I was 14 or 15 at the time and sitting in the back seat of my dad’s 1972 Pontiac Grand Am. My two younger sisters were on the back seat with me while my youngest sister sat on my mom’s lap in the front passenger seat. No one had a car seat back then and most of us rode in our cars without buckling our seat belts.
Every couple of months, I get a call from a realtor, an insurance agent, or a mortgage loan officer. The stories are variations on a theme; they have a client that’s trying to buy a home but there’s one little issue that’s threatening to derail the close. Usually these gotchas present themselves when the home buyer has found their dream home only to discover their current insurer is unable to insure it. This usually is not discovered until two weeks or less before the scheduled close and creates a mad scramble to find insurance for the buyer’s dream home. They call me.
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.
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 love spring in Texas. It’s a great time of year for a dog to ride around in the car. There’s nothing like having the windows down, sniffing all the different scents, looking at everything and the ears flapping in the wind. Dog bliss! But is this the safest way for your pet to travel?
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.
You’re driving along with the flow of traffic on LBJ Freeway in Dallas and it suddenly stops. You breathe a sigh of relief because you stopped in time and didn’t hit the person in front of you. To your dismay the next sound you hear is the screeching of tires behind you followed by the bang of the impact as you’re rear ended and pushed into the car you avoided hitting.
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…
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