Extended Dwelling Coverage on a Homeowner

Many moons ago all insurance companies used to have guaranteed replacement cost endorsement you could put on your homeowner policy. This endorsement would guarantee that the insurance company would rebuild your house exactly as it was prior to the claim even if your limit of insurance on the house was lower than the cost to rebuild. Today many insurance companies limit that endorsement to only homes that are considered high value (homes valued at $500,000 or more). The endorsements also require that the insurance companies send out professional reconstruction appraisers to figure out as best they can what it would cost to rebuild your home.

For those homeowner clients who have a house valued at less than $500,000 the endorsement that needs to be added to the homeowner policy is Extended Dwelling Coverage. What this endorsement does is give a percentage of the homeowner limit as extra coverage in case of a total loss on the home. For example, if you have 25% Extended Dwelling Coverage and your house is insured for $200,000 then you would actually have $250,000 if your home suffered a total loss ($200,000 X 1.25 = $250,000).

We feel this coverage is important for two reasons. One reason is we do not send out professional reconstruction appraisers to every house. Instead, insurance companies use in house software that helps determine reconstruction cost on your house using things like square footage, construction type, location, year built, etc. to come up with a value. These programs are usually very accurate but nothing replaces the accuracy of an in home visit with measuring tape and details of the type of amenities in the house. The Extended Dwelling Coverage endorsement helps make sure that if for some reason the calculations on the house are a little off, there is still enough insurance there to replace the house to its original state.

The second reason we encourage this endorsement is for catastrophe situations. Let’s say a tornado wipes out not only your house but two other neighborhoods worth of homes. Every builder and building supplier in town will be in demand. Economics 101 will tell you that if demand goes up and supply is the same, then prices are going to rise. That home that only cost $200,000 to rebuild just got a lot more expensive but if you have the Extended Dwelling Coverage on your homeowner you would be in a much better situation.

One thing to note about this endorsement, you can’t use it to underinsure your home. In our example above, you can’t insure the house for only $160,000 and add the 25% Extended Dwelling Coverage (which would put your total insurance at $200,000). That is not the intent of the coverage. The insure companies will use their software to figure out a good estimate of the cost to rebuild your house and you would have to have it insured for that amount in order to add the coverage.

Garden Goods in December

It’s December and incredibly (!) our tiny vegetable garden is still producing cherry tomatoes and zucchini!  Ahhh, the value of choosing a sunny spot for a garden plot.

Here’s the bounty I collected on Christmas Day.

Here are the veggies the day after, whipped up into a delicious chicken and veggie dinner.  Nothing tastes better that a homegrown tomato.  Even in December.

Merry Christmas!

Christmastime means sugar cookies, stockings and sitting by a crackling fire!

This fireplace contains a Heatilator (the four vents), which is a vent system designed to redirect more heat from the fireplace back into the room.  Having sat in front of it several times this month, I attest the Heatilator works.  

Safe Travels this Holiday!

The Holidays are in full swing and with Christmas just a couple of days away; many have already started their Holiday travels. Being the insurance people that we are, here are a few tips for a safe and secure season of travel.

1) Make your home seem like someone is still there. You can do this several ways. Leave your front and back porch lights on so that at night your house is lit up. Ask a neighbor to collect your mail while you are gone so it doesn’t stack up. You can also ask the post office to hold if for you until you get back. Another way to make it look like you are home is to ask a neighbor to pull in and out of your driveway at some point if it snows giving the appearance that you have been in and out of your house.

2) Don’t show off to the Facebook world that you are on vacation. I know this can be tough for some but letting everyone know you are out of town on Facebook can be dangerous. We recommend waiting until you get home from your trip before you post vacation pictures.

3) Car travelers should be prepared for heavy snow at all times. The best way to do this is to make sure you have extra blankest, windshield washer fluid, ice scrapers and even a small shovel. You never know when you might need any of those things. Also, be sure to have your phone charged during the trip so that you have it in case of an emergency.
4) Don’t skimp on heat in your home: This time last year our big recommendation in our “Traveling Over the Holiday” blog article was to keep the heat in your house at a reasonable level so your pipes don’t freeze. Again, we recommend this.

Those are just a few simple tips. We here at Fey Insurance hope you have a wonderful Holiday and Merry Christmas

Feds urge states to ban texting and talking on the roads

Tuesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced that in their opinion texting, emailing or chatting while driving is simply too dangerous to be allowed anywhere in the United States. They are urging all states to impose a total ban except for emergincies. Presently, 35 states plus the District of Columbia ban texting while driving, and thirty states ban all cellphone use for beginning drivers. Enforcement is sketchy and no states ban the use of hands-free devices for all drivers. The NTSB says they are seeing increasing texting, cellphone calls and other distractions by drivers in accidents involving all kinds of transportation. It is common for law enforcement officers to immediately request the preservation of cell phone and texting records when an accident investigation begins. While no states ban hands-free use, the NTSB's recommendation that hands-free use of cell phones be banned, too, will carry much weight with federal regulators, Congress and state law makers.

Fireplaces

Our House has two fireplaces; a traditional brick one in the living room with a low hearth where you can sit and soak up the fire’s heat.

And in the kitchen a raised contraption that looks more like an Italian restaurant’s pizza oven than a fireplace. 

In the heat of August having a fireplace, not to mention two, seemed over the top for our mild Southern California climate.  But now in the grip of December’s chilly desert evenings, I’m glad we have both of them. 

Note to Self: before the return of August’s triple digit temperatures, I want to make a pizza in the “pizza oven”.

Host Liquor Liability (Repost)

Over the next several months there will be many reasons for businesses and individuals to host events and parties where alcohol may be served. Businesses will have parties and happy hours to celebrate the holiday season where they will be providing alcohol for employees or customers. Individuals may use the same reason to have friends and family over to celebrate and consume alcohol. Taking my party hat off for just a moment and putting my risk management/insurance hat on, let me discuss something called Host Liquor Liability.

