Taxes and Insurance

 November and December is the time of year I get to pay real estate taxes and my three non auto insurance premiums: homeowner's, flood, and umbrella.

I pay each bill the first day it arrives, under the rip the bandaid off fast theory -- if the bill sits out, it reminds me of the large dollars I owe, and that's worse than just stroking the checks.

The good news with the real estate taxes is that they only rise a relatively small amount each year, and so the tax we pay is based largely on the price we paid for Villa Wifey, which is conservatively worth 3.5 times that amount. It's still a big number, but once I pay in November, I forget about it for a year.

Homeowner's is an area we've also been "lucky." Ten years ago I found a smallish company that specializes in "luxury homes," and our rates have gone up modestly. Am I confident that in another Andrew-like disaster the company will be able to pay? Not at all, but I need the coverage for liability, which I will NOT do without.

On that front, I got a renewal bill from the Arizona insurer that gives us the umbrella coverage. The premiums stayed around $900 or so for awhile, because it's of course unlikely that Wifey or I will maim or kill someone. Over time, the premiums crept up, and last year I paid $1700 for $5M in coverage.

Then I got the premium statement: $6500! What? I called our local agent, and she was at a loss, telling me "how bad the market is," etc... So I did my own research, and found that Progressive would write the same policy for $2K. You really have to shop insurance.

I paid my $900 Flood Insurance bill today, too -- those premiums are set by the Feds.

So now I'm done for another year. It's funny when I think about it: the real estate taxes and insurance bills for the house exceed my salary as a lawyer for my first 4 years of practice.

Looked at another way -- I'm lucky to be in the position to have to pay these.

In other, more significant news, I met D1 at our shared Dermatologist's office for an annual skin cancer check up. We both passed! D2 and Jonathan go next week -- Joey and Wifey are on different schedules.

The Ds introduced me to Dr. Green -- they had crushes on him. I met him and I have the biggest crush -- he's a huge Canes fan, and we always talk football when I visit. Most of his patients are women and not into football -- he appreciates the change.

D2 and Jonathan are coming Friday -- to house and dog sit. We have a raritiy: back to back trips, of two nights each.

And then I hopefully get to travel where I most enjoy the Holidays: nowhere! It's that most wonderful time of the year.

And Miami Dade County can't evict us -- at least until late 2024. That's comforting.