Just got my homeowner's insurance rate for 2024-25 -- up 51 percent and never a claim. What fun -- and you get scum like Abbott and Paxton calling
the shots from Austin.

Has nothing to do with Abbott or Paxton. The value of your home has probably gone up 60%, mine has! The cost to rebuild or repair has skyrocketed. The cost of material and labor has skyrocketed because of all the people moving to Texas wanting a place to live! More people more destruction when bad weather strikes. All goes back to Biden and his socialist idiots throwing money at everything!

And not just from Texas, either. They want to cover all the disasters nationwide by upping everyone's rate. And yes, I've never had any claims either, but they don't care. I have yet to see an insurance agent who wasn't living better than I do. They want to keep their standard of living up at the expense of the premiums we all pay. I don't blame Abbott or Paxton for the increases, I blame the lobbyists employed by the insurance industry. I won't even get started on the auto insurance thievery.

Shop it before you pay the increase. We just changed carriers and the new annual cost is equal to what just the increase was on the policy we had before. Savings are enough to just buy more firearms if something happens and coverage was increased on contents and other structures.

This is so misinformed. Texas is one of the friendliest states for people on fixed incomes due to relatively low property taxes and zero state income tax. Not to mention access to world-class medical facilities.

You are free to shop your insurance on the open marketplace.

quote:

All goes back to Biden and his socialist idiots throwing money at everything!

You were making perfect sense right up until that quote.

Sorry for the rant. Just getting old and tired.

Same thing happened to me, here in Florida. My homeowner insurance went up $900 for the coming year. I've been with USAA for over 53 years and never had a homeowner claim, and very few auto claims--none that were very expensive, at that.

I called USAA and asked why my rates went up. Answer was simple: The value of my home has increased drastically--at least on paper--and building materials/labor are at an all-time high.

Being in the hurricane capital of the country doesn't help much, either.

Rates are going up all over the country. One thing I have found is to shop around. Insurance companies know that most people like to stay with the insurance they have so will not shop around so they raise the rates a little each year and most people just grumble a little a pay it. well over several years the increases add up to a pretty big increase. I usually shop for insurance every 5-7 years and end up switching companies and get a way better deal until the new company does the same thing. They are counting on most people being lazy and not shopping around.

quote:

Originally posted by Nitro Express:
Same thing happened to me, here in Florida. My homeowner insurance went up $900 for the coming year. I've been with USAA for over 53 years and never had a homeowner claim, and very few auto claims--none that were very expensive, at that.

I called USAA and asked why my rates went up. Answer was simple: The value of my home has increased drastically--at least on paper--and building materials/labor are at an all-time high.

Being in the hurricane capital of the country doesn't help much, either.

They raised me twice last year! Apparently my farm is worth twice what it was in 2019. So stupid.

Two of the smaller insurance companies around here here have stopped issuing new home owner policies, period. Local Farm Bureau is very select if at all. Bad weather repairs costs have just soared a lot due to inflation! National debt has gone up 3 trillion dollars during Joe's term. Last I read it is between 34 and 35 trillion!!!

Whiskey hunter, I don't know where you live, but here in the Liberty Hill, Leander, central Texas area, the property taxes are anything but "fairly reasonable". I don't know if you moved here from somewhere else that had overly exorbitant taxes, or you live in an area that has no growth to speak of to escalate the school taxes (the lions share). If so, then you probably do find the taxes fair, to YOU. I agree that we don't have a state income tax + that is debatable on being good or bad ; I don't know, as I have never lived in a state where that was the case. But that gets us back to the issue that has been discussed here many times in another posting about the unjust taxation on those of us over 65 having to pay school taxes. That is something that definitely needs to change.

More to Ann's issue. It is irritating that if you upgrade or improve your property, that may automatically increase (your appraisal and) your property taxes.

I tend to keep my properties a little "dated" for that reason. I don't want to trigger a higher tax bill. Besides renters don't seem to care that much, and it's hard to get your money back after upgrades. Rents haven't been keeping up.

