Your answer is why I suggested getting into some of the para-professions. It's NOT unusual for people in their 50's and 60's to get into those fields AND GET JOBS. My dd messed around for about 3 years, before settling on opticianry in college, even so, she was the youngest one in her major--by about 30 years! Most of the other students were in their 50's and 60's and yes, they did fine and got jobs in their new fields. I know you don't want to hear this--I wouldn't have at your stage of life--but the 'caring for older parents' situation isn't going to be for forever. I took care of my mom for about 13 years, had a short year 'off' when my aunt's health took a turn and I becaue responsible for her--but only for about 2 years. Now, DH and I are in our early 60's and relatively responsibility-free as all the older generation is now gone. You want to start preparing now for that time, truly. We're lucky, because with the way our finances are set up, we are able to get buy on SS and DH's pension. Do you have pensions at your place of employment? If not, do you have enough savings that you can live off the interest? keeping the principal in case you need it to fund assisted living/nursing home care down the road? At age 50--YOU have enough time to get a job that will give you at least a small pension by the time you're in your mid-60's. Dsis was just about your age when she started working at the Post Office as a mailman--another example of the fact that there are decent jobs out there for older folks. You just have to find one that allows you to be a bit flexible. One thing that leaps to mind is being a CNA--only takes a short time to become qualified, would help you care for your parents, and the hours are VERY flexible.

two acres is correct. replacement cost is strictly the cost to rebuild using materials that make up your current home. if not the cost to bring up to current code. Market value has no bearing, thats why you never use comps. Agents use rebuilding estimates such as Mitchell and other books. Most of this is automated now based on sq footage, materials, enhancements, etc. you must insure at least 80% of the rebuild value in order to get the full policy, however some companies are not doing that anymore given you are paying less premium for the same amount of coverage. Your personal property coverage is a separate amount ususally a % of the total policy value. you should always check that because it is an estimate. for $300k policy you will probably get $160-180k for property replacement. flood is never covered and the easiest way to know is if the water comes from the ground (excluding sump losses) it is a flood. there is no such thing as "partial coverage" the company will simply pay for the amount of damage sustained up to the policy limits. for example you have $300k total coverage; a fire burns down the kitchen but not the house. the kitchen to repair is $60k you will get $60k no more or less. most losses are small. total losses (house wiped out) are rarer. disclosure: i am an insurance adjuster hope this helps

"a refi exposes the title to defects for the period since the previous finance" That was not a "vague assertion," - I was trying to be nice...Not only is it vague it is incorrect, I just didn't think correcting you would serve any real purpose. A refi doesn't expose the title to defects. The title was either exposed or not before the refinancing happened. The refinance adds nothing to it at all. What I think you were trying to say is that a refinance exposes the loan (bank) to title defects since the previous finance, however, this is not correct either. Because lender title insurance is for the specific loan, its coverage expires when the loan expires. Therefore, a refinance exposes the loan (bank) to title defects since forever, both those since the original loan and those before the original loan. The previous title insurance and its coverage expired when you got the new loan. So exposure since the previous finance has little to do with it. Even if you had said it right, "a refi exposes the lender to defects since forever," it would have still been off topic, as the OP specifically mentioned homeowner's title insurance, not lender's title insurance. All of the above, is talking specifically about lender's title insurance, homeowner's title insurance doesn't have the same type of expiration. It lasts forever, it will protect you from anything that happened with the title before you were the owner. If you decide to buy another policy after you refinance, you get no additional protection, because homeowner's title insurance will not indemnify you from you. Title defects that have occurred since you owned the property, are not covered by title insurance, no matter when you buy it. At this point you will, of course, give us some sort of life experience, you were in the Navy and it wasn't this way where you lived stuff and then claim I am just interested in arguing with you. I submit that I tried to graciously bow out of the whole thing by apologizing for misunderstanding.

anglo, your description of how your assessed value compares to comparable sales in your neighborhood is quite different in my state. California's Proposition 13, passed in the late 1970s, is intended to limit property tax increases for long term owners, and to do so it results in a measure of unfairness of taxation between new versus long term owners. When property is purchased, its value is adjusted to the transaction price. The annual property tax charge at that point and thereafter is limited to 1% of value (though in practice it can be a slight bit higher). Annual increases in assessed valuation (and therefore in the tax bill) from one year to the next is limited to 2% per year. Needless to say, the sustained real estate valuation increases over past years and decades in much of the populated areas has been greater than 2% per year. In the case of two identical properties side by side, a new owner could easily be paying 3 or 4 times as much, or more in annual taxes compared to a long term owner of an identical property next door. When the few downturns occurred, the tax valuations for newer buyers (the only ones with properties at or near fair value for tax purposes) were mostly adjusted downwards. Sometimes grudgingly -valuations are done county by county and some were a bit more enlightened on their own than others.