[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

That is why I didn't snark at you Graybeard, I figured you were thinking about how dumb you would have to be not to keep insurance on something so valuable. I imagine that someone who paid $3500 for a house in 1945 would not even be able to imagine having to spend $125,000 to rebuild it and replace furniture. It is unfathomable to have something that has increased to that point - but it has in most places, or even more.

[buffyt]

My parents bought first house for $2000 in 1940s. They bought second house in 1950s for $6000. It is worth $100K now. They bought third house in 1967 for $19,500. It is worth over $100K now. And that is just resale value. It can cost much more than that to rebuild at today’s costs. Building costs are higher than many home values right now. Prices here are down to 1997 values. Great time to buy if you can pay cash or get a good loan! But terrible time to retire and sell! Lucky for us our home was never part of our retirement plan, never planned to sell it. But if we did decide to move closer to the kids we might want to sell this house. Of course we would be paying less to buy a house if we move someplace else. I guess that counts.