Posted by Dr. B. (OH) on September 01, 2011 at 12:20:16:
Ellen,
sorry for your family and friends’ losses. One good thing about the OHIO Retail Installment Sales Act (RISA) is that we contract-holders have to escrow taxes and insurance. Thus I know that home is insured at least while I’m involved with it.
Steve
Flooding from Irene - Posted by Ellen Brenn
Posted by Ellen Brenn on September 01, 2011 at 09:24:02:
My hometown in upstate New York is completely devastated. I
have been watching videos people are posting on YouTube as
well as monitoring pictures people have put on Facebook.
Many of you know me as a park owner in Alabama and know that
I have lived in Florida for many years. Most of my family,
however, reside in or around the sleepy little town of
Prattsville, New York in the Catskill Mountains of New York.
My brother’s house and my uncle’s house are trashed, as is
the town. The horrific flood that they just endured took
mobile homes from the mobile home park out of the park and
downstream. Many of these people had lived in their homes
for years. In fact, since it is a very small town, I know
most of them personally.
I have doubts that most of these people had insurance to
cover this loss, even though the town was on a floodplain.
I know that my brother’s flood insurance policy cost him
over $1,200 yearly, and also know that my Uncle, over 80
years old, dropped his policy because it was “too
expensive”. I can pretty much bet that the people who lived
in the mobiles did not have flood insurance - if they have
any insurance at all. One of the mobiles burned, so at
least if that family has regular insurance they will get
money to start over!
How many of our tenants would be in the same predicament?
Living in a mobile home is the way many go because it is
affordable. If insurance is not affordable, they won’t buy
it. This particular park has been there as long as I can
remember; they never thought this would happen.