Broadly speaking, there are two types of home insurance policies; actual cash value and replacement cost. There are multiple forms with various options and coverage, but they all fit into one of these two “buckets.”
Most people usually don’t think about their roof unless there’s been a recent hail storm or a damp spot appears on a room ceiling. As long as it’s not leaking, we tend to ignore it even when we see it pulling into the driveway. This past week roofs have been the subject of three conversations, two were with clients and the other with a Dallas realtor on behalf of a client with an offer on a home.
Yahoo posted an interesting article on June 2nd listing 25 Ways to Make Money Renting Your Home, Car, Kitchen and More to Total Strangers. I am always fascinated to see how people make money. In this digital age, it’s possible for anyone to participate in the sharing economy and make a little extra money too. The one thing that’s missing from this article and other blog posts I’ve seen are the insurance implications for the owner of the home or vehicle, and there are some.
People who live in the counties along the Texas coast usually have a policy that’s unfamiliar to most homeowners in north Texas. In addition to home insurance, most homeowners in the coastal counties of Texas will also have a separate wind insurance policy. This policy specifically addresses damage to a home caused by high winds normally associated with a hurricane.
A couple of weeks ago, I was having coffee with a retired couple in a Dallas Starbucks reviewing the home insurance quotes I’d prepared for them. They’d been referred to me by a friend who was concerned they were paying too much for home insurance. They were asking questions about the quotes we’d reviewed and the explanation I’d given for the coverage. The wife asked me one final question which was, would the home insurance premium increase next year?
Every home insurance quote begins in a conversation with the home owner or buyer. I take the time to understand how the home is finished out such as the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, type of floor coverings, roof type, etc. This information is then entered into the replacement cost system for each insurance company we work with which in turn generates a home’s replacement cost value.
I’ve received calls from two different clients over the past two weeks. Each was about the same thing; they’d received a notice from their mortgage company notifying them of a deficit in their escrow account. They had the option of paying the escrow shortage or it could be factored into their already increased monthly home mortgage payment. Sheri and I also received the same notice a few weeks earlier.
I received a text message from one of our car insurance clients last week. Her car had been broken into and a ring was missing. She wanted to know if the loss of the ring was covered by her car insurance. It’s not; whenever an item that is not a part of the car is stolen from a car, it’s considered a home insurance claim…
On Saturday, April 26, a low pressure front swept out of the Rockies across Texas, the southern plains, and across the southeast. It collided with moist air from the Gulf spawning 36 tornadoes over 8 states ranging from Arkansas to Virginia. As if the tornadoes weren’t enough, the same storm system dumped 12 to 18 inches of rain across Alabama and the Florida pan handle before swinging up the Atlantic coast causing widespread flooding.
Hurricane season runs from June 1 through the end of November. Hurricane forecasters at Colorado State University climatologists and the Tropical Storm Risk group in London predict a lighter than normal hurricane season for 2014. Both groups believe this due to cooling in the Atlantic Ocean and the re-emergence of El Nino. CSU forecasters predict 9 named storms with 3 hurricanes, 1 severe with winds greater than 110 miles per hour, while Tropical Storm Risk predicts 12 named storms, including 5 hurricanes with 2 being intense.
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