

Life does goes on,
Thanks for listening.
Jeff
 
Thanks for sharing Jeff, glad to see how this worked out for you and your wife.
 
That's a hard one to go through. I am amazed at how quickly you have been able to set up your new shop. It's still going to be awhile before the town starts coming back. You have handled it better than most of us would have. The sad part are the ones who didn't have insurance.
 
Nut farmer,
I agree, we are very fortunate. Their are still pockets of people living in the car they drove throug fire to escape.
There are those still living in rented garages or sheds. Some with insurance are still in hotels and motels.
Insurance companies are still struggling to find decent housing for their insured.
The financial crisis of those who had insurance and held a significant mortgage while living in an apartment or rented home is significant.
It may take years to find a builder to take on your project and when you find one, a three bedroom two bath simple home is over $300 a foot. You have to pay off the mortgage, build a home with all new building codes and fees and replace furnishings.
The math just doesn’t work.
Yep, we are the fortunate ones. Many of our neighbors and friends are having one of the new development homes built. They are on 1/10th acre, most lots in Paradise are an acre or more.
 
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