This is a coverage that often is part of a Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy and also included in homeowner policies as long as the individual and/or businesses are not in the occupation of making, selling or distributing of alcohol for money (meaning bars, distilleries, wineries, restaurants, etc. would have a different coverage simply called Liquor Liability). Host Liquor Liability is a coverage to help protect in cases where injuries happen because of alcohol incidents. One common example would be a participant is driving drunk and as a result crashes and injures people in an auto accident. Wherever the drunk driver last consumed alcohol could find themselves facing a lawsuit for injuries that were caused by the driver. They could be pulled into the situation because it was at their event and under their supervision that this driver consumed alcohol and then got behind the wheel intoxicated and drove off.

So here is one key thing about host liquor liability that all your employees, customers and/or friends and family will like to hear: if you are going to have an event with alcohol you are best to give it away. If at your event money changes hands and people are then able to consume alcohol you would have violated the no making, selling or distributing of alcohol for money rule. If you are having alcohol at a charity event the alcohol would have to be donated for the event or have a very good paper trail showing that none of the moneys collected to get in the event went toward the purchase of alcohol. Now, if your event is going to have a cash bar you will need to look into purchasing two items. The first is a temporary liquor license from the state and the second is a Liquor Liability insurance policy. Both of those can be costly and time consuming to acquire so your best bet is to just give it away… and be more popular with your employees, customers, friends and family.

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house by default: we were the only ones with an oven big enough to cook the free-range, organic bird.  No matter how they came to us, we were happy to feed 12 hungry friends, aged 3 to 70, gathered around two long tables pushed together. 

For the first time Mr. Wonderful lobbied to stuff the turkey.  After some initial squeamishness, he did a stellar job.  

With hourly juice basting sessions, our new gas oven cooked it to perfection.

I was pleased and proud how moist and tender this free range Prince of Poultry turned out.  I think my gluten-free stuffing recipe helped prevent the turkey from drying out.   

Once the turkey, sweet potatoes, creamed spinach and fingerling potatoes had been placed on the table our guests decided we should host again next year.  Which is the best compliment of all.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Thanksgiving Saftey Tip from Red Cross

Thanksgiving is only a few days away.  By now many families are preparing for the big day by plotting out the cooking of the traditional Thanksgiving Turkey.  Whether you are deep frying the turkey or just baking it in the oven there is always risk in doing something that is not a daily routine.  I recently came across a great article written by the Oregon Chapter of the Red Cross.  They give these seven tips for safe cooking:

• Keep potholders and food wrappers at least three feet away from heat sources while cooking  
• Wear tighter fitting clothing with shorter sleeves when cooking
• Make sure all stoves, ovens, and ranges have been turned off when you leave the kitchen
• Set timers to keep track of turkeys and other food items that require extended cooking times
• Turn handles of pots and pans on the stove inward to avoid accidents
• Follow all manufacturer guidelines regarding the appropriate use of appliances
• After guests leave, designate a responsible adult to walk around the home making sure that all candles and smoking materials are extinguished

To read the entire article please click this link:  Thanksgiving Safety Tips

 

Market Value vs. Replacement Cost

Here is our first attempt at catering our insurance education to the visual learner.  We at Fey Insurance are not artist so please keep that in mind.  Enjoy this video that talks about the difference between market value and replacement cost.

Alternate Source of Home Heating

The high cost of home heating and the current recession have led many Americans to search for alternate sources of home heating. Many of these sources of heating may be acceptable if appropriate safeguards are used. However, be aware these supplemental heating devices are responsible for thousands of home fires each year.

Wood Stoves

Wood stoves cause more than 4000 residential fires each year. Carefully follow the manufacturer’s installation and maintenance instructions. Look for solid construction, such as plate steel or cast iron metal. Check for cracks and inspect legs, hinges and door seals for smooth joints and seams. Use only seasoned wood for fuel, not green wood, artificial logs or trash. Inspect and clean your pipes and chimney annually and check monthly for damage or obstructions. Cleaning more often may be necessary. Be sure to keep combustible objects at least three feet away from your wood stove.

Electric Space HeatersBuy only heaters with the Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) safety listing. Check to make sure it has a thermostat control mechanism, and will switch off automatically if the heater falls over. Space heaters need space; keep combustibles at least three feet away from the heater. Always unplug your electric space heater when not in use.

Kerosene HeatersBuy only UP-approved heaters and check with your local fire department on the legality of kerosene heater use in your community. Never fill your heater with gasoline or camp stove fuel; both flare up easily. Only use crystal clear K-1 kerosene. Never overfill any portable heater and never fuel the heater when it is hot. Use the kerosene heater in a well-ventilated room. Kerosene heaters pose perhaps the worst exposure largely due to improper use and the fact they contain a highly flammable liquid- not to mention potentially dangerous fumes.

FireplacesFireplaces and wood stoves regularly build up creosote in their chimneys. They need to be cleaned frequently and chimneys should be inspected for obstructions and cracks to prevent deadly chimney and roof fires. Check to make sure the damper is open before starting any fire. Never burn trash, paper or green wood in your fireplace. These materials cause heavy creosote buildup and are difficult to control. Use a screen heavy enough to stop rolling logs and big enough to cover the entire opening of the fireplace to catch flying sparks. Do not wear loose fitting clothes near any open flame. Make sure the fire is completely out before leaving the house or going to bed. Store cooled ashes in a tightly sealed metal container outside the home.
Finally, having a working smoke alarm dramatically increased your chances of surviving a fire. Always remember to practice a hoe escape plan frequently with your family.
Source: US Fire Association

Home Security Alarm (re post)

On a daily basis you see ads on TV for home security systems. We at Fey Insurance highly recommend the installation of a Home Security System to add additional protection for you and your family. Insurance will work to put your property back in place after a fire or burglary, but a Home Security System will work to prevent or minimize the effects of that fire or burglary. If you are interested in such a Home Security System, please call us and we will tell you our opinion of the various manufacturers and what features to consider. For example battery backups are usually included in Home Security Systems, but we would also recommend cellular backups for your system in the event your normal phone service goes down or even disabled by a potential burglar. We would include carbon monoxide detectors in your system especially if you have a natural gas furnace or hot water heater. Central station monitoring is preferable to systems that go directly into a police or fire dispatch. Both are considered superior to a system that only sounds a local alarm in your home. There are discounts on your Homeowner policy for the installation of a Home Security System. Please call us to review those discounts. But the most important reason, in our opinion, to install such a system is for additional security for your family and peace of mind that you are doing everything to protect your family and your property.