Even on my vehicles insurance has gone up. My 'new' car is a 2012, the farm vehicle is a 2003.

My area is very rural but large numbers of properties have been selling at premium prices to high dollar buyers from the west coast and the Amish, who seem to be very wealthy. All that drives the value up and thus appraisals. From there insurance soars.

For sure the cost of materials is another factor if you have a disaster strike.

I could not afford to buy my place here at today's value!

I am not 100% sure on this but I think I am correct here. One of the reasons the Amish have a lot of money is because they do not have to pay any taxes on income or property taxes. Everything (land, cars, tractors etc.) are all registered in the name of the church and thus is tax free. Can you imagine how much more we all would have if we did not have to pay taxes on anything!

quote:

Originally posted by MtElkHunter:
I am not 100% sure on this but I think I am correct here. One of the reasons the Amish have a lot of money is because they do not have to pay any taxes on income or property taxes. Everything (land, cars, tractors etc.) are all registered in the name of the church and thus is tax free. Can you imagine how much more we all would have if we did not have to pay taxes on anything!

That would make a huge difference if that's the case. I don't see how a newly married 20 YO man can afford an 80 plus acre farm.

It probably in the churches name. I see that a lot. The church "buys" the farm/business and then the person runs the farm. All income goes to the church and in turn the church buys the trucks and equipment, fuel and even the food that the person eats so that essentially the person is just free labor for the church. Since the person is working for free and they do not own anything or get any wages they have to pay no taxes and because the money goes into the church and churches pay no taxes you end up with a hell of a business model.

quote:

the unjust taxation on those of us over 65 having to pay school taxes. That is something that definitely needs to change.

I'm 77 and I disagree that we older homeowners shouldn't have to pay school taxes.

The value of a home and for that matter an entire county depends to a significant degree to the status of the local school system. Paying school taxes is an investment in the continued level of school system excellence, and by extension, the value and salability of homes in the district.

And on a less personal financial level, isn't it sort of every generation's responsibility to ensure our children and grandchildren get the best possible education?

But they're not getting an exemplary education. For every new school that goes in (+ there's a lot of them), the first money goes for a new football stadium + other sports related projects. Now there's even talks in the works to pass ANOTHER bond for an Olympic sized pool for a new swim team at the new high school. The last high school that went in overspent on ostentatious architecture that had NO bearing on classrooms or raises for teachers; but the administrators all got a raise in pay. And when the smoke cleared, the kids still did not even have any lockers because the money was all spent + they wanted yet another bond to complete what should have been earmarked in the first place. I paid taxes before I had any kids, then paid when I did (no problem there), now I am still expected to pay taxes when I physically can not have any more children in the schools. And don't think that voting makes any difference on the mismanagement of funds, either. About 3 or 4 new schools ago there was a vote on a new bond + it was voted down, but the school board passed it anyway + when one person at the town hall meeting protested, he was arrested + taken to jail. That DID happen. The reasoning behind the preference on athletic spending is to try to assure that the high schools will produce 4A football teams + thus boost new home sales for all the new transplants that have visions of their kids getting a football scholarship. IMO, since the realtors are the only ones winning in this situation, perhaps the realty companies should be more responsible for paying the extra taxes since they are the main ones benefiting, while we, the residents are being saddled with ever-increasing valuation on our preexisting homes + property. Mismanagement of funds is nothing new + we see it in all levels of government, starting at the top + working its way down. But that's another subject.

Norman, my point is that I disagree that insurance rates justify Texas “hating retirees” and provided several arguments to the contrary.

Compared to all other states, Texas continues to rank in the bottom half of tax burdens, and recently ranked 7th lowest on US News: https://www.usnews.com/news/be...vironment/tax-burden

Simply put, Texas offers a great number of benefits to all its resident retirees as compared with other parts of the US.

quote:

Originally posted by MtElkHunter:
I am not 100% sure on this but I think I am correct here. One of the reasons the Amish have a lot of money is because they do not have to pay any taxes on income or property taxes. Everything (land, cars, tractors etc.) are all registered in the name of the church and thus is tax free. Can you imagine how much more we all would have if we did not have to pay taxes on anything!

