Posts Tagged ‘plan’

Q&A: Emergency Preparedness for Homeowners

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Part 4 of 4 on Emergency Preparedness.  You may still have some questions on preparing for an emergency.  Read through the Question and Answer article below.  You may just find your answer there.

I hope you enjoyed this small 4 part series of information!

Regards,
Michael Collins – Broker – Rock Realty

Q&A: Emergency Preparedness for Homeowners

Article From HouseLogic.com

By: Mike DeSenne
Published: March 31, 2010

HouseLogic talks to Red Cross disaster response expert Court Ogilvie about emergency preparedness for homeowners.

Emergency preparedness starts at home. Because disasters, from floods and fires to hurricanes and tornadoes, can strike without warning, it’s critical to have a disaster response plan in place almost from the moment you buy a house.

“I really can’t overstate the importance of thinking things through,” says Court Ogilvie, chief of staff to the senior VP of disaster services at the American Red Cross. “Simply put, the biggest tool we have in our disaster toolkit is our brains.”

Homeowners should devote an hour to a family meeting about emergency preparedness. Discuss evacuation and communication (http://www.houselogic.com/articles/create-an-evacuation-and-communication-plan/) in the event of disaster, and take action to assemble an emergency kit (http://www.houselogic.com/articles/create-a-home-emergency-preparedness-kit/). You can make your own kit (http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/index.html) or purchase a pre-made emergency kit (http://www.redcrossstore.org/Shopper/Product.aspx?UniqueItemId=3). It’s a wise investment of time and money.

“Recent studies suggest that every dollar invested in preparedness nets a post-event return of $4 to $7,” says Ogilvie. “With homes being the biggest investment that many of us will ever make, disaster preparedness needs to be considered as another way to protect that investment.”

Here’s what else Ogilvie had to say about emergency preparedness for homeowners.

HouseLogic: When it comes to disaster preparedness, what’s the last thing homeowners think about that should, in reality, be the first thing they think about?

Court Ogilvie: Typically, preparedness puts a lot of emphasis on consumables–on building a kit and having supplies on hand–and those are certainly important things to do. But there is a sequence to ensuring that you are prepared, and you can’t assemble the right kit until you’ve thought about the people that might use it, why they might use it, and when they might use it.

Most of the threats we face in our homes are predictable–home fires, natural hazards common to our location, gas leaks–things that we would identify as possibilities if we just stopped to think about them before they occurred. So the first thing we should all be thinking about related to preparedness is, what is a possible or likely occurrence in my new home or neighborhood?

So make a plan for it, talk about the possibilities with your family members, and have those conversations well ahead of any emerging threat. This doesn’t have to be some big formal family meeting; it just needs to happen after you get to know your new home and begin to understand some of the things that might threaten it or your family.

HL: When should homeowners start preparing for a disaster?

CO: I’d say you should start to prepare at the closing, but I guess that might be a little early! But certainly you need to start as soon as you get in your home and get to know your surroundings.

Some of the things you might do are standard homeowner things, like ensuring that you have working smoke detectors and understanding how you would get out if there is a fire. But it’s also important to know what’s around you that might create an urgent situation, both inside and outside of your home.

HL: Can you talk a bit about specific disasters?

CO: Each disaster presents a different type of threat, and it’s important that you get to know the most likely threats in your area. There are some great checklists available free of charge that discuss different events.

For hurricanes (http://www.redcross.org/www-files/Documents/pdf/Preparedness/checklists/Hurricane.pdf), the very first thing that the Red Cross suggests is to listen to the radio to stay informed about the storm’s course and to keep abreast of evacuation plans for your community. For tornadoes (http://www.redcross.org/www-files/Documents/pdf/Preparedness/checklists/Tornado.pdf), we suggest that you get to know your community’s warning systems very well, and that you have a safe room identified in your home.

HL: What if I don’t live in a disaster-prone area? Do I still need a plan?

CO: You know, we get this question more than you might think. I suppose it’s because disaster response is defined by these big events–big hurricanes, floods, wildfires–with dramatic images captured by the media. But those events are actually the exceptions.

The majority of disasters in this country affect just a single home. The Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters a year, and most of them are single-family events that don’t even make the local news.

These numbers tell us that preparedness needs to be serious business, but the planning doesn’t have to be all gloom and doom. Many families have fun with the planning activities, and it can certainly take a lot of the fear out of events.

HL: What should homeowners be thinking about in the immediate aftermath of a disaster?

CO: Recent research shows that people think that help will magically arrive at their doorstep within three hours of an event, and that is quite simply not the case. You need to take charge of your own safety, by having a plan, by having the right supplies on hand, and by staying informed.

Post-event, your continued safety is obviously the most critical concern. When you put your plan in place, you should be sure that it includes listening to the authorities, evacuating if that’s what’s necessary, and taking any other steps that authorities are recommending for your particular home or community.

Once you are sure that you are safe, you might think about reporting any dangerous situations that you can safely see–maybe there’s a downed power line–checking on an elderly neighbor, or perhaps notifying loved ones from outside the affected area that you are OK. And if you are out of the area and it isn’t yet safe to return, then stay away.

Mike DeSenne is Online Managing Editor at HouseLogic.com. Living on the East Coast, he’s weathered his fair share of Nor’easters, tropical storms, and hurricanes.
Rock Realty
Rock Solid Real Estate Strategies
PO Box 2444
Janesville, WI 53547-2444
c: 608.921.8536
f: 877.774.7625
Mike@RockRealtyWI.com
http://www.rockrealtywi.com/

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Insuring Against Natural Disasters

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Part 3 of 4 on Emergency Preparedness.  It’s very important to also review your insurance policies.  You may be surprised at what disasters are not covered.  We have had quite a bit of flooding in this area over the past few years.  When damage to my home’s basement was determined as ’seepage’, I received the news that my insurance would not cover the repairs.  You can stay out of a situation like mine by purchasing extra insurance for flooding and other natural disasters.