Professional Liability & the Claims-Made Policy

Occupations or business practices involving specialized care or advice often need professional liability insurance. Typical business classifications that need this coverage would be notary publics, real estate agents or managers, attorneys, doctors and consultants. The typical commercial general liability policy will only respond to bodily injury, property damage, personal injury or advertising injury claim.

The professional liability policy often is written on a claims-made form. The claims-made form requires the claim to be reported during the policy period, and the incident causing the claim must have occurred after the retro date for a claim to be covered. A retro date is a date prior to the start of the claims-made policy. The retro date could be years prior to the start date of the policy based on the underwriter’s discretion, after considering the applicants past exposures and loss history.

By comparison, the typical occurrence-based policy used in most commercial policies responds to claims that occur during the policy period, regardless of when reported subject to the statutes of limitations. The occurrence-based policy handles when the claim happens, and the claims-made policy considers when the claim is reported. In some cases, it is possible to purchase a claims-made policy with full prior acts coverage that essentially does away with a retro date. Coverage classes for this option are limited, and again, depend on the underwriter’s discretion.

When canceling an existing claims-made policy, it is usually advisable to purchase and extended reporting period. This is commonly referred to as tail coverage. Various lengths of time are available. Tail coverage extends the claim reporting period under the claims-made policy to cover claims that have occurred during the coverage period, and not yet reported by the cancellation date.
While most occurrence-based policies are somewhat similar, claims-made policies are usually specific to each company issuing the policy. The insurance agent must d o a careful review of these differences to determine applicability to a particular operation.

Fire Prevention Week

This week is the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Fire Prevention Week.  This is a great chance for you and your family to discuss the danger of fire, the best ways to prevent fires in the home and create an escape plan if fire were to occur in your home.  The National Fire Protection Association has teamed up with Scholastic, Inc. and have made great educational programs for families.  Click the below hyper link and be directed to the NFPA’s website that focus on the educational materials.  The materials are free.

National Fire Protection Website

US Working Toward Standardized Penalties for Data Breaches

Last month the US Senate’s Judiciary Committee approved three bills that deal with data breaches.  Those three bills where, The Personal Data Privacy and Security Act of 2011, The Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act of 2011 and the Data Breach Notification Act of 2011.  The gist of all these acts is that the government is working toward a standardized practice of requiring notification of data breaches and a standardization of penalties for companies that have data breaches.  What this means for business is that it is now very important for you to take as many precautions as you can to secure your clients’ private data.  Firewalls, antivirus software, IT consultants, encryptions, company internet usage policies and password protections are all key parts of securing your business for data breaches. 

Even if all the preventative measures are in place, your business still runs that risk of a data breach.  That is where insurance products can help protect your business.  Insurance products can’t help protect your data but they can protect your company’s money by helping pay for data breach notification costs, third party lawsuits filed against your company for breach of client’s personal information and the cost to restore lost data.

As the government moves to a more standardized notification requirement and penalties for data breaches, companies that hold private information should also be working toward setting up strong data security measures as well as put in place insurance products to help protect their company’s hard earned money.

Living Room—BEFORE, AFTER and AFTER WITH SOFA:

BEFORE: 

Here’s the Living Room with its walls painted Maxi-Pad pink (!) on the day we bought The House.

AFTER: 

Here's the Living Room after we’d painted this accent wall yellow and decorated with our old basic black sofa from the apartment, complete with old throw pillows.

AFTER WITH THE NEW SOFA: 

Here's the yellow and cream Living Room with our new sofa!  This brick orange leather sofa gives the room a Mid-Century Modern meets Palm Springs vibe without sacrificing comfort.  

After two years of visiting furniture stores and sitting in literally hundreds of sofas, this one from www.roomandboard.com had the look, comfort, length and support we wanted.  The clincher: we both can take a nap on it at the same time.  Love! 

Front Door—HAIKUS and BEFORE and AFTER:

A front door is a statement—a haiku poem, if you will—about a house and the residents inside.  Here are two haikus—a BEFORE and an AFTER— I wrote on our front door.  

BEFORE: The flimsy Front Door of The House the day we bought it.

Oh thin, plywood door

Hollow as a cold coffin

Full of white-washed bones

DURING: Mr. Wonderful installing the new door himself!  Uh-huh.

AFTER: The new Front Door--solid mahogany wood. 

Hard wood, solid sound

Welcome friends, vintage style

Craigslist price makes me smile.

Be Cautious When Using Smart Devices

Mobile devices used by you personally or provided by your business or employer offer wonderful advantages to make you more productive, but they come with potential hazards. Security breaches either by accident or intentional "hacking" can put your personal information and/or your business information at risk.

Most corporate security types say the biggest issues involve personal mobile devices use to "hack" into corporate servers and data bases. Data encryption and passwords are highly recommended along with the ability to wipe out data from a Smartphone or tablet issued by the company. The latter can be extremely helpful in the event a personal Smartphone is stolen, and the corporate IT people want to wipe the phone of all secure access information remotely. Some corporations allow access to company data through personal mobile devices but only with devices that were provided by the corporation. Some corporations are requiring employees to register personal devices with corporate security/data processing so they can control how their corporate data is being accessed. All of these precautions are highly recommended by Fey Insurance.

