As part of our continuing series on “what to do if,” today we will discuss, “what to do if you are ordered to evacuate by the Fire Department, Police Department, or local authorities.”
While many people living in more developed areas will hopefully never have to deal with this situations, folks that live within a mile or so of areas that are experiencing fires may very well be ordered to evacuate. This exact situation happened to several of my policyholders during the Station Fire, and it has happened numerous times throughout recent history. Leaving your home due to fire or some other reason can be very traumatic for all involved, especially if you have young children. The uncertainty of what to take, what to leave behind, etc. can leave a family paralyzed with doubt and fear. Sometimes, people refuse to leave. This is a very, very bad idea. This is a bad idea for several reasons. First of all, their presence creates an extra burden on the authorities responsible for putting out the fire. They may possibly be required to commit extra resources to protecting that family, and leave other people or other people’s property unprotected. Also, if the situation becomes dire, the option of getting out may not be available. There have been many, many situations in which people who refused to leave their homes ended up losing their lives as well as their property. This is a tragic situation that could easily be avoided. Another reason that some people give when they refuse to leave their home is that they don’t know where they will stay. This is where having a good insurance agent, and good policy, come in. Most of the major insurance companies have a provision in their policies that will provide Additional Living Expenses (ALE) coverage in the event of an ordered evacuation. Your insurance policy will provide the additional costs associated with being away from your home, such as food, shelter, and clothing. What’s especially amazing about this coverage is that there is often NO DEDUCTIBLE! Additional Living Expenses coverage pays first dollar. Another way in which you can feel secure in leaving your home is that insurance companies respond to fires in much the same way that first responders do in that they identify areas that need resources and respond appropriately. Farmers Insurance, for example, has a sophisticated system of claims vehicles placed throughout the United States so that they can be up and running and serving policyholders within 12-24 hours of an identified event. In fact, Farmers is often the first insurance company on the scene and helps other insurance companies assist their clients. In the event of a catastrophic event, insurance companies generally work together to make people’s lives a little more bearable. So to recap, if you are ordered to leave, the best course of action is to….leave! If you live within a mile or so of a brush area, it would probably be wise to have a pre-packed “grab bag” that you can grab and go, depending on how much time you have available. If you have your “grab bag” already packed, and you have an hour to evacuate, you can then devote time to packing the irreplaceable items like family mementos, pets, or even some high value items that may be difficult to replace. If you live in horse country, the authorities will often direct you to the location where you can take large animals. It may also be a good idea to find a fellow horse owner BEFORE the fire who can temporarily board your animals. During fire season, be wise. Remember, there’s nothing in your house worth risking your life, or the lives of your loved ones. Get to a safe place, then call your insurance agent. I hope that this information has benefited you. This blog entry is not intended to replace advice on your specific situation. Contact an insurance professional to see how your specific situation may be addressed. You may also call me or my licensed staff at (661) 946-4224. You can also email me at dave@thedaveowens.com. Be safe!!
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In June of this year, six earthquakes rocked California, from Mammoth Lakes south to San Bernardino. While we love living in this beautiful State, it does require us to be aware and prepared for some of the risks of living in Earthquake Country!
On October 3, 2016, the Los Angeles Times wrote an article about how homeowners in California are taking risks by not having earthquake insurance. In fact only 17% of all California homeowners have earthquake insurance. In this blog I will share the benefits of having earthquake coverage as well as key information to help you determine if this coverage is right for you. For anyone who has lived in Southern California for any length of time, you know that this is indeed Earthquake Country! In fact, a little shaking of the ground barely generates a comment from locals! It has to be a fairly large earthquake to get our attention. That being said, earthquakes are no laughing matter. A casual observer can see hairline stucco cracks radiating out from windows in homes of even fairly recent construction. While our homes in Southern California are designed to be earthquake tolerant, they are NOT earthquake proof! One of the most common questions I am asked as an insurance professional is, "should I purchase earthquake insurance for my home?" The answer to this question is not a pure “yes” or “no,” but each individual situation needs to be examined. While only you can decide what the right decision on purchasing earthquake insurance is for you, Here are a few thoughts to consider. First of all, the "big player" for earthquake insurance in California is the California Earthquake Authority, or “CEA.” Admitted insurance companies in California (those who have been licensed by the California Department of Insurance) who sell homeowners insurance policies are REQUIRED BY LAW to offer earthquake insurance through the California Earthquake Authority. In fact, insurance buyers are required to be offered earthquake insurance. That’s how important the State of California views earthquake insurance. In addition to the CEA, there are a number of other companies that offer earthquake insurance as well. They often offer earthquake insurance for larger risks like apartments or retail buildings. With that introduction to the earthquake insurance market, the question remains, “should I buy earthquake insurance?” In my opinion, the main concern you should have is another “EQ” word, and that word is “equity.” Equity is the value of your home, minus any financial encumbrances you have on it. In other words, the value of your home minus the mortgage. For several years, many people had negative equity, or they were “upside down” on their home, meaning that they owed more than the home was worth! For someone in an “upside down” situation, purchasing earthquake insurance may not make sense. The reason for this is, if an earthquake were to occur, the purchaser could still very well find themselves without a home. They purchased insurance on their home, but after the deductible is factored in, all of the money goes to the mortgage company, and the homeowner does not have the means to rebuild! The earthquake policy ended up leaving them in a worse position because they paid premiums for a policy that provided them little to no benefit. On the other hand, someone who has a substantial amount of equity should seriously consider purchasing earthquake insurance. When you have a mortgage on your home, you and the financing institution share ownership of the property. As you pay down your mortgage, your share of the ownership goes up, the bank’s goes down. The amount of money (equity) that needs protecting goes up as the years