On Wednesday, April 17, a fire broke out at the West Fertilizer Company in West, Texas, a community of 2,849 about 70 miles south of Dallas. 10 volunteer firemen and two people who joined them responded to the calls that began being fielded by the 911 call center at 7:33. As first responders, they began to assess the massive fire and plan how to begin putting out the blaze. They were killed moments later from the explosion that occurred at 7:51 pm.
Last week, I introduced Ben and Amy (not their real names) who are first time home buyers in the McKinney / Allen area of north Texas. Because they are buying their first home, this also means they are first time buyers of home insurance, something Ben admitted to me, he knows nothing about.
I love the State Fair of Texas. There’s nothing like walking through the stock pavilion, watching the sheep dogs work the sheep, and the pig races. I enjoy wandering around the new car pavilion as I think about what I’d pick for a new vehicle. Then there are the rides and the cry of barkers tempting people to try their hand at some game to win the giant stuffed animal or some other prize. There’s plenty of food to savor as well; funnel cake, Fletcher’s corny dogs and some new fried delectable. And then there’s the icon of the fair, Big Tex.
I’ve been talking with a young couple this week. We’ll call them Ben and Amy (not their real names). They were referred to me by two of their friends. Ben and Amy are buying their first home in the McKinney / Allen area of Texas and they are excited and a little nervous with all the things that have to be done in order to close. Not only are they first time home buyers, but they are also first time buyers of home insurance.
I got a call a few weeks ago from one of my clients in the Dallas area. I wrote the home insurance for he and his wife’s home two years ago and they wanted me to quote their car insurance too. To help me quote their insurance, his wife sent me a copy of a letter they received from their loan company. The letter simply stated that they needed to provide proof of current insurance or they would provide it for them at the price quoted in the letter. Sounds nice doesn’t it?! The truth is, the “help” they were offering had several “gotchas” in it and it was far from a fair price for the help they were providing.
On April 3, 2012 the Dallas / Fort Worth area was struck by more than a dozen tornados. Hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed in Arlington, Irving, Lancaster, Dallas, Mesquite, Balch Springs, Forney and Royce City. I will never forget the images of semi-trailers being swirled around in the wind and thrown over 8 lanes of Interstate 20. Thousands of lives were affected by the storm’s which left damages surpassing $1 billion. The good news is no one was killed.
The 2013 Texas Legislature passed two insurance related bills last week. One makes your life easier, and the other one protects you when you talk with your insurance company. The bills the Legislature passed address…
Last week we examined four discounts that lower the cost of home insurance including: A home’s age, Account / multi-policy discount, Alarm / protective devices and Mature homeowner discount. Here are 9 more ways to help reduce the cost of your home insurance.
On December 18th of last year, a New York arbitrator ordered Ex-Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin to pay $5 million in damages to Donald Trump who owns the Miss Universe Organization which includes the Miss USA pageant. Earlier in the year, Trump sued Ms. Monnin for defamation on behalf of the Miss Universe Organization after she claimed the Miss USA pageant outcome was rigged on both Facebook and NBC’s “Today” show.
Everyone loves saving money! After all why should you pay more for something if you don’t have to? With that thought in mind, here are 4 standard home insurance discounts. Many of these discounts are also available on renters and condo policies too!
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