It isn't just the business world that faces possible problems with personal smart phones, iPads, etc. accessing data. Accessing your personal and private financial information via Smartphone, iPads, etc can also be an issue. Many people have their banking applications on their devices as well as applications that have all their stored passwords. A lost device could result in access to your personal bank accounts and do a lot of financial damage. Password protecting your devices is key. The more passwords and protection you employ the better in protecting you and your family from potential financial ruin. Apple iPhones have tracking capabilities so if your phone is lost you can use your personal computer or another iPhone to track its location. They also allow you to wipe the phones clean of all data and make them useless to anyone who might find the lost phone and want to cause serious problems with your data.

If you have further questions, consult your Smartphone or table manufacturer, your phone service carrier or your corporate IT/security people for help.

A Garbage Disposal and A Lizard

When we bought The House it had been stripped of any valuables that hadn't been bolted down and even some that had.  Here's what our House didn't have on moving day:

a refrigerator, 

an oven, 

stove top vent, 

washer, 

dryer, 

water heater, 

garbage disposal, 

light switch covers, 

closet handles, 

closet magnets 

or 

kitchen cabinet closers.

What it did have lying on the kitchen floor was a very long, very dead Southern Alligator Lizard.

I gasped when I saw its prone body.  Our Realtor, Thelma, brushed my fear aside.
"Congratulations," she smiled.  "A lizard in the house brings good luck."

No wonder Thema's been selling houses for 30 years.  She knows just what to say.

A house good enough for a lizard was good enough for me.

Good People

Commuting from work the other night I exited the freeway early to cruise our neighborhood.  I passed the river, turned at the school and stopped by the park for a herd of dog walkers.  In my corner of Los Angeles, the ratio of Chihuahuas to humans is something like 7000: 1.  And in the fashion competition the dogs outdress the people with their studded collars, knit sweaters and pillbox hats jauntily titled to one side.  If any coyotes came to my ‘hood they would dine very well if they didn’t mind swallowing doggie fabric, zippers and rhinestones.

Before I could move the car forward two boys dashed across the street in front of me.  One looked to be nine-years-old, the other seven and both wore silky blue uniforms and huge, face-splitting smiles.  The older one cradled a soccer ball, indicating he was either an excellent goalie or a lousy striker.  As they ran past I noticed the backs of their jerseys both read “Perez”.  How great to play soccer with your brother; to be near your family; to have a washer and dryer to clean sweaty uniforms. 

My family didn’t live nearby and Mr. Wonderful’s lived even farther away, which meant we were free from nosy mothers, nosy in-laws and complicated Thanksgiving dinner plans.  So we were happy.  But it wasn’t like we disliked our families.  Au contraire Mr. Wonderful and I still gabbed with our relatives through regular phone calls, emails and text messages because they were good people and good people are hard to find.

So every now and then when I saw two brothers in the park or two sisters shopping at the mall I longed for some old-fashioned, good-people family contact.  It was in this mindset that I read an email from my older cousin’s son, Matt, a 23-year-old itching to leave the Midwest and move to the big city.  Not the Big Apple but the Big Citrus “Orange” of Los Angeles, the 21^st century locus where dreams, dreamers and folks on the make came for money, fame and a slice of the organic, fructose, silicone-implant life.

   

“All I need is a place to stay while I look for an apartment,” Matt wrote.  “Can I stay w/ u?”

Mr. Wonderful read the email and cocked an eyebrow.  “What’s your cousin’s kid to you?  A second cousin or a cousin once removed?”

“Does it matter?  He’s family,” I said.  It was true.  I didn’t know Matt well.  He had grown up in a different city from me and his branch of the family didn’t come back to the homestead often.  Although I did remember seeing him at my sister’s wedding when he was battling a particularly bad case of high school acne.  So we had that in common.

Family is good people.  Of course he could stay with us I decided and Mr. Wonderful agreed. 

Just then my mother-in-law called to chat so I told her the Matt news. 

“He’s moving in with you and my son in your brand new house?” she said shamelessly inserting her nose into my business.

“He’s not moving in, he’s just going to stay a few days.”

“Uh-huh,” she said sucking on a cigarette.

“Until he finds a place of his own.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I believe him.”

“Make sure you give him a move-out-by-this-date because if you don’t, he’ll never leave.”

Don’t you hate when your nosy mother-in-law is right? 

WSJ Article on Flood Insurance

Wall Street Journal had a very interesting article about flood insurance.   In the wake of all that is going on in the aftermath of Irene, we thought this article would be a good one to share.  As you may recall from our previous posts on flood insurance, it is run by FEMA.  What is going to even make this whole flood topic even more interesting is that the FEMA flood program expires on Sept 30th, 2011 unless the lawmakers decide to continue the program.  Stay tuned.

Click below to read the article:
As Homeowners Dive Into Pool Of Flood Insurance, Caveats Abound

September 11, 2011--10 years later; 2,977 lives lost; 350 million lives changed

On the coast of Malibu, Pepperdine University erected a moving tribute to those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.  One flag for each person.  The strong Pacific wind whips the flags, which flutter, quake and bend but never break.

"Urban Light" and a night out

All work and no thrill makes me a sad... grill.  

Off to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).   I love walking through LACMA's lamp post exhibit.  At night it's especially cool when the lights are on.

 

The Neighbor 1 Part 2

It was Sunday and I'd decided today I wouldn't work on the house.  Last night I stayed up until 2 AM to finish painting the bathroom.  So today was a free day I'd more than earned.

In the morning I shuffled out to the driveway to get the newspaper.  Nothing says weekend more than sipping espresso and lingering over the paper version; from the front page, to the editorials, to the comics.  On Sundays I need my fix of "Zits"in color, thank you very much.

Bending down to pick up the plastic-wrapped paper I felt each separate muscle in my back burst into a flaming pyre of aching agony halting me in mid-reach, just three inches from "Zits", "Doonesbury" and Sunday comfort.  After four weeks of continuous house painting the physical pain lingered.  

But today it didn't matter because today I.  Was.  Doing.  Nothing.  I would lie on the sofa, drink coffee and read all the comics.  With it out of arm's reach, my foot pushed the paper toward the front door.

"Nothing like a seven mile power walk to get the juices flowing," says Harold, our geriatric, nosy next-door neighbor.  He stopped in his marathon shoes to look down on me bent over like an uncoordinated gymnast.