go by. We are currently seeing a rise in property values which is increasing the values of homes throughout the state. You may very well have gone from “upside down” to being very well placed value-wise in a very short period of time! If you are in this position, a visit with your insurance agent is certainly in order. It is also important to note that Earthquake policies are structured differently than regular homeowner’s policies. Rather than having a set dollar amount of a deductible ($1000, $2500, etc.), the deductibles are set as a percentage of the total rebuild cost of your home. Currently, the CEA offers a 25%, 20%, 15%, 10%, as well as a 5% deductible. How it would work is, if your home costs $300,000 to rebuild the deductible would be $45,000 if you were to have a 15% deductible. If you were to purchase a policy with a 10% deductible, you would pay $30,000 out of pocket. This high deductible structure has kept many people from purchasing a policy, and that reticence is certainly understandable based on the scenario I detailed above. The logic in purchasing an earthquake policy if you have equity in your home, even if you do NOT have the $45,000 to rebuild as mentioned in the scenario above is that you would at least get SOMETHING out of your home. If you had $150,000 worth of equity, and you had $45,000 as your deductible, you could still potentially get over $100,000. Without the coverage, you get nothing. People often ask about whether or not the Federal government would help out in that situation. While I’m not disparaging the hard-working people of FEMA, the assistance provided by the Feds is often uneven at best. Using FEMA as your sole hope for insurance is probably not a good idea. As I said before, purchasing an earthquake policy is not a black and white issue. It takes thought and information: something that our office can provide. If you are struggling with whether or not to purchase earthquake insurance, give our office a call. You may reach us at (661) 946-4224, or you can email me at dave@thedaveowens.com. I or my licensed staff will be happy to go over the “ins and outs” of earthquake insurance. I would also strongly suggest that you check out the following website http://www.shakeout.org/california/ for information on how to get prepared for the “Big One.” Whether or not earthquake insurance is right for you, every family should have an earthquake disaster plan, and this site can help you be prepared. We are one day away from the first day of summer and fire season is in full swing.
As part of our continuing series on “what to do if,” today we will discuss, “what to do if you are ordered to evacuate by the Fire Department, Police Department, or local authorities.” While many people living in more developed areas will hopefully never have to deal with this situations, folks that live within a mile or so of areas that are experiencing fires may very well be ordered to evacuate. This exact situation happened to several of my policyholders during the Station Fire, and it has happened numerous times throughout recent history. Leaving your home due to fire or some other reason can be very traumatic for all involved, especially if you have young children. The uncertainty of what to take, what to leave behind, etc. can leave a family paralyzed with doubt and fear. Sometimes, people refuse to leave. This is a very, very bad idea. This is a bad idea for several reasons. First of all, their presence creates an extra burden on the authorities responsible for putting out the fire. They may possibly be required to commit extra resources to protecting that family, and leave other people or other people’s property unprotected. Also, if the situation becomes dire, the option of getting out may not be available. There have been many, many situations in which people who refused to leave their homes ended up losing their lives as well as their property. This is a tragic situation that could easily be avoided. Another reason that some people give when they refuse to leave their home is that they don’t know where they will stay. This is where having a good insurance agent, and good policy, come in. Most of the major insurance companies have a provision in their policies that will provide Additional Living Expenses (ALE) coverage in the event of an ordered evacuation. Your insurance policy will provide the additional costs associated with being away from your home, such as food, shelter, and clothing. What’s especially amazing about this coverage is that there is often NO DEDUCTIBLE! Additional Living Expenses coverage pays first dollar. Another way in which you can feel secure in leaving your home is that insurance companies respond to fires in much the same way that first responders do in that they identify areas that need resources and respond appropriately. Farmers Insurance, for example, has a sophisticated system of claims vehicles placed throughout the United States so that they can be up and running and serving policyholders within 12-24 hours of an identified event. In fact, Farmers is often the first insurance company on the scene and helps other insurance companies assist their clients. In the event of a catastrophic event, insurance companies generally work together to make people’s lives a little more bearable. So to recap, if you are ordered to leave, the best course of action is to….leave! If you live within a mile or so of a brush area, it would probably be wise to have a pre-packed “grab bag” that you can grab and go, depending on how much time you have available. If you have your “grab bag” already packed, and you have an hour to evacuate, you can then devote time to packing the irreplaceable items like family mementos, pets, or even some high value items that may be difficult to replace. If you live in horse country, the authorities will often direct you to the location where you can take large animals. It may also be a good idea to find a fellow horse owner BEFORE the fire who can temporarily board your animals. During fire season, be wise. Remember, there’s nothing in your house worth risking your life, or the lives of your loved ones. Get to a safe place, then call your insurance agent. I hope that this information has benefited you. This blog entry is not intended to replace advice on your specific situation. Contact an insurance professional to see how your specific situation may be addressed. You may also call me or my licensed staff at (661) 946-4224. You can also email me Welcome to 2017! A new year is here and many of us are encouraged and motivated to set new goals. Some will set financial goals for this year, others will set health goals, while still others pursue career or personal goals. These are all noble and good, however, let me present another set of goals that can be easily be forgotten, but are just as important!! First, safety goals for around your home. The New Year is a perfect time to inspect all your smoke and fire detectors. If you don’t have those in your home, this is the year to get them. Here are a few helpful pointers from our friends at the Red Cross: file:///C:/Users/OwensDesktop/Desktop/m4340073_FireSafety.pdf I’ve highlighted a few that I believe are highly important.
Second, have a fire escape plan in place for your family. Again our friends at the Red Cross give us the following tips:
Lastly, keep all your Insurance and other valuable contact information in a safe place outside your home in case you need to contact these folks after a fire.
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AuthorDave Owens, Owner/Agent. I have proudly served in the Insurance Industry for over 20 years. Archives
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