[kkun]

It surprised me as well. I almost took it for granted for this home that has many other great amenities. Even my 1996 built townhouse in Virginia had sprinkler system.

One expert I talked about retrofit told me it was not a code requirement to install a sprinkler system.

[kkun]

Thanks TeCKis300 for your suggestions.

I currently qualify for 4 from your list. One exception is Sprinkler. My house was built in 2005 and do not have a sprinkler system. I was surprised to see that given the apartment I used to rent had a sprinkler system. I looked for options to install new sprinkler system in my house- but found it to be high cost and hassle to install it in an existing house. So did not do it.

Do any of you have experience of installing sprinkler system in an existing house?

[kkun]

plm,

Looks like my house is in same situation as yours, but Chubb will not renew it. It may be due to the fact that you have been with Chubb for longer period.

I liked Chubb policy. If only they would have kept it.

[kkun]

ocrenter,

Thanks for the suggestion- I will ask my agent to try Fireman’s Fund.

One question: You live in Stonebridge, right? Does your home back to a canyon?

Other Stonebridge residents (navydoc, plm, others?): Does your home back to open space? If so, how did you take care of brush for getting insurance?

Thanks for inputs.

[kkun]

My house does back up to a canyon. There is some clearance from brush, but not 200 ft or more that most insurance companies are demanding. The fact is all my neighbors have the same clearance as mine. In fact, many Stonebridge homes including the new Toll Brothers and Bellasario homes on the view lots have the same issue.

I am finding it extremely difficult to find alternative insurance now that Chubb decided not to renew. If you have any suggestion, please let me know.

On top, it’s Gnatcatcher season till Aug 15. So no brush can be touched till then (even goats are prohibited). So I am really caught up between brush, Gnatcatcher, HOA, SD City rules and insurance companies. I think Goats are the only way out!

Seriously, it’s not funny. I hope I find some solution soon.

[kkun]

Just wanted to share especially with Stonebridge homeowners who have home insurance from Chubb:

I had insurance from Chubb when I purchased last year. Just received a notice stating that it will NOT be renewed. They site the risk of wild fire due to brush.

Nothing changed from when they did the inspection last year. I don’t understand why they changed their opinion.

Are you seeing such notice?

I am trying to find alternative insurance. No luck still.

On top of that Stonebridge HOA will not let me clean up brush even at my cost. They don’t follow the SD county guideline. Do you know any remedy? If I have it cleaned up at my cost will there be a penalty??

[kkun]

By any shape or form, this is a ridiculous bond. The original structure is bad. Additionally, I don’t know why it was not refinanced in this historially low interest rate period. In my job I deal with investments, etc and my boss would have fired me if I agreed on this bond. For sure.

I generally agree that we share the responsibility of not being engaged enough to oppose when these proposals come up.

As an individual, if I had
(a) $60k in the bank earning close to 0% interest
(b) my income in AMT bucket (meaning no tax deduction benefits from MR)
then I would pay back the MR bond now. It is a better option rather than paying a 6%+ bond rate for at least 30 years if not more

I know many in the forum have different view (eg don’t pay back MR if you are not planning to stay in thouse for at least 10 years). The main fear is the next buyer will not pay higher price for one house in neghborhood where all the house has MR. Somehow, I thibk there will be knowledgable buyer who will pay me $60k instead of signing up for $500 payment per month for 30- 40 years.

[kkun]

My insurance is from Chubb.

[kkun]

Congratulations Sunny88 on your new home!

Your points are valid. At the end of the day we assign different weights to different factors to arrive at decisions. That’s perfectly normal. Actually that makes our lives better. Otherwise we all will go after the same house and drive the price higher..

[kkun]

One question I am trying to decide:

Should I pay down Mello Roose?

Based on what I read in other posts, Mello Roos pay down is $~70k. My MR payment is $500 per month. If the MR Bond is for 30 more years from today, that comes to be ~8% annual interest rate. My alternative investment is not expected to yield 8% risk adjusted return for 30 years.

There is risk of MR increasing and extending the duration in future.

On the contrary, if I have to move (that’s possible if I get a better job) then I am not sure the buyer will be willing to pay $70k since he is getting a house without $500 MR payment required.

Thoughts and advices?

[kkun]

My two cents on Stonebridge after living here for 6 months:

– Overall we like it. We decided on Stonebridge after looking for over an year. 6 months after moving in we don’t have buyer’s remorse

– View is very good for many houses. Our house is open to canyon- nice views of Sun rising. Lots of lights. No complaints. I agree with Navydocs comments

– Density is very low in Stonebridge. So noise and polution level is not a concern relative to other similar areas. Actually Stonebridge should be better than other areas

– For us distance from Pomerado or I15 was a question mark before we moved in. We picked a house which is relatively closer to Pomerado (0.8 mile). My office commute is to Mission Valley. Getting to I15 takes on average 8 min (I go to work at 6 am)

– The comments about Powerline view or close to Stonebridge Pkwy are fair points- but that are already factored in price. For like-to-like house, price is cheaper for Powerline view and back-to- road ones. We considered a house that backed to Stonebridge Pkwy. We could hear the cars travelling when doors/ windows open. Then we found one without road noise- so it was easy decision for us..

– Coyote bothers me. I saw one just outside my fence two days ago. Did not like that. I have high nets on my fence.

– Heat seems to be not of overly concern. Last two hot days was managable with open windows and fans. I wanted to check if we can leave without AC..

– As you all know fire hazard is a concern. Getting home insurance was a pain. We almost dropped out of escrow because of that. It still concerns me that majority of insurance companies don’t inusre these houses for obvious and right reason of high chance of wild fire

– Houses are nice, lots are large enough, quality of construction for our house is great.

– Nobody likes Mello- Roose, but you can factor that in price. Same house in South of Pomerado is ~100k higher price since those are withour MR

This forum was very useful for me to make decisions. Hope my inputs help you to make decisions…

[kkun]

Bearishgirl- Your argument makes sense. It’s more driven by the buyer perception, information gap, etc. Otherwise from a pure financial sense paid off MR should add value (by an amount equal to NPV of the MR payments stream, in a prefectly rational market)

[kkun]

I wonder why paying off Mello Roos doesn’t increase the resale value?

When I was looking for house, the areas without MR clearly had a premium compared to similar home in an area with MR. In some places MR amount is ~$400- $500 per month. So why won’t a potential buyer pay the premium for a house for which he doesn’t have to make the payment?

One thing I can think off is the standard appraisal process won’t assign any value to “MR paid off status” in a MR area. So buyers will have to make larger down payment.

Is there other reason why paid MR status does not increase the house value?

[kkun]

Photo of my gate. 12ft by 5ft. Installed price $1200 in Cash.[img_assist|nid=16738|title=Iron gate|desc=12ft by 5ft. Installed cost $1200|link=node|align=left|width=320|height=240]

[kkun]

I installed a iron gate a month back. It’s simpler than your design, larger in size 12 ft wide by 5 ft tall. Total cost including installation was $1200- in Cash. I got it done by a guy from a company called SD Iron Works. You can call him @ 619 850 4955 and ask him to do the job directly without going through the company. If you show him the design he should be able to make it. He also has an album with number of gate photos- if you want to choose from. You should negotitate the price with him and offer him to pay cash for better discount.

I was getting $3200 price from other places I checked which clearly is a rip-off.

[Author]

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