"Hey, Harold," I said.  "Be careful out here in the hot sun."

"Me be careful?  You young people can't keep up," from his lawn he picked up hand weights and started doing curls.  Just watching him make me winded.  

But Harold was just getting going.  "I saw you painted the bedroom Navajo white," he said. 

"You looked in our window?"  

"You don't have curtains." 

Wow.  He looked in our window.  Okay, it was true.  I had bought fabric to make curtains but between work, commuting, the painting and cooking and just life in general I hadn't had the time to make the curtains.

"The color looks... okay," he continued.  "At least it beats the green sponged stuff."  

He looked in our windowS!  My sense of independence and freedom felt violated.  

"So when are you going to work on that lawn of yours?  Replant the dead grass?  Remove the weeds?"

He's telling me what to do?  "Seems like today is a good day for you to do yard work," he said doing curls while twisting at the waist.

"No, Harold, no yard work today," I said opening the front door and sliding the paper inside with my foot.

I closed the door, pulled out the sewing machine and bag of fabric.  Today is curtain making day.

The newspaper laid on the floor all day unopened.  

Directors and Officers of Non-Profit Organizations

Many people today have a servant’s heart and wish to volunteer on different non-profit boards to help better their community.  As board members they steer the path of the non profit organization by helping with fiscal policy and with major decision making.  We at Fey Insurance strong encourage people to take part in boards to help better their community; however, we caution them to make sure these boards have Directors and Officers Liability. 

Many people think that if they buy a personal umbrella policy they will be covered for anything that could happen to them while serving on a board.  Unfortunately this is not always true.  Many umbrella policies only cover you for Directorships or Trusteeships if they are non-profit and only for Bodily Injury, Property Damage and Personal Injury.  Most lawsuits that could arise out of your service on a non for profit board will not be for Bodily Injury, Property Damage or Personal Injury.  They will be because other members of the organization that are not on the board disagree and disapprove of a financial decision or just an overall steering decision that the board made.  Lawsuits such as these are considered wrongful acts and do not fall under the Bodily Injury, Property Damage or Personal Injury and would therefore in many cases not be covered by your homeowner or personal umbrella.

This possibly large gap in coverage is why we strongly encourage our customers that sit on boards (for-profit or not-for-profit) to make sure the boards have Directors and Officers Liability (D&O liability).  D&O Liability is special coverage designed to protect for wrongful acts or supposed wrongful acts of the board.  We recommend this coverage to all boards not only to protect our individual insured’s but to also protect the organization itself.  Even if a claim of wrongful acts is frivolous it can still cost the organization thousands or tens of thousands of dollars just to defend itself.

So next board meeting you attend be sure to ask if they have Directors and Officers Liability.  If they say no and tell you that you should be fine if you have a personal umbrella be sure to reference this article to help them understand the possible large limitation that a personal umbrella has in covering you as a board member.  

Mailbox and Doorbell

Starburst Mailbox and matching Doorbell from the 1950s.  Made in Los Angeles, California by the "Babco" company.  So nifty-fifties mod.

Mailbox

Part of the journey of being a new homeowner is examining the house and yard you've plunked down a boatload of money for and asking yourself: What were the previous owners THINKING?

Why did they paint the living room PINK?  Why did they plant ELEVEN palm trees in the itty-bitty front yard?  Why did they hang the mailbox on the BACK of the house?

Some questions are elementary.  As for the walls, since the previous owners painted the master bedroom a 3D reptilian green and the dining room a salmon-orange meets WWII-era Spam, of course (!) they painted the living room a feminine pad pink.

And landscaping with eleven palm trees?  The people who built the house back in the 1950s were from the Midwest, so they embraced the exotic palm and planted it wherever there was an available plot of one square foot just to say, "Look, Honey, we aren't in Cleveland anymore!"

But hanging a narrow, wall-mounted mailbox on the BACK of the house?  Behind a locked fence?  In the backyard?  That was a head-scratcher.  Perhaps the previous owners disliked junk mail?  Or they disliked ALL mail?  Or they used it as a laundry hamper for just one dirty sock?

"Maybe," Mr Wonderful said, "They retired it to the back because it's too small for a mailbox now."  Granted this was a valid point.  It measured just 7 inches wide by 9 inches tall by not even 3 inches deep and was capped with a flip-top.  It was so tiny a box of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies wouldn't fit inside.  "I'll go to the home store and buy a bigger, standard size one," he said unscrewing it from the back wall.

But I found this old mailbox appealing.  Yes, it was small but it was in proportion with Our small House.  According to the metal stamp inside it had been manufactured in Los Angeles, "CA" by the "Babco" company, which meant it was local and since that company no longer exists, made it a relic.  Finally and most importantly the starburst cut out pattern decorating its front matched the illuminated starburst pattern of our doorbell.  This mailbox was original to the house.  It belonged with Our House.  I wanted to keep it.

"For a postal worker a mailbox, is a mailbox, is a mailbox," I said.  "But if you're right and it is too small for current U.S. Postmaster specifications, let's at least hang it near the doorbell since... they go together." 

Despite his misgivings Mr. Wonderful mounted it on the wall between the front door and our starry 1950s doorbell.

The next day I came home from work to see our starburst mailbox holding a packet of envelopes bound with a rubber band.  Flipping through them I noticed various postmark dates stretching back to our escrow.  Apparently the postal carrier had been carrying our mail around for weeks because he didn't have a place to put it.

Happily now he does.

Paint Supplies

We've painted the living room, dining, master, spare, bath, closets, cabinets, ceilings, crevices and cracks.

Now it's time for quiche!  Goat cheese and zucchini.  And garlic.

Made by yours truly.

Delish!

Painting

Bending, dunking, straightening.  Climbing the ladder I craddle the roller so as not to let random paint droplets sprinkle the floor.  Roll one coat up, roll a second coat side to side over it, finish this two foot square area by rolling down.  Repeat.  And repeat and... repeat... until cream covers green, eggshell covers pink and white covers caca-colored brown.  Why anyone would paint a bathroom caca-colored brown is beyond me unless they had a permanent diarrhea problem.

