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03-25-16, 01:04 PM
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#111 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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Big Rant - Ran into a major road-block
After months of planning & ensuring everything is good with the city in terms of developing 2 extra bedrooms downstairs to double my rental income, I find out that Canadian residential home insurance companies absolutely refuse to insure more than 2 rented rooms under a regular homeowner policy. My home insurance is $1,354 annually & only $75 of that is the cost of having $5M in liability coverage for the 2 renters. However when someone has 4 rented rooms they need to get 'commercial insurance' as it becomes a rooming house.
Multiple insurance companies that I've checked over the weeks refuse to give a quote for this type of insurance until I'm 'ready to rent out 4 rooms'; I'm getting the impression they just don't want the hassle of dealing with underwriting unless it's completely necessary. However, one broker gave me a ballpark figure that the premium would be about $8K a year & the coverage would be less (no replacement cost, less perils covered, etc)! Talk about a ripoff. You can't tell me that having 4 grown adults living in my house is an exponentially higher risk than, say, if I was a single dad with 4 teenaged kids living in the house. The only difference is that my housemates are not family & I collect money in exchange for living with them. To put it into perspective, that's $80,000 in insurance premiums over 10 years (that I'll never get back). Who even knows if insurance would even pay if I had a loss? Insurance companies won't tell you their adjudication practices & qualifications for specific types of claims because it's 'proprietary information'. I even know of one immediate family member still trying to collect on a significant property loss that they were 'covered for' but even after 2 years, he's still dealing with rejections due to 'fine print'. I attempted to think 'outside the box' too. I asked if I had 2 housemates rent 1 room (I can easily make a receipt show that each housemate rents 1/2 a bedroom, and where they choose to sleep is up to them really). Nope, there's a limit of 2 'families' that I can rent out to. Meaning unless I rent 1 room to 2 siblings, or a legally married couple, I'm out of luck. I even asked if I could have 2 insurance company insure the house - one for the main floor, while another separate company covered the basement only. Nope, that doesn't work either. However, I did confirm with my current insurer that I would still be covered if I "had a non-family member visit me, and was sleeping in one of the basement rooms at the time of a loss". So I'll see what I can do with that. I guess I could just keep the 2 rented rooms at $1,200/month. It isn't $2,400 - but it's still pretty decent. Still, $2,400/month would be an extra $144,000 over 10 years. There's always an option of making a pet sitting business too  . Cat owners would probably be thrilled for their felines to have a 150 square foot bedroom all to themselves.February 2016 housing costs: Natural Gas - $126.54 Electricity - $86.97 Water - $97.31 Other expenses: Telephone - $41.07 Wifi - $60.45 Netflix - 8.99 Insurance - $112.83 Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $310.17 Mortgage P+I - $717.31 Total February '16 Housing Costs: $1,571.27 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $371.27 Last edited by Peakster; 07-26-16 at 12:17 AM.. Reason: Added YouTube video Link |
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| The Following User Says Thank You to Peakster For This Useful Post: | JimiQ (03-29-16) |
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04-29-16, 11:03 PM
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#112 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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March 2016 housing costs:
Natural Gas - $115.08 Electricity - $35.60 Water - $89.32 Other expenses: Telephone - $44.10 Wifi - $30.63 (downgraded from Platnum to Gold) Netflix - 8.99 Insurance - $112.83 Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $310.17 Mortgage P+I - $717.31 Total March '16 Housing Costs: $1,473.66 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $273.66 Pretty uneventful month. Didn't do any extra work to the place (busy at my 9-5 job) but I investigated as to what other homeowners that rent out rooms do for insurance & I have a few leads now. We'll see what happens  |
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05-25-16, 10:21 PM
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#113 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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big improvement from last year
April 2016 housing costs:
Natural Gas - $80.70 Electricity - $96.57 (an estimated reading - consumption was considerably less) Water - $125.16 Other expenses: Telephone - $41.34 Wifi - $49.45 (yup, this is how much 5.0 mbps costs monthly in Saskatchewan) Netflix - 8.99 Insurance - $112.83 Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $310.17 Mortgage P+I - $717.31 Total April '16 Housing Costs: $1,552.15 (compared to $1,932.69 last year) Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $352.15 Another lethargic month. Still haven't done much with the basement or investigated further with insurance for 3+ housemates. Time to make progress with the basement development. |
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06-26-16, 12:39 AM
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#114 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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Home insurance situation is finally resolved!