Regards,
Michael Collins – Broker – Rock Realty

Insuring Against Natural Disasters

Article From HouseLogic.com

By: Gwen Moran
Published: August 28, 2009

Your homeowners insurance covers many of life’s disasters, just not some natural disasters like earthquakes and floods, so consider supplemental policies.

Homeowners insurance can protect you from many of life’s calamities, but your policy doesn’t shield you from all of the tricks Mother Nature has up her sleeve. In fact, standard policies specifically exclude most natural disasters.

In some areas of the country, where the risk is higher, hurricanes and earthquakes are often exempted. Some policies may cover flooding from rain, but exclude water damage from tidal surges, which can be a far greater threat. Enter disaster insurance, which covers losses sustained from specific catastrophes that traditional homeowners policies avoid.

While supplemental disaster coverage is usually available to at-risk property owners, buying a policy isn’t always a no-brainer. The high premiums and deductibles, and low chance of a disaster actually striking your home, give reason for pause. Before calling your agent consider your risk-tolerance, and conduct your own personal cost-benefit analysis.

Flirting with disaster insurance

Before you begin shopping around for disaster insurance, you need to look at your existing homeowners policy (http://www.houselogic.com/articles/homeowners-insurance-time-for-annual-check-up/) to determine which events are covered and which are excluded, says Larry Cochran, CEO of IAS Claims Services, an independent claims adjusting firm in San Antonio, Texas. Read all of the endorsements carefully. If you still have questions, call your insurance agent for answers.

Once you understand what’s already covered, you need to evaluate the specific disaster risks where you live. The office of your state’s insurance commissioner is a good place to start. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (http://www.fema.gov/hazard/index.shtm) has information about various types of natural hazards and data on the history of disasters in various regions. The National Flood Insurance Program (http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/) offers flood maps and guidelines for evaluating risk.

Depending on the region where you live (http://www.houselogic.com/articles/the-right-disaster-insurance-for-your-region/) and risk you’re trying to cover, you may be able to find insurance for specific disasters through a traditional carrier. For high-risk areas, many states have so-called residual markets, which are subsidized insurance pools to provide coverage. The NFIP is a federally run program that offers flood insurance to homeowners in most risk-prone communities.

It’s important to check out the company that will be insuring your home, says Illinois Insurance Director Michael McRaith. Talk to friends and neighbors about their experiences with their carriers. Also visit the website of an insurance rating company like A.M. Best (http://www.ambest.com/) to see how various carriers are rated. (Free online registration is required to access insurers’ ratings.) The higher the rating for the insurance company, the more financially stable it is.

Timing too is important when it comes to disaster insurance, since flood insurance may have a 30-day waiting period before it goes into effect. “Trigger” events may also limit your options in the case of storm damage. According to the Insurance Information Institute (http://www.iii.org/), these triggers vary by state, but once a tropical storm is named, a hurricane watch is declared, or a hurricane’s intensity is defined, newly issued policies won’t be available to cover that particular storm.

Putting a price on extra coverage

The cost of your insurance may vary greatly depending on the size and type of your home and your geographic location, as well as the type of disaster you’re insuring against, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars annually. However, the size of the premium must be weighed against the cost to repair or replace your dwelling and its contents after a disaster. For example, according to the NFIP, the average flood insurance policy costs $540 per year; the average flood claim over the past 10 years was $33,000.

Earthquake coverage usually costs between $1.50 and $3 per $1,000 of coverage on the structure per year. So, for example, $300,000 worth of coverage would usually run between $450 and $900, with a typical deductible of 5% to 15% of the home’s insured value. So if your home was insured for $300,000, you would be responsible for the first $15,000 to $45,000 out of pocket before your coverage would apply. There may be separate deductibles for a home’s structure vs. its contents.

Coverage of hurricane and wind damage can vary greatly. In some areas, it’s part of a typical homeowners policy. However, 18 states have additional hurricane deductibles that can range from a flat fee of a few hundred dollars to as much as 10% of the home’s insured value, depending on the risk level of the area. In situations where you have an option to choose a deductible, realistically evaluate what you can afford to replace on your own, as the higher the deductible, the less the insurance costs in most cases.

There’s no definitive way to know whether you should buy disaster insurance. Beyond where you live and what your homeowners policy already covers, the decision needs to take into account factors like your individual comfort with risk and how you’d spend the money you save on premiums. If you never drink milk past the expiration date or cross the street without looking both ways, then skimping on disaster insurance might not fit your personality.

But if you do decide to take a pass on disaster insurance, make sure you have access to a rainy-day fund, line of credit, or a rich uncle just in case the worst comes to pass. That’s especially true if you have a lot of equity built up in your home.

Gwen Moran has been writing about business, finance, and real estate for more than a decade. Her work has been published by Entrepreneur, Newsweek.com, Financial Planning, and The Residential Specialist. A Jersey Shore resident, she has weathered hurricanes, Nor’easters, and even one small earthquake.
Rock Realty
Rock Solid Real Estate Strategies
PO Box 2444
Janesville, WI 53547-2444
c: 608.921.8536
f: 877.774.7625
Mike@RockRealtyWI.com
http://www.rockrealtywi.com/

Follow us:
www.twitter.com/RockRealty
www.facebook.com/RockRealtyMike

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