Painting gives me an achy back, sore arms and the discovery that maybe I do have muscles.  They are very latent but they exist, otherwise I wouldn't feel this excruciating pain more befitting of an 80-year old woman.

No pain no gain.  After the last few days of painful painting, we have gained a better house.  Or at least one we can live in now.

Neighbor 1

This morning I ate my first breakfast in the kitchen; it was the best singed toast ever. Then I skedaddled out to the driveway for work.  Yes!  We have a driveway!  Big enough to park two cars in!  So long metered parking, street parking, parallel parking.  I won't miss ya'.

Climbing into my car Harold stops me.  He's our next door neighbor, a retired engineer who wears running shoes with marathoner arch support and knows the skinny on every man woman and cat within a five mile radius.

He tosses out a nonchalant wave and says, "You're the fifth couple in that house in six years."
"We'll be here longer than them."    
"Let's talk again once you start working in it.  You got a lot to do."
"We like the challenge," I said feeling my chin jut out.
"Uh-huh, welcome to the neighborhood," he said turning into his garage.

Welcome indeed.  Harold, the challenge is on!

  

“Wear and Tear” Vs. “Sudden and Accidental”

Two terms that are important to know when it comes to the reason behind an insurance claim. Those terms are “Wear and Tear” and “Sudden and Accidental”.

“Wear and tear” is defined by Wikipedia as “damage that naturally and inevitably occurs as a result of normal wear or aging.” An example on a home would be a house settling over time, a pipe that corrodes and leaks water over several months or years, or a roof that after 15 years starts to drop shingles. All these items would not be covered under an insurance policy as an insurance policy does not cover “Wear and Tear”. Insurance policies cover “Sudden and Accidental” events.

So what is “Sudden and Accidental”? The best way to define it is by giving examples. If a pipe in your house just suddenly burst from pressure or because of freezing that is sudden and was done accidently. If wind blows through your neighborhood and suddenly blows off your roof or chunks of your roof that is sudden and accidental. If a tree falls and damages your home that event is sudden and accidental.

“Sudden and Accidental” events are things people can not totally prevent which is why insurance exists and covers them. On the other hand, “Wear and Tear” damage can be prevented by making sure your property is well maintained and updated. Insurance policies are not maintenance contracts.

So next time you have damage to your property ask yourself is this “Wear and Tear” or “Sudden and Accidental”? If it is “Sudden and Accidental” be sure to call your insurance agent or if you are not sure which it falls under call your insurance agent and let them help you figure that out.

First Night

It's 1 AM and still 95 degrees, the house is full of boxes and I can't find my toothpaste.  I put clean sheets on the mattress and crawl on top of the duvet.  Mr. Wonderful joins me.  We're going to sleep in Our House for the very first time.  No more neighbors with shared walls, or landlords who change contracts, or gross rent increases.  We're home in Our House.  I look at him and kick my feet like I'm at an all-girl sleepover.  We laugh and laugh and laugh.

Moving Day

Moving “Day” is a total misnomer.  It took me two months to inform the world we were moving, three months to find the right boxes, and four months to pack.  Nothing happens in a day, especially moving every one of your life’s possessions from a rental apartment to your first house.

For our actual move, Mr. Wonderful and I went local.  I called several Los Angeles-based companies and got price quotes for our in-town move.  This shopping around proved invaluable because 1) I discovered the going rate to move a mere 10 minutes/five miles away; and 2) I learned we wanted movers who communicated with us.  Of the companies I called one was unavailable, one’s office number was disconnected and several others never bothered to return my voicemails.  I know, how demanding, old-fashioned and just plain silly of me wanting a business to call me back to discuss me giving them my business.  Get with the times, Girl!

In the end we chose a company who called us back and could move us on the date we wanted.  Finally someone was speaking our language.  Actually they didn’t speak much of our language but they were fluent in Russian.  Our moving crew consisted of a Muscovite, a Ukrainian and one Kazakhstani who had immigrated to the City of Angels just one month before.  I only know one thing about Kazakhstan so I asked our mover if he knew that crazy Kazak reporter, “Borat” and his tour of America.  Right about then the Kazak broke my grandmother’s picture frame.

After that I decided to stop asking stupid questions and get out of the movers’ way, which definitely helped because they finished loading the truck without breaking anything else.  As the sun climbed pushing the temperature close to triple digits, these men from a region of the world where Siberia is a vacation destination and “summer” is a foreign concept, were visibly wilting in the Southern Californian sun.  To offset the heat they gulped down a bottle of water for every five boxes they put on the truck; in other words 732 water bottles.

Driving his car Mr. Wonderful led the way out of our noisy rental neighborhood, which lay in the middle of the Burbank Airport flight path, to The House.  The moving truck followed him while I took a detour to pick up a dozen sandwiches from Subway.  By the time I arrived the driveway, kitchen and patio looked like a World War II depot had vomited boxes.  Then the Kazak approached me with panic in his eyes. 

“Wh- where restroom?” he said shifting his weight from foot to foot in a universally understandable jig.

I steered him to the room off the kitchen then joined the others schlepping box after box after box.  Boxes labeled “living room”, master bedroom” and “random junk I should have thrown out” soon filled the rooms.

Inside I bumped into the Kazak holding a box labeled “bathroom”.  

“Where I put?” he asked.

I steered him to the room he already knew located off the kitchen.

“No,” he shook his head, “That ‘restroom’.  This go to ‘bathroom’,” he pointed to the label I’d written.

“Bathroom means restroom.”

He tilted his head like a Terrier.

“They mean the same thing, they are the same thing,” I said wiping the sweat from my brow.

“Two words for same thing?” he grimaced.  “So not practical.”

Practical?  He’s talking prac-tical!?  I looked around: the place was littered with boxes of stuff I didn’t need, a long scrape now ran across the whole wall of a freshly painted bedroom and our solid oak dining room table suddenly had two wobbly legs.

