What if the repair costs are less than the insurance claim money--do you have to send the difference back to the insurance company?

Normally, NO, but..... Insurance should be a fairly simple contract - you suffer the loss, you agree to the dollar amount of that loss, they pay you based on the term of your policy. IF you wanted to take the money and demolish the house, that should be your right. However - most insurance contracts today have two values - the depreciated value is what you get if you don't fix it -- the full value is what you get after the repairs are complete.

These are rough and tough round numbers, but just as an example... if you had a $100,000 loss.... the company might offer you $50,000 as a depreciated value, and you wouldn't see the rest of your money until the property was repaired and inspected. There are tons of other ways they can devalue what you receive as a settlement - for example if you over-insure and do not have replacement cost coverage, they'll reduce your pay-out roughly by the percentage they claim you are over-insured. Most of the time - we recommend that you hire your own private adjuster/appraiser and do NOT accept the insurance company's first offer.It's your right to do so and most people would do much better if they have the time to go through the entire process of negotiation - vs. just having to take their insurance company's lowball offer.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.