What happens if your house burns down if you have insurance

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Asked by
Thanh

What happens if your house burns down if you have insurance? Any ideas you have would be very much appreciated.

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Thomas

"The insurance company will first carry out an..."

If your house is insured and it catches fire, the insurance company will first carry out an investigation to determine the cause and source of fire. During the investigation, they might pay a small amount of money in advance to help the affectees. After the investigation is over and they conclude that fire was caused by accident and was not a deliberate act, they will pay off the remaining amount of money for the damaged property . Henry Greenberg

Q. If a house burns down, does the insurance pay off the mortgage, & then make you turn the land over to them?
if a house burns down, does the insurance company pay off the mortgage, & then make you turn the property deed over to them so they can sell the land & get back what they had to pay out, or do they make you rebuild or buy another house? i have a bet riding on this btw

They pay you the money directly, you then pay off the mortgage, rebuild, or buy something else. It is all up to you. They do not gain possession of your land.

Q. If someone burns my house down, will i get whole lot of money for insurance or get burned?
not that i'm planning a insurance fraud. but i heard of someone who got a lot of money because someone burned their house down in vengeance, and this victim decided to defend the fire starter in court and drop the charges because he got so much money from the insurance. i'm just wondering, what about all the materials burned? like passports or photos or something like that, aren't there things that is gone in permanence?

"And receive no money from insurance at all..."

Considering that you obviously ARE planning fraud, I would say they will probably find out what really happened and you will go to prison for 10-20 years, and receive no money from insurance at all. Fire investigations are INCREDIBLY reliable. Trained experts can almost ALWAYS find the cause of a fire. They will test materials left for combustible residue (gas, etc.). They will find where the fire started and if there was tinder purposely put there. They will determine the burn rate to see if it is a natural burn rate. It should take them a day or two to figure out it was arson and then we will talk to you in a decade or two when you get out! See ya!

Q. What do you do if your town house burns down and you have no insurance?
are you responsible for any damages done to your neighbors unit as well?

You aren't automatically responsible for your neighbors damages, unless you deliberately set the fire. What do you do? Pick yourself up, and start over. Obviously, no one is going to PAY you, if you were uninsured. I have no idea what you'll do about your mortgage. I hope you didn't have one.

Q. If your house burns down and its mortgaged, what does your house insurance cover?
if your home burns down, but you have a mortgage on it, does the insurance company pay your mortgage off and give you enough money to rebuild or at least downgrade to something. there are sooo many mixed answers on this, some say that the insurance just pays the mortgage and leaves you with nothing else, while others say they pay to rebuild and don't pay the mortgage and others say you get what is listed in your insurance papers for your dwelling and can do what you want with it, along with money for personal property, then some say they pay the mortgage and give you whats left......like what the hell? i am so confused, can somebody please give me a straight answer. i'm not burning my house, i know somebody who is wondering about this, they are in a horrible situation and need clarification, so can somebody please help me, thank you.

"A year later the house burns to the ground and there is nothing left..."

Assuming the policy is a "replacement cost" policy, most insurance policies cover the lesser of: 1) Cost to repair/replace the house or 2) The "Coverage A" policy limit. (Building Coverage) When a person purchases a homeowners policy, they purchase a policy for a certain dollar amount. (i.e. someone buys a brand new $250,000 house, the home is usually covered for $250,000 - $275,000 depending on the area) This dollar amount is called the replacement cost. Don't get this confused with "market value." Replacement cost and market value are two different things. Market value is the value of the home whereas replacement cost is the cost it would take to rebuild the home brand new. Let's use your example.... A person owns a house (they have a mortgage on the home as well). They bought the house for $200,000 with 100% financing. At the time they bought the house, they spoke with their agent and the agent determined the house has a replacement cost of $215,000. A year later the house burns to the ground and there is nothing left. At the time the house burned to the ground, they owed $190,000 on the mortgage. After an adjuster visits the home, the insurance company determines it will cost $225,000 to rebuild the home from ground up due to extensive foundation damage. The insurance company decides to "total" the house and write a check for the "Dwelling Coverage Policy Limit." Since the home was written with a replacement cost of $215,000, the insurance company writes a check payable to the bank and you for $215,000. The bank takes $190,000 and you get $25,000. In other words, it all depends on the mortgage amount and how much coverage is carried under the homeowners policy. The dwelling coverage limit is the maximum the insurance company will have to pay in the event of a loss (assuming there are no other endorsements to the policy). Hope this helps.

Q. Why should people who dont pay insurance get a free house?
example: two different families own a house each, earn around the same income. one family goes without to pay house insurance, the other doesn't care. the person who doesn't pay insurance has their house burn down - the community donate them a free house. why? what is the point of sacrifice if those who don't invest in their future get more? i am angry because for years i have been without, our whole family has, while those around us have skipped insurance and had extra. a fire happened and the neighbours will be better off than before the fire, it makes me wonder why i sacrifice when these people get what ever they need ?