He’s right!  It completely impractical to pack up all your life’s possessions, cart them to a new house, which you don’t fully own but are borrowing from a bank and for the next twenty years and must spend every month paying back.  Packing, moving and not breaking anything in the process are absolute impracticalities I never should have embarked upon.  Turn back!  I want to shout to Mr. Wonderful.  I’ve changed my mind!  This is too impractical, messy and disruptive for me!

“Excuse me—”

“What now?!” I wailed.

“The truck is empty,” Mr. Wonderful said.  “You hungry?”

With the movers I pulled together a couple random chairs in the back yard and laid out the Subway sandwiches and drinks.  The sun shone, a gentle breeze rustled our palm trees, a mockingbird perked on the fence and sang his melodious repertoire.  I didn’t hear an airplane, or a truck not even a motorcycle.

The Kazak grabbed a turkey sandwich on focaccia bread and announced, “This good.” 

I looked at the stacked boxes pouring out of the rooms like a disaster zone.  I saw all the work we had to do just to make a cup of coffee.

“Yes,” I said looking at our first house, “It's very good.”

Pool BEFORE and AFTER

Here's the pool BEFORE--on the day we first saw The House.  It was filthy gross and looked like the home of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

 
Here's the pool AFTER it was drained, cleaned and refilled.  Ahhh, the power of a good scrub and a shock of chlorine.

The pool was built in the 1940s by a swim teacher who used it to teach swim classes.  Even today it's a joy to swim in--long and wide.

Chimney BEFORE and AFTER the Ivy

Here's the Chimney BEFORE when it was overrun with ivy.  It was so covered we didn't know what state the chimney would be in...

And here it is AFTER we ripped out the ivy to reveal a beautiful, intact chimney.

I'm looking forward to the winter to roast chestnuts over an open fire.

Insurance and Your College Kids

Out in front of our Oxford, OH insurance office, it is a busy place. Today 16,000+ Miami University students return to begin a new school year. This annual pilgrimage brings up potential insurance issues pertaining to what parent's personal insurance policies cover or don't cover. Three areas that parents should be aware of:

(1) If your son or daughter is going away to school over 100 miles from home without a car, most companies will rate your Personal Auto Policy for them being married which is a nice discount. Let us know if this discount might apply to your family and your Personal Auto Policy.

(2) Most insurance companies will extend personal property (contents) coverage and personal liability for your son or daughter while they are in college and living in a dormitory. Some, but not all, will also extend coverage if they are living in off campus facilities such as an apartment or other student housing. Please check with us to see if your insurance company provides this extended protection. If not, we should be able to write a Tenant/Homeowner for your student to cover both their personal property and personal liability while they are an undergraduate. If they are in graduate school, they should definitely have their own Tenant/Homeowner Policy.

(3) If you or your children are using a rental truck to take their things back to college, U-Haul, Penske, Hertz and other will offer you coverage on the vehicle (collision damage waiver) and extended liability. While these may be covered by your Personal Auto Policy, not all companies extend the protection, so check with us before renting the vehicle. Whether or not they are covered will depend on the length and Gross Vehicle Weight of the vehicle and several other factors. We may be suggesting you buy the extra protection from the rental company before your trip.

We Got The House!

The day we “closed on The House”—in other words the day we promised everyone from the bank, seller, realtor, insurance agent, title company and Chinese traveling circus that we would spend the next 20 years paying for it—we got the keys. 

After work I stopped at our apartment, picked up a bottle of chilled bubbly then rendez-vous’ed with Mr. Wonderful at The House. 

“You do the honors,” he said handing me the keys.

Odd, they felt light and inconsequential in my palm.  Yet these thin pieces of metal were moving us into a new chapter of our lives—from renters to first-time homeowners; from hunters and gatherers to stationary farmers; from a devil may care couple dropping all garbage into the apartment dumpster to Dang!  These devils really care about sorting paper and plastic from watermelon rinds and coffee grounds. 

I put the key in the lock and turned.  The door swung wide and we stepped into the cold emptiness.  The night’s darkness masked the dirt on the floors and the garish paint on the walls letting me momentarily forget about all the work this House needed before we could move in.  With a flashlight I walked into each room imagining: here’s where we’ll eat, where we’ll sleep, where we’ll Google kitten videos on Youtube. 

I opened the French doors and set up two folding chairs by the pool whose still water was bathed in moonlight.  Mr. Wonderful popped the cork on the bubbles and poured it into two coffee mugs, one chipped and one with “Elvis!” blazoned across it. 

“Congratulations,” I said toasting us with my King mug.  Sipping I watched the blinking lights of planes passing in the inky distance and wondered what city—or far away country—that plane was going to and—

Splash!

The champagne bottle pierced the placid surface of the pool and broke my traveling reverie.  The green bottle bobbed in the water like a buoy on a choppy sea, the rings of waves rippling out from it like the endless embrace of parentheses.  Surprised, I turned to Mr. Wonderful.

“They christen boats,” he shrugged.  “I just christened our pool.”  

Let the plane go where it will, let the passengers wander the world, I’m staying here and putting down roots with this man in Our House. 

Champagne never tasted so good.  

Leaving Your House Vacant? Consult Your Agent! (9/17/10 Repost)

In today’s real estate market it can be somewhat common to purchase a new home with out having first sold your current home. Prices are low so if you want to upgrade your house, now seems to be the time even if you know you may have to wait a few months until you sell your current home. So many are purchasing a new home, moving into it and then leaving the old home vacant until it sells. This can pose an insurance problem that Fey Insurance feels many don’t realize.

In a typical homeowner policy there is wording that refers to a 60 day period. For sixty days your homeowner policy will have no change in coverage once it becomes vacant. However, and this is important, once the house has been vacant for 60 days some of the coverages are no longer provided. Example, vandalism or malicious mischief claims would no longer be covered. Same with glass breakage claims. The reason for this is that a homeowner policy is priced and designed for buildings that are being lived in and cared for by the owners. Once the owner no longer lives there and it is vacant then the building is more at risk for claims and therefore the insurance companies require it be on a special vacancy policy. What does vacancy mean? Vacancy means the following, “Substantially empty of personal property necessary to sustain normal occupancy.”

