Responding to FEMA

[gvidas]

Buying insurance is the act of taking a stand, in $, on risk. You're saying something like, "the cost of recovering from a disaster times the probability of it occurring is greater than the total cost of insurance from now until the risk is gone."

If you can tell that the potential cost is not worth the insurance cost, it's a bad bet. The risk is still there -- but the risk was still there with insurance, too. And it's easy to get intimidated (legitimately, perhaps), since, unlike poker, you don't typically play more than a hand or two.

I love writing righteously indignant letters, and I liked reading yours.

[xoxoxoBruce]

A year after I bought the place, the Feds came along and declared it flood plain. Having a mortgage requires buying flood insurance, and he mortgage was paid off, years ago. Although changes in the landscape and removal of streamside obstructions have shown a considerable reduction in it's being prone to flood, I kept up the insurance. The premiums have increased with the cost of living of course. Once the water came up to one of my sheds, and the insurance wouldn't cover 99% of the items in the shed, only a mower. In the cellar of the house, it will cover the washer, dryer, boiler and water heater, nothing else. Chances of it getting to the first floor are extremely small, but in that case, throw out upholstered furniture, and rugs, sand the floors, start again. Not the end of the world.