Finally. The whole home insurance/renting out to roommates situation is solved:
May 2016 housing costs: Natural Gas - $53.51 Electricity - $91.92 Water - $128.75 Other expenses: Telephone - $47.71 Wifi - $49.45 Netflix - 8.99 Insurance - $112.83 - last month of a former insurance Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $310.17 Mortgage P+I - $717.31 Total May '16 Housing Costs: $1,530.27 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $330.27 Time to get the motivation to do the basement as planned!  Last edited by Peakster; 07-21-16 at 01:42 PM.. |
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| The Following User Says Thank You to Peakster For This Useful Post: | jeff5may (09-28-16) |
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07-21-16, 01:42 PM
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#115 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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June 2016 housing costs:
Natural Gas - $34.89 Electricity - $44.03 Water - $111.45 Other expenses: Telephone - $86.28 (caved in and got a new phone with a data plan) Wifi - $49.45 Netflix - 8.99 Insurance - $87.75 (new insurance carrier) Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $316.56 Mortgage P+I - $696.19 (cancelled mortgage disability insurance) Total June '16 Housing Costs: $1,445.22 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $245.22 Costs are coming down in some expense areas - starting to look good. I'm currently insulating the basement bedrooms & hope to have them rentable by the end of the year |
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| The Following User Says Thank You to Peakster For This Useful Post: | JimiQ (07-22-16) |
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08-23-16, 02:16 AM
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#116 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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July 2016 housing costs:
Natural Gas - $32.73 Electricity - $81.96 Water - $111.02 Other expenses: Telephone - $83.62 Wifi - $49.45 Netflix - 8.99 Insurance - $87.75 (new insurance carrier) Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $316.56 Mortgage P+I - $696.19 (cancelled mortgage disability insurance) Total July '16 Housing Costs: $1,477.90 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $277.90 Keeping up with the cleaning of a 1,700 square foot house is proving to be a challenge. I can do vacuuming and minor stuff like that, but starting next month I hired cleaners to do the heavy stuff (cleaning bathroom grout, washing cabinets, etc.). That will be an extra $125 a visit, so we'll see if it's worth it. At the insulating stage for the bedrooms downstairs, so they're still not rented out yet. |
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09-28-16, 12:23 AM
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#117 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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August 2016 housing costs:
Natural Gas - $33.45 Electricity - $80.12 Water - $125.11 Other expenses: Telephone - $81.11 Wifi - $49.45 Netflix - 8.99 One-time Deep Cleaning Fee - $480.00 Insurance - $87.75 Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $316.56 Mortgage P+I - $696.19 Total August '16 Housing Costs: $1,968.36 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $768.36 The new house cleaners are AMAZING. They spent 8 hours for the initial clean - they washed walls, cabinets, bathroom grout, etc. It was pricey, but worth it after living here for a year. Going forward will be the basic monthly cleaning. Basement is coming along nicely - but I took down existing basement drywall and there's some more diagonal cracking that will need bracing. |
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10-20-16, 08:41 PM
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#118 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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September 2016 housing costs:
Natural Gas - $50.63 Electricity - $74.64 Water - $83.16 Other expenses: Telephone - $99.30 Wifi - $49.45 Netflix - 8.99 Monthly Cleaning Fee - $167.46 (includes one time cleaning product purchase) Insurance - $87.75 Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $316.56 Mortgage P+I - $696.19 Total September '16 Housing Costs: $1,643.76 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $443.76 Pretty standard month. Bracing is complete & new skylights are installed. Slowly developing the basement still & I expect 2 more rooms to be ready to rent by January 2017. |
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| The Following User Says Thank You to Peakster For This Useful Post: | Daox  (10-21-16) |
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11-22-16, 07:37 PM
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#119 |
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Apprentice EcoRenovator
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Regina Saskatchewan Canada
Posts: 146
Thanks: 0
Thanked 22 Times in 21 Posts
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October 2016 housing costs:
Natural Gas - $85.56 Electricity - $76.46 Water - $100.77 Other expenses: Telephone - $101.74 Wifi - $15.02 (called the provider and they put me on a 4 month promotion) Netflix - 9.99 (Netflix went up $1.00) Monthly Cleaning Fee - $125.00 Insurance - $87.75 Water Heater Rental - $9.63 Property Tax - $316.56 Mortgage P+I - $696.19 Total October '16 Housing Costs: $1,624.67 Rent collection from housemates: $1,200.00 Monthly Deficit: $424.67 Got a cheaper price on Wifi for the next few months. I also added a new housemate (they're taking the master bedroom) last weekend, so that will help a lot! Maybe even bring this place to a profit. Last edited by Peakster; 12-24-16 at 04:12 PM.. |
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| The Following User Says Thank You to Peakster For This Useful Post: | Daox (11-22-16) |
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11-22-16, 08:18 PM
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#120 |
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Super Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: SC
Posts: 2,923
Thanks: 172
Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts
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Wow, your water is expensive. It is more than Natural gas and electricity.
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