So if you are considering purchasing a new home and leaving the current home vacant until it sells, please be sure to call your insurance agent so they can make sure coverages don’t disappear from your policy

Master Bedroom--BEFORE--with the Green Painted Walls

Because you wanted to see it...  BEFORE: this is how the room looked when we moved in--green paint applied to the walls with a sponge...

AFTER:

This is how we covered the green walls--with one coat of white and two coats of cream.  It was a lot of painting but now the green is history!

Parlez-vous Escrow?

Once the seller accepts your offer to buy the house, you enter a 30-day period known as “escrow”.  In these four weeks you hire electricians, plumbers and chimney specialists to inspect the house and all of them tell you 101 reasons not to buy it.  The roof needs repair, the foundation isn’t bolted, the property sits in the middle of a flood plain/earthquake/iceberg zone. 

If finding the house with a realtor is like falling in love with a guy, escrow is like meeting that guy’s friends who tell you all the horrible things he does, has done and may possibly do again.  So if you decide to go ahead and marry him don’t say you weren’t warned by the specialists!  Escrow only ends when you accept a house’s imperfections, hold your nose and close the deal on it anyway.  They make it official by recording your name on the house’s title, which you can’t see unless you pay for a copy.  Paying people money during escrow is as easy as taking candy from a baby.  You walked in the house, that'll cost you $125.  You breathed in the house, that'll be $125.  You "thought" of the house, fork over $200.  

For most homebuyers 30 days of escrow is all the time you get to make the single biggest purchase of your entire life.  But 30 days is all you need because a house “For Sale” is a house that someone wants to get rid of. 

Or at least that’s how it used to be.  Things have changed since the housing market meltdown.

In the case of The House with the green bedroom walls and pool that Mr. Wonderful and I wanted to buy, our escrow lasted three times that—three very long months.   Just when we thought we’d close “this week”, the seller would call asking to extend escrow for another seven, 14, 30 days.  The seller requested the extensions for one reason: the house could not be sold.

According to official records, The House had sat vacant for 18 months during which time it racked up violations with the city that had to be amended before it could be sold.  The violations included “mow the lawn”, “trim the hedges”, “fence the backyard”.

Mr. W. and I prepared to take a weed wacker to the front yard but Thelma stopped us saying since we didn’t own the house, we couldn’t cut a blade of grass nor rake an unruly palm tree leaf.  That work was to be done by the seller.

Meanwhile the bank that was lending us the money for our loan was tired of waiting and threatened to increase our mortgage rate if we did not close by the end of the third month.  Trapped between a lazy seller and an antsy lending bank, we did the only thing we could: we went looking for another house. 

On the theMLS.com I found a two bedroom, two bath in tip-top, turn-key shape with a huge yard without a pool.  Mr. Wonderful and I went to see it during its open house and we liked it.  We called Thelma and told her to remove our offer from The House we loved and put an offer in on this new house we liked.   

“What?” Her voiced bellowed over the speakerphone.  “I thought you wanted that fixer upper with the green walls?  That you were going to make it beautiful?”

“The seller isn’t serious about removing the violations, so we can’t buy it.  Besides you called us idiots for wanting to buy that house and apparently you were right.” 

“Everyone who buys a house in this market is an idiot.  The process turns you into an idiot.”

“Thelma, we just can’t wait forever.”

“I’ll call you back,” she said and hung up.

I don’t know who she called or what she said but by the end of the month, the lawn was cut, the papers were signed and our escrow ended.

Finally The House belonged to us idiots!  

Finding "The House"

Mr. Wonderful and I first saw “The House” in late December.  

Let me be more specific, Mr. Wonderful is my husband and he’s just that, awesome.  The day was December 26^th when the excitement of Christmas, Santa and receiving gifts is a daily expectation.  And “The House” was a one-story with chipping paint, overgrown lawn and a tilting “For Sale” sign wedged in the front yard.  

We peeked in the windows.  It was filthy, in disrepair and covered in ivy, which had grow up, over and into the chimney so thickly you’d need a blowtorch to remove it. But the house had some things going for it like an open floor plan, a large kitchen and a pool!  I was in love.

The best part though was the sale price, which shockingly, was within our budget. 

I called our Realtor, a woman with a florescent white smile and bottle blond hair who insisted on wearing sensible shoes.  Thelma removed the keys from the lockbox and swung the door open.  We stepped inside The House. 

“It needs a lot of cleaning,” she said sniffing the air.  “And fixing.”  She entered the master bedroom and shrieked.  Mr. Wonderful and I raced in to find her staring at the walls.  

“They’re… green!”

“We know,” I said.

“Lime green and forest green together, which some colorblind fool applied with a sponge--”

“We know.”

“Which makes this the ugliest bedroom I’ve seen in 30 years of being a realtor." 

“We want to buy it.”

“This house?  Absolutely not.”

“It has a pool.”

“Which is empty and might not even hold water.”

“We like the kitchen.”

“I wouldn’t let my daughter cook in that kitchen, not to mention enter this house!”

“We can afford it,” I said.

“Because it’s a dump and needs serious help.” Thelma crossed her arms and shook her head.  “No way.  I won’t let you buy it.”

I looked at Mr. Wonderful.  Could we buy this house and fix it up while living in it?  He nodded and smiled. Yes, we can.

“You're right, Thelma,” I said, “This place is a dump but we can repair it, we can make it beautiful.  We want it.  So will you help us, or not?”

Thelma's sensible shoe tapped on the wood floor while she looked at the green bedroom with disgust.  “Fine, I’ll do it."

"Thank you!" I hugged, then I embraced Mr. Wonderful.

"I can’t decide about you two," Thelma said. "Either you have major vision or you’re complete idiots.”

I didn’t realize how prophetic her words would be.