It doesn't seem fair, but that attitude of allowing others to provide for you when you have done nothing to earn it will come around to haunt you. As is, the community felt a common human emotion: sympathy. They just wanted to help. In the future, should something else happen to the family as a result of their irresponsible behavior, the community will probably be less willing to help.

Q. Can an house insurance company drop you if you are having a dispute with a neighbor?
a friend of mine is having major problems with a neighbor. she was on the phone with her house insurance agent and she actually told the women about her neighbor and said if her house burns down they should look at the neighbor for setting it. omg i thought that was insane to tell the agent. am i wrong?? she has called the police on her neighbor 2 times already. last week she called the police because someong decappitated her kitten. that is how nutty her neighbor is. <someone decapitated> sorry for the typo

"Going to relay that comment to the insurance carrier - it's unfounded - until/unless..."

Yes. Each state gives reasons why you can cancel a homeowners policy, and having a threat from a neighbor isn't one of them. And in this case, there isn't even a threat. Most agents, aren't going to relay that comment to the insurance carrier - it's unfounded - until/unless the house DOES burn down, and THEN, the friend can tell the police directly.

Q. Do i receive half the insurance check in a divorce if house burns down?
divorce is final, but my husband hasn't bought me out of the home yet. he was to give me half of the equity in the home by july 14. however the house burned down a week ago (total loss) and the insurance policy still is in both our names. am i now entitle to half the insurance check, or still just half the equity there was?

Better hope that he didn't purposley burn it down to avoid from having to pay your equity. I think you really should contact your attorney on how to handle this since no one on yahoo answers knows exactly the legal laws in your state.

Q. What happens if a house burns down and the insurance is still being paid by the previous owner?
adding to my other question, my father owned a house in brooklyn, in the 1980's. he was forced to move for not paying mortgages for 2 months. he almost had the house paid for but was not given a chance by the bank and was forced to move all the other tenants stood in the premises including my grandmother. even though the house no longer belong to my father he was still paying the insurance monthly. the house burned 3 years later 1985. after all these years my dad ask's me to look up and old account for him and i found out that he has a claim with the insurance company of money being owed to him datin 1985. is there a possibility that even though my father had lost the house and since he was still paying for the insurance on the house that maybe he is in title to some money from this insurance company for the damages caused by the fire? thanks..

"The insurance company would refund me the premium..."

If he did not own the house on the date of the fire, then the insurance company would not pay him. He no longer had an "insurable interest" on the home. An insurable interest means that you suffer a financial loss because of the destruction of the property. For example: you own a car. I have no ownership of the car. I can't put a policy on your car. If your car is destroyed I don't suffer any hardship at all. It's not my car. I was not responsible for the payments. Therefore, the insurance company would refund me the premium paid and I would get nothing on the claim. Insurable interest is a requirement in all types of insurance (auto, homeowners, life). Same situation here. Your dad used to own the house....but he was not the owner of it when it burned. As such, he no longer had a financial interest in the house (the new owners did). His insurance company would not have paid him. Also...the statute of limitations for property damage in most states is 1-4 years. That has long since run. The only other statute of limitations is the one for contracts. Since it's an insurance policy, this statute could come into play (depending on state law). However, most statutes of limitations for contract is 7 years. This has also run out a long time ago. Once the statute of limitations has run...you no longer have a claim. It disappears. The only way to prevent this is to file a law suit before the statute runs. Since the fire was 24 years ago....what ever the statute is.....it ran a long time ago and your dad would no longer have a viable claim. Your dad should have followed up on this question 23 years ago. **not legal advice-- only an attorney can give legal advice **

Q. My house is on fire, should i buy fire insurance now, before it burns completely?
my house is on fire, should i buy fire insurance now, before it burns completely? fast answers would be nice, i have to get out of here soon >.<

Sure, run out and buy that policy right now. Good luck with your claim.

Q. What happens after your house burns down? who pays for what if you don't have renters insurance?
the fire-fighters said it was an electrical problem. one of my neighbor's car was damage by the fire. so, who will pay for his damages? some of my other neighbor's had to go to the hospital. so, who'll pay for their medical bill?

"The liability insurance might extend especially if there is..."

Typically you would be out of luck. Depending on the policy that is on the structure, the liability insurance might extend especially if there is some negligence on the part of the owner. Might want to speak with a lawyer. Also, just because there's not any insurance, doesn't mean the owner of the property does not owe a duty to provide a safe living place. You might have to take them to court to recover some of your losses but that is always a possibility.

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