Beam Me Up Scotty wrote:

I've only had insurance on one house, my first house that I stupidly got
a loan to purchase.... I never made that mistake again. I didn't need
insurance on a house "I" lived in, I am a very careful person, but if
you're an idiot.... you may want it.

Well, IMHO you are very lucky, very naive or both.

As the old saying goes: "Stuff happens".

A defective appliance (with a counterfeit UL seal), a good appliance
that legitimately fails, lightning. Or like my neighbor across the
street -- they were not at home, they had baked goods on a plastic
cutting board on the stove, the dog jumped up to try and get the food,
accidentally turned on the stove and caused severe fire damage to the
home. Furthermore, had the fire been worse than it was and had it been
windy, the flames could have jumped to the house of an innocent neighbor
next door -- who would hopefully have insurance.

There are literally a million -unforeseen- things that could happen that
are beyond -your- control. You can be the most careful person in the
world, but that won't stop a runaway car from smashing into your house
nor will it keep lightning from striking. I don't know what state you
live in, but how about tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, heavy snow that
collapses your roof? You do not have to be an "idiot" to need insurance.
Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. You would be an idiot to think
that you -don't- need insurance, either that or be a heck of a gambler.

I never had a fire or any other disaster that was able to destroy the
homes I bought.

All that proves is that you were very lucky. For your sake, I hope your
luck continues. But I STILL think you are being incredibly naive and are
taking a big gamble.