If you guys needs super in-depth info, check my post history. I'll try to keep it a bit short here.
My father passed about 3-4 weeks ago (cops guess he had been deceased 1-2 weeks when I discovered him). I'll spare the gritty detail, but you can imagine how messy things can get when a body decomposes at home in the middle of Florida summer. Needless to say, the house is not habitable and I don't know how to properly decontaminate it myself.
I've been asking cleaning companies for phone quotes (I live ~5 hours away, so haven't been able to get an in-person estimate. Will do it this weekend.) and they're saying it'll start around $4k to clean and that's suffice to say nothing else needs to be done such as restoration. I've seen many people online (and even the cleaning companies warned me) it can easily go north of $10k. I'm a recent college grad, so between paying the funeral costs, lawyer fees, and other expenses, I simply don't have $10k+ to spend on cleaning the house, let alone restoring it to a habitable condition (getting the yard taken care of, tree which fell on the house but somehow didn't cause damage removed, patio replacement, etc.) but I don't want to lose my family home. If I do end up losing it, I at least want to sell it since the other houses near it (same model) are going for a good amount more what my dad had left on the mortgage. If I have to lose it, I'd like to at least get some money from it instead of just walking away and letting the bank foreclose.
I put in a claim with his homeowners (HO3). They denied it claiming that "the bodily fluids of the deceased are considered a pollutant and pollutants are not covered by his policy". Seems this is a somewhat common scenario, since I can google this situation and it's frequently disputed, with the insurance companies ultimately paying out the majority of the time (then again, I was also told that they will cover it without question the majority of the time, sooooo). I'll consult with a lawyer if they don't budge after some calls tomorrow. Idk if anyone can answer this, but is it worth having the cleaning company do the claim for me? I know one said they regularly work with my father's insurance and have never had an issue before. Maybe they can strong-arm better than I.
My question is, what can I do if insurance doesn't cover it? To put it into perspective, the houses next door that are exactly the same go for about $310k and my father's mortgage is about $200k. Don't know that I'll get that much trying to sell it with a death and all, but if I end up having to sell the place, I want to at least try sprucing it up so I can make some money for all this effort, stress, and heartbreak.
What options do I have? I only have enough left in my emergency fund between everything I've paid to basically subsist. Looking for advice on how to handle potential future expenses (I'm assuming I may need something like a HELOC to cover cleaning, repairs, etc.). I've also heard churches and whatnot can help. I called my dad's church and they said no. Anybody know how I can look into NFPs/chruches or whatnot that may help? Can anyone provide any advice?
Thanks!
Submitted August 05, 2020 at 08:53PM by sdpthrowaway3 https://ift.tt/3ie8AYA