Any documented references on this? I have lived around the Amish a couple of times and never heard this before.
I do know that they generally don't fritter away what money they get, and they have barn-building
parties.

After Hurricane Agnes in 1972 my parents bought a flood-damaged property to rebuild, tore down a garage next to the creek. My father chain-sawed the corner posts and pulled it down with a Suburban and chains. Amish farmers took the lumber for chicken houses.

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:

quote:

Originally posted by MtElkHunter:
I am not 100% sure on this but I think I am correct here. One of the reasons the Amish have a lot of money is because they do not have to pay any taxes on income or property taxes. Everything (land, cars, tractors etc.) are all registered in the name of the church and thus is tax free. Can you imagine how much more we all would have if we did not have to pay taxes on anything!

Any documented references on this? I have lived around the Amish a couple of times and never heard this before.
I do know that they generally don't fritter away what money they get, and they have barn-building
parties.

After Hurricane Agnes in 1972 my parents bought a flood-damaged property to rebuild, tore down a garage next to the creek. My father chain-sawed the corner posts and pulled it down with a Suburban and chains. Amish farmers took the lumber for chicken houses.

This is right from IRS code. Here is a link to the full document. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf


Churches and religious organizations, like many other charitable organizations,
qualify for exemption from federal income tax under IRC Section 501(c)(3) and are
generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. To qualify for tax-exempt
status, the organization must meet the following requirements (covered in greater
detail throughout this publication):
n the organization must be organized and operated exclusively for religious,
educational, scientific or other charitable purposes;
n net earnings may not inure to the benefit of any private individual or shareholder;
n no substantial part of its activity may be attempting to influence legislation;
n the organization may not intervene in political campaigns; and
n the organization’s purposes and activities may not be illegal or violate
fundamental public policy

quote:

Originally posted by MtElkHunter:

quote:

Originally posted by TomP:

quote:

Originally posted by MtElkHunter:
I am not 100% sure on this but I think I am correct here. One of the reasons the Amish have a lot of money is because they do not have to pay any taxes on income or property taxes. Everything (land, cars, tractors etc.) are all registered in the name of the church and thus is tax free. Can you imagine how much more we all would have if we did not have to pay taxes on anything!

Any documented references on this? I have lived around the Amish a couple of times and never heard this before.
I do know that they generally don't fritter away what money they get, and they have barn-building
parties.

After Hurricane Agnes in 1972 my parents bought a flood-damaged property to rebuild, tore down a garage next to the creek. My father chain-sawed the corner posts and pulled it down with a Suburban and chains. Amish farmers took the lumber for chicken houses.

This is right from IRS code. Here is a link to the full document. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf


Churches and religious organizations, like many other charitable organizations,
qualify for exemption from federal income tax under IRC Section 501(c)(3) and are
generally eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. To qualify for tax-exempt
status, the organization must meet the following requirements (covered in greater
detail throughout this publication):
n the organization must be organized and operated exclusively for religious,
educational, scientific or other charitable purposes;
n net earnings may not inure to the benefit of any private individual or shareholder;
n no substantial part of its activity may be attempting to influence legislation;
n the organization may not intervene in political campaigns; and
n the organization’s purposes and activities may not be illegal or violate
fundamental public policy

I get that part, I'm wondering if the properties are actually registered in the name of a church.

I get that part, I'm wondering if the properties are actually registered in the name of a church.[/QUOTE]

From what I have seen the answer is yes for the most part. Like anything else there can and are exceptions. I will give you a personal experience on this very issue.

