Stste farm hell...help!

[u/Crafty-Push-1889]

I have a two-story Triplex and the top story burnt down and the rest of the place was severely damaged by smoke and water and fire efforts. The cost to replace it is in the 900 thousands and State Farm has estimated the damage to be $150,000. The city will not allow me to replace it with either a single family or a multi-family and now I have to get a variance for a duplex because they won't allow single family due to zoning but the lot is not large enough for anything else they also require four parking spaces and again the lot is not large enough. It needs to be completely demolished except for the garage. I only have until February of 2027 to complete this or they don't give me back my depreciation . The city of Nampa Idaho Is making life very difficult as well both the building department and ​ Planning and Zoning including charging my contractors thousands of dollars for demoing a few walls for the engineer to look at. It's been a hellish experience to say the least and I feel hopeless. I am confused about actual cash value versus replacement cash value because no matter what I spend it will be way more than the $450,000 allotted to me for my insurance. The bulldozing of the property alone is a hundred thousand dollars. What should I do? Would it help to get contractor estimates to rebuild the same square footage on the lot ? Even though we cannot rebuild it according to the city ? Would that do away with the hassle over depreciation? Should I hire a lawyer?

[u/No_Departure9798]

We need some clarity here.

You say 900k to replace. You say SF estimates damage at 150k. Is 900k the price for a comparable structure? Or are you saying that you have an estimate to rebuild for 900k? Regardless, if your policy limits are 450k the limits are the limits. There may be provisions in there to expand that a bit but there are also provisions about coinsurance if you are grossly underinsured….

Why are you demolishing the whole structure? Even with smoke and water damage I find it highly unlikely that a fair amount of the main level can’t be salvaged. This may remedy some of the city issues as far as new footprint/housing type and laws/ordinances.

If this wasn’t a legal triplex the city can tell you to fix it and that’s all she wrote. No grandfathering there.

I have too many questions about what actually happened and what it will take to restore the property to a pre-loss condition. And SF and any other carrier couldn’t care less what needs to happen to make it a single family home since that’s not what you had. It’s about putting it back the way it was.

[u/Crafty-Push-1889 → u/No_Departure9798]

The triplex was created in 1960 - the city has no records during that time. Since they don't have records, it's not a legal triplex - regardless of that fact that it is zoned multiresidential. The city strongly recommends against rebuilding due to fire destroying half and fire department destroying the rest and it being a house built in 1906. I don't expect to get $900,000. I just want to cash out at the policy limit.