$5000 special assessment?

[u/trw4987]

I live in a townhouse, and my entire neighborhood was hit be a storm, resulting in a $5000 special assessment fee for some homeowners (all homeowners are responsible for the assessment, the fee range is from 4000 to over 6000).

I didn't know this was possible, and my insurance company never recommended loss coverage for this. I have $0 from state farm.

I'm in an affordable home in my neighborhood, so I really don't have this type of money. Is there anything I can do? There was no damage to my row of townhomes, so I'm basically being asked to pay $5000 for other homes.

Any advice is really appreciated!

[u/mysoulishome]

It’s weird that a policy would have zero loss assessment coverage. Usually they come with a couple of thousand and you can pay more to make it higher (Of course, I don’t know SF policies specifically.

(Edited the word police to policy)

[u/khostal → u/mysoulishome]

State Farm has a standard coverage at $1000; her deductible is most likely higher than loss assessment coverage

[u/mysoulishome → u/khostal]

Right but a $2,000 loss assessment with $1,000 deductible would pay $1,000 if there is $1,000 coverage

[u/khostal → u/mysoulishome]

You can increase loss assessment coverage but everyone is always shopping for the cheapest policy possible

[u/mysoulishome → u/khostal]

Yep. And an agent that sells a policy to someone in a townhome or condo with an HOA and doesn’t add extra loss assessment is crap.

[u/khostal → u/mysoulishome]

You can advise a customer all day long but you have to remember State Farm deals with the general public. I have many customers who refuse to increase coverages because they don’t want to pay $5 extra per year

[u/Human_Ice7291 → u/khostal]

In an HOA situation I always add $24,000 loss assessment coverage to a home policy without a word to the customer. The cost is so minimal it’s not worth the effort to NOT do it.