Many years ago before I got married my future wife and I attended the same church. When we decided to get married we went to the pastor of the church and he agreed to marry us. He married us and the pastor and I became very good friends. After several year he approached me to see if I wanted to join the organization and become a pastor. Over the course of several months we had numerous conversations on how it all worked. Here is a brief summary:

The first thing you needed to do was to go to college, not any college but "their" collage. Their college was more of a trade school on how to be a pastor in their organization. It was 4 years and a big part of it was to weed out the people who were not be a good fit. The org paid for most of the college and all you needed was personnel expenses. This was NOT an accredited college more like a boot camp to get you thinking correctly.

So now you are done with "college" the org will assign you to a small community that has a small congregation. The goal here is to see if you will work out as a pastor and follow the church rules and be able to bring in enough donations. If you do good you can get a promotion to a bigger town and congregation and the process repeats until you find your town that you want to stay in. At that point as long as you follow the rules and can bring in the donations you can stay as long as you want. All that is pretty open and most people understand it. Here is the business side that most people to not see that is the "incentive" to do it.

Home much money does the pastor make? All most nothing and that is on purpose. The church buys or already owns an house that the pastor and family are allowed to live in for free. The church pays for the utilities and taxes on the house. Since a car is needed to do his job the church will buy a car for him to use and pays for all license, insurance and maint on it. Next since a telephone is also needed for the job that is also paid for. So in the end almost all the basic needs of life are owned and paid for by the church, housing, transportation and communication. About the only thing that is not paid for is food and personnel stuff. So to take care of that each pastor is given a stipend each month. Common stipends are about $1500-2500 per month depending on location of the church. That is not a lot of money but if you do not have any other major expenses, you can do pretty well on it.

If you are a materialistic type of person like I am it would not work at all but if you are the kind of person who just wants a simple safe secure lifestyle it is not a bad way to go.

In a nutshell all the money collected goes to the church tax free and the church provides all major living expenses to the pastor and the stipend is so low that he usually pays no or minimal taxes.

My good friend the pastor has long sense passed away and I have been involved with business that have dealings with various church's and has seen too much. I no longer participate in any organized religious organizations because of what I have seen. That does not make them bad just something I choose to not participate in.

Somehow this doesn't sound very Amish, more like LDS.

When I look at the names on properties on my Huntstand account it shows land owned by amish in their name, not a church entity.

I do not know how the Amish do it but I do know that a lot of other major church groups do.

Bill,

Blame plaintiff's lawyers and the nuclear verdicts we are seeing in Texas and elsewhere. Plaintiff's lawyers pump up their client's medical expenses by not letting them turn in their medical expenses to workers comp or their personal insurance, which would cut the expenses by about 2/3 and send the client to their pet doctors who issue huge bills and projections of future surgery that will never happen, under a "letter of protection" from the plaintiff's lawyer. Can't prove it, because they hide it, but then they cut the bill on the back end and the jury gets snowed.

The answer is never sign on to a nuclear verdict if you are on a jury and never vote for a democrat judge. Or any other democrat for that matter.

quote:

The answer is never sign on to a nuclear verdict if you are on a jury and never vote for a democrat judge. Or any other democrat for that matter.

In a nutshell!!!!

But then half of our posters would much rather blame the issue on our good conservative governor.....

They could always move to new York or California.... But they won't because its too expensive to live there.....like Oregon was....


.

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:


In a nutshell!!!!

But then half of our posters would much rather blame the issue on our good conservative governor.....

They could always move to new York or California.... But they won't because its too expensive to live there.....like Oregon was....


.

Yep. I never understand libs living with so much hate in a red state when there are places they can go and live with like minded lunatics.

Lunatics is right, Ann. For the life of me, I just can't understand the liberal mind set, if you could call it that. I have several friends that I have known for years, + in all other aspects are fairly intelligent people, but when it comes to their politics, they are way out in left field, so to speak; I just don't get it.

They leave the blue states because they are too expensive....then move to red state that is much more cost effective and bitch and whine,because they don't have the govt welfare from the red state they fled.....