Just read somewhere that after hurricanes or big storms, the average homeowner ends up spending around $8,000 to $10,000 just to get their house back to normal. Kinda shocked me, honestly—I figured insurance covered most of it, but turns out there's a lot of stuff insurance doesn't touch or deductibles that really sting. Makes me wonder if that's typical everywhere or just certain areas... anyone had experience with this kinda thing?
Yeah, that number sounds about right, unfortunately. When we had a big storm roll through a couple years back, insurance covered the major roof damage, but we still got stuck paying for tree removal, fence repairs, and a bunch of random stuff that added up quick. Deductibles are no joke either... ours was like $2k right off the bat. Definitely learned to keep an emergency fund handy after that mess.
"Deductibles are no joke either... ours was like $2k right off the bat."
Yeah, deductibles can really catch you off guard. Ours was around $1,500, but honestly, the unexpected stuff outside of insurance coverage was the real kicker. Had to replace damaged gutters and siding ourselves, and those little things added up quicker than you'd think. Curious—did you end up changing your insurance coverage or deductible afterward, or just beef up that emergency fund?
"Had to replace damaged gutters and siding ourselves, and those little things added up quicker than you'd think."
Yeah, learned that the hard way myself. Our deductible was $1k, but the random stuff like hauling away debris, renting equipment, and even pizza for friends helping out...that stuff sneaks up fast. Definitely budgeting differently now.
Yeah, I underestimated all those little costs too. First storm in our new place, thought insurance would handle most of it, but nope... ended up renting a chainsaw and spending a whole weekend cutting up branches myself. Between gas, equipment rental, and dump fees, it wasn't cheap. Lesson learned: always have an emergency fund set aside for stuff like this.
