Two months ago my neighbor backed her car into my house. My home, which was built in 1981, has a type of siding that isn't manufactured anymore. The insurance company wants to replace the damaged siding with the closest thing they can find and call it good. I will admit that the siding they propose is a close match, but I don't believe they are making a genuine attempt to correct the problem. I am honestly not looking to take advantage of the company, but my home siding matched before their insured driver backed into it and now it doesn't. What can I do?
The question is what, exactly, you expect the insurer to do? Go into the business of manufacturing a discontinued siding, perhaps? Even if it could or would, the siding still wouldn't match, you know. It would be new, whereas your siding is 21 years old.
Perhaps you're hoping the insurer will replace all your siding. That's not much more realistic than hoping it'll go into the manufacturing business. You can always ask, but it's probably not worth pushing the issue.
Your best course is to accept the repair and get on with your life.
I'm looking for unbiased information about refinancing my mortgage debt. I'm getting lots of unsolicited refinancing offers in the mail, but my concern is that I've been unemployed since March and I'm not sure the offers I'm getting reflect the interest rate I'd really pay. My wife and I owe $121,000 on our first mortgage, $51,000 on our second and $31,000 for a vacation condo. We'd like to get one loan to refinance all three debts. My wife makes $40,000 as a nurse, and I get a $12,000 pension from the military in addition to $17,000 in unemployment benefits. Our house is worth $189,000 to $200,000.
Your income probably is adequate for a $203,000 loan. The problem is that you want to borrow more than your house probably is worth. Although some lenders do make these loans, you typically pay through the nose for them.
Even if your house is appraised for more than the loan, part of the money is going to pay for another property, which would make most lenders view this as a "cash-out" refinancing, said mortgage broker Allen Bond, president of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers' southern Los Angeles County chapter. Cash-out refinancings tend to have higher rates and more restrictions on how much you can borrow.
If you did get a $203,000 loan, you wouldn't be able to deduct interest on the amount that exceeds the value of your house.
A mortgage broker could give you some idea of your options, as well as what your payments might be in various scenarios. (The mortgage brokers association in your state can offer referrals.) You would need to compare those with what you're paying now and factor in closing costs and other expenses of refinancing. Unless your current rates are awfully high, it probably doesn't make much sense to try to include all three debts in one refinancing. In general, you get the best deals in mortgages if you keep at least 10 percent equity in the property. In other words, you should try not to borrow more than 90 percent of the value of your home.
Liz Pulliam Weston is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.