It's been awhile since my last blog entry.
It may seem like I went into hiding somewhere up in the mountains (though it did feel like it), Truth is. I have to take a long unwanted leave of absence from my usual routine.
Why?
Well, I am so tempted to do a tell-all story here, but I have no intentions of holding a pity party now, nor any plans of holding such anytime in the future.
This entry will provide some reason for my disappearance...some real life experienced that I’ve been through. I want to share and hopefully provide some useful information for my fellow homeowners and future homeowners as well.
I begin with this title.
"When Disaster Strikes Like a Thief in the Night"
99.9 % at a time, nobody's ready for it. We may have the ability and technology to predict (with oftentimes, very little chance to prepare), but damages resulting from Mother Nature's wrath is something that none of us can put a stop with.
That's exactly what happened to me this past spring, when my town was hit with a flood of historical proportion (I'd say historical because the last incident was 80 some years ago).
It's even more devastating in my block because we we're hit twice in a span of 3 weeks.
Thank God, no one was physically hurt and our house stayed in place, so I didn't have to change my street house number.
But I have to go through a long agonizing process of rebuilding the entire first floor of my house.
It was indeed terrifying but humbling experience. Now, I have more respect as to what Mother Nature can do to us human beings.
I got a double whammy! 2 in 3…Two hits of flood, 3 weeks apart.
My insurance company must have thought that I’ve planned this all along.
Talking about insurance!
OK. Now I want you to stay here with me, because I’m about to share with you some real life, school of hard knocks experience that could save you a bundle.
And NO, I’m not talking about GEICO.
I’m talking about good ol’ tips to prepare you as a homeowner, in the event of (God forbid) an uneventful disaster that could strike you like a thief in the night.
Something, I would never wish to happen even to my “most annoying neighbor”.
Where was I? Oh, about the insurance.
Yes. All homeowners are required by lenders to have hazard insurance, and that’s a norm. However, majority of us carry only the generic coverage.
A huge mistake!
Natural disasters are unpredictable and unavoidable…but damages are recoverable…if you are prepared.
Do you know that a difference of fifty bucks or less a month could cover a bigger portion on your property?
When I filed my claim for damages…boy, was I in for a big surprise?
All these years, I didn’t realize that my policy only covers the building structure, and the things that are attached to it. You know, those built in appliances. (Shame, shame, shame…I didn’t spend time reading and paying attention to what is covered on my policy).
Let me throw in some tips here if you may.
Tip number 1
Very simple and yet oftentimes, neglected.
Please obtain a copy of your home-owners insurance policy.
Read and understand the coverage declarations, and if you have trouble understanding! (don’t come to me because I am not a lawyer). Contact your State Insurance Department.
I recommend that you first check this site http://www.naic.org/ because they have some basic information that could save you time waiting for a live person to answer your phone inquiry on busy days. There are also vast of information that you will find online.
We may all have different coverage but it’s extremely important to know what’s covered on your home.
Base on my coverage, my appliances, furniture, and other valuable belongings are not covered. I wasn’t entirely surprise. However, learning from the insurance adjuster’s advice, I could have recoup a big portion of that loss had I bought additional coverage for those loss items mentioned, for probably a mere 10 dollars extra/month.
Understand though, that you should expect coverage minus the deductions and depreciation over the use in years. Example, my boiler, oil tank, steam machine heater, and the building structure…was depreciated to about 70% of the current value.
So once you determined your coverage…decide on which one you would want to invest.
Tip number 2
Start with your inventory.
Most Insurance Carrier have their own forms to list your inventory of personal items, and appliances that you want covered, find and attached your receipts for easy valuation.
If you hate keeping those files, then invest on a scanner so that you can keep a printable copy of your file…you’ll have to invest on external hard drive or any detachable plug and play device, to ensure that you don’t loose your files in the event that your computer gets corrupted by a malicious online virus.
This, you are free to ask my advice about what gadget, and the best place to buy. Just leave a comment.
Believe you me, it’s a smart investment.
I was reduced to tears after sifting through our stuff during the clean up, knowing that most of our photographic memories, years of collection, we’re damage. Those are hard copy memories that only happen once in our lifetime. Not to mention the legal documents that was completely damaged.
Anyway, I have enough regrets already for not doing what I was supposed to have done.
And really, like really, I meant for everyone to be reminded (I know that most of us are aware of this, but coming from me…who has a thing or two to say about been there, done that thingy…), maybe you will begin to realize…that it is indeed necessary to do this preparation ASAP.
Look, how many hours do we spend watching TV or whatever show we spend time sitting on the couch or taking a day trip to the mall to do our shopping. If we just spend a day going through this preparation. It could amount to huge financial value of days work or perhaps even weeks or months, depending on how much you make.
No matter what the amount, money saved, is money back to your pocket.
Tip number 3
If Necessary, Upgrade Your Insurance Coverage Base On the Current Property Value.
It may cost you some money to have an actual appraisal of your property, but it’s worth the money.
Unless you are refinancing, then you’ll know exactly your property’s current value.
Most lenders will require an increase on coverage (still generic) or if you don’t believe that your property had gained some equity over the past years…then you’ll have no reason to upgrade.
However, majority of homes gained some equity (increase in property value) over the past years. (There are places that are hard hit with the mortgage meltdown, which I will cover on my other entry)
Your original coverage may no longer be enough to cover the whole amount in the event (God forbid), disaster strikes like a thief in the night.
An upgrade will probably gonna cost you few hundred bucks difference, in exchange for a very goodnight sleep. (you can’t put a price tag on that!).
We’ll, Ok. If you buy and take Ambien or other sleeping pills, then that’s a price you pay to sleep well, but it’ll cost you more in the long run.
So it’s still economically efficient to just upgrade, and avoid the potential side effects and habitual addiction to substance.
So folks that will be for now.
Oh, BTW. (that’s by-the-way in case you’ve come across such acronym and wonder…what the heck does that mean.)
I’m not an affiliate. I don’t own, represent, or recommend any insurance company nor have any relatives, neighbor, friends, or love one’s that works with any insurance company.
Matter of fact, I have taken some legal actions for a claim that has been stalled for months. And I’ll tell you more about it next time, when you get a chance.
I’ll blog about flood insurance…you really gonna want to read this information, even if you are not on a flood zone.
Till next time…please drop a note. And if you have any experience with your insurance company…good or bad, please share it with us on the comment section.
If you have a blog that is relevant to this topic and you want to link with us…I love to create a reciprocating link with your blog site. Let me know.
Speak and be heard!
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