I got a text message from a client and friend of mine, John Brooks. John’s a realtor with Keller Williams in Dallas (www.johnbrookstherealtor.com) and he and his wife, Aggie, live in a loft style apartment near downtown. The text message was a picture of their dog watching a fan blow air across the floor that let me know they’d experienced a water leak. I called John while m y wife, Sheri, and I were heading to meet some friends for dinner, so I could get the full scoop.
Like most busy couples, John and Aggie had gotten up that morning and gone in different directions, both had meetings. Once John’s meeting had ended, he’d gone home to take care of a few things then headed off to another meeting. Aggie stopped by their home 15 minutes later only to find water pouring from their ceiling into their apartment. Aggie called John with the news, so he turned around to help her with the water in their apartment. While on the way, John called the property manager to report the situation.
It turns out, their upstairs neighbor had left water running in a sink that eventually overflowed and built up enough to cause it to “rain” in their apartment one floor below. The maintenance people turned the water off and brought fans to both apartments to help dry them out and keep the hardwoods from warping. John and Aggie were extremely fortunate for several reasons.
- The water had only been falling into their apartment for maybe 15 minutes as that was the time between when John left and Aggie arrived at their home.
- The management company was able to quickly shut the water off upstairs and begin cleaning up the water damage.
- The water fell in an area where there was minimal damage. The only damage they experienced was to sheet rock and flooring, not their personal property.
- They have ample renters insurance to protect themselves if the results of the leak had been much worse.
- By catching it early they didn’t even have to file a claim.
There are two insurance applications their experience helps demonstrate.
- The apartment building has its own insurance policy that covers the building including:
- The physical building (exterior & interior)
- The finish out of John and Aggie’s home – cabinets, sheet rock, flooring, etc.
- John and Aggie’s renters’ policy covers all their personal property – clothing, furniture, dishes, computer equipment, electronics, etc.
In fact, if John had filed a claim, his policy would have even paid for them to rent a motel room while their apartment was being repaired, had that been needed.
John and Aggie’s story could have had a much different outcome, had Aggie not walked in the door 15 minutes after John had left. Had it been several hours:
- Their apartment could have been flooded.
- They could have experienced a lot of damage or loss to their personal property that totaled thousands of dollars.
- They may not have been able to stay home that night or for several nights thereafter.
They were protected from something they never thought would happen to them. Are you? If you don’t have renter’s insurance, let us help you. We have access to 10 excellent companies that can help you affordably.
Share your comments, questions or suggestions with us in the comments section of our blog or on our Facebook page. I’d love to hear from you. And if you need an excellent realtor, give John a call. His number’s on his webpage and he writes a very informative and entertaining blog at http://johnbrookstherealtor.wordpress.com/.
