Lesson 1: Homeowners' Insurance is a Racket.

Today we learned a basic lesson of home ownership: Homeowners' Insurance is a Racket.

We were contacted last Thursday by our insurance agent, Tina.  Apparently the photos taken by our Homeowners' Insurance company right after our closing revealed some issues with the condition of our plumbing... see text:

There is damage or unprofessional repairs to the vanity and plumbing under the kitchen sink, a bathroom sink and the area below the washer/dryer hook up.  Underwriting will need the evidence of repairs to continue the coverage.  Please contact the insured and forward the evidence to underwriting within 10 business days for review.

The bottom line is that if we don't fix these issues within the 10 day period, we will get dropped from our coverage.  DROPPED?!?   You, too, will be annoyed/horrified by that possibility when you see how silly these issues are...

The photos  provided by the insurance company:

Jack & Jill Bathroom:

Old (now removed) Kitchen Sink and Plumbing:

Master Bathroom Sink:

Garage/Laundry Hookups:

Okay, first of all... I believe that having a blog is all about honesty and showing things for what they are -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Well these count as the Ugly!  Okay, so the Kitchen sink setup was non-functional, and the photo of the Jack & Jill bath makes it look like there are no water valves going to the sink -- it's just that they're on the side now after the re-plumbing job and their photo doesn't show the new valves.  In the garage, apparently the issue was the lack of drywall over the job... I fail to see how that impacts the plumbing quality.  The Master Bathroom sink's issue is the foam insulation.  Now, I'm about as prissy as they come, but the plumbing is functional and totally sealed up, so who cares about the foam?  It's under the cabinet and you can't even see it.  Bottom line, this foreclosure special was a handyman's project investment home for many years.  There may or may not be permits for this stuff, but the home inspector (who was highly recommended as the best in the region) said it was all in great condition, so I put my feelings on permitting aside.

Upon discussion of these situations with our insurance agent, apparently the real issue is the "professionalism" of the work/repairs.  Seriously.  Kitchen sink is a no-brainer, since we had the entire system replaced two weeks ago.  The laundry area is a no-brainer, too, since it just needs drywall.  The Jack & Jill bath just needs caps over the old valve spots and a new photo showing that there are valves attached, no problem!  But we still couldn't figure out what the heck to do to fix the Master Bathroom, so I asked Tina how she suggested we fix the foam issue.  Of course she said we need to dig it all out and replace it with fresh drywall.  In fact, she told us that there could be no foam showing whatsoever under any bathroom sink.  For a house built in '68 and replumbed within the past 10 years, that's a slightly unreasonable request in my opinion.

Anyway, we paid our contractor $270 to do all of these little projects.  It was a requirement for these items to be "professionally repaired" and provide an invoice showing the work, as well as new pictures showing the new condition.  UGH.  Racket!  All over foam and drywall, which has basically nothing to do with the condition of the home's plumbing!

So here are the after shots that we'll be sending to the insurance company:

Jack & Jill Bathroom:

Master Bathroom:

New Kitchen 1:

New Kitchen 2:

Garage/Laundry Area:

So, that's it.  We paid the money, we got some drywall, and we saved our insurance coverage... for now.