Understanding the Changes to Homeowners Insurance Rates and Policies

If you've noticed a spike in your homeowners insurance premium rates, you're not alone. We dive into how factors like weather, fraud, and inflation are driving up costs, explore strategies to keep your insurance affordable and discuss upcoming changes to roof claim handling in Michigan – so you can better protect your most valuable asset.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Remax Real Estate Insights show,
where you get real talk by real agents, brought to
you by Remas of Southeastern Michigan. Hello and welcome back
to the Remax Real Estate Insights podcast. Now, recent news
stories have highlighted that there may be some rising cost
to homeowners insurance and the fact that twelve percent of

(00:20):
homeowners now say they don't even have homeowners insurance at all,
which is up from just five percent back in twenty nineteen,
suggests that people are taking a good, long, hard look
at their coverage.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Some national rankings are hinting that Michigan may be among
the top states for a percentage increase in homeowner's insurance.
And if you've received your annual premium while you're probably
aware that maybe things have gone up a little Understandably,
this has folks looking at their options to keep their
insurance costs as affordable as possible. Additionally, there may be

(00:53):
some changes coming to how some common claims for damage
done to your home here in Michigan are going to
be handled moving forward, that you definitely that they want
to be aware of. Today, I have with me an
expert to help me understand all of our insurance options,
what's going on in that industry that you need to
know and how to protect your home, yourself and your
belongings with me is a repeat guest. We're happy to

(01:14):
have her back, Denise Mansfield. She is the owner of
Mansfield Insurance Group. And Denise, welcome back.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Thank you so much for having me again.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
Oh you are such You're such a pleasure.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
And I really feel that this is a topic that
you know, can be easy for people to kind of
set aside and not pay much attention to. But boy,
what a difference it makes who you're working with. Right,
So back in June, and I actually called you back
in June just you know, full disclosure to the listening audience,
because there was a USA Today report that came out
talking about the massive increase in homeowner's insurance and the

(01:46):
fact that you know, so all of these people, you know,
aren't going to have insurance coverage moving former, moving forward,
which we're going to get into even that prospect in
a little bit. But from your perspective, what's driving up
costs in your industry? Because inflation doesn't know any bounds,
it's going to hit everybody, what's driving your price increases.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
I think that a lot of what we're seeing is
stemming from even just a few years back, and we're
just playing catch up.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Right.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
So when a two by four, you know, used to
be two thousand and thirty eight cents, and then it
went to five dollars and fifty cents and then eight
dollars and thirty seven cents, you can imagine what that
does to the rebuild of a home. So you've got
you know, you've got just pure building material costs, never
mind the challenges that the labor force has been experiencing.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, because it's kind of two ends.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
I mean, I think to some degree, we may see
like the cost of lumber, or you know, it seems
like every year there's some supply, there's some element of
building a home there's a shortage of, or the price
just skyrocket on.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
Yeah, I mean there are people that can build a
house but then wait six months for cabinets to come in.
I think we're a little through some of that, but
I think the challenges that we've faced the last few
years have still not completely washed itself through us yet.
You know, I laugh and say, if eggs can be
eight dollars. Then maybe ad buy work can be eight
dollars too.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Crazy because you see the Facebook memes. I saw a
millionaire today, and it's like somebody bringing home alone to lumber,
you know, or somebody at the grocery store with eggs
in their cart, and you know who would have who
would have thought? Those are two things we'd have to
worry about now. The other the thing I wanted to
kind of chat about because Michigan's been named on a
couple of nationalists. Just because their name doesn't mean it's true.
But there was actually one from the National Association of

(03:31):
Realtors that said that Michigan was one of the top
three anticipated I love how they were this anticipated states.
They have the highest percentage increase in homeowners insurance. Does
that sound like something that's accurate to you or does
that sound like Michigan is just kind of like everybody
else as to how this is going well.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
So I represent a Michigan only insurance company. So Michigan
Farm Bureau probably protects just people and property in Michigan.
We have seen some wild weather, and so I think
that wild weather, I think that that will affect us

(04:12):
as a carrier. National Carriers have seen wild weather in
all of the states that they represent, including their presence
here in Michigan. So I think that supply and demand,
both of materials and of labor is creating higher rate changes.
We are seeing an increase in rate because I think

(04:33):
we do the best we can to anticipate what it's
going to cost to repair and replace, and then the
paint peels and then we find out that we're not
we're not right, and we need to play catch up
a little bit, right.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
So I think those those things have.

Speaker 4 (04:47):
A lot to do with with some cost changes. And
then to the side point of not carrying insurance, the
turmoil of economic status and the unstability that people felt
with their money and other things. I think they thought
that potentially paying off their house and having that house

(05:09):
be mortgage free was the best investment of their money
because they weren't sure what the future looked like. And
then when you open that door, there's no one telling
you you have to have insurance anymore. And I think
that some people feel like they could potentially self insure
that risk. The definition of insurance is the transfer of risk, right,
So you pay a little bit to protect a lot,

(05:30):
and I think some people might actually feel comfortable self ensuring.
That's a wild thought to me, you know, I mean,
I would think out of a lot of people's but
there could be a little uptick in some of that.
It's hard to know what people are thinking when they're

(05:50):
doing certain things.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Well, I mean, and to be fair of the article,
and I'm going to go back to again, it was
I know, USA Today was one that put it out
and then you know there are others you know, kind
of follow you know, once you have a national and
they were referencing people not necessarily in the state of Michigan,
right because while Michigan We're going to get back to
the wild weather here in a second, is you know
they were actually in When you think wild weather, I
think maybe it's just me. You think hurricane because we're

(06:12):
so programmed to know that there's hurricane seasons and whether
it's Texas or the coast or Florida, you know, get
nailed time and time and time again. And the costs
for that have gone like it is almost unaffordable you
know for some people in those states right to carry insurance.
But the article actually focused on something that doesn't I
don't think get as much coverage, which is wildfire like
California in the West and kind of the same issue,

(06:35):
just different part of the country with a different calamity
that that they were dealing with. But let's go to
like you said, if you paid off your mortgage, because
if you have a mortgage, having insurance is not an option.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
That is correct, And I wonder if some of these
numbers look a little different when clients do not pay
for home insurance, force place insurance gets put on. So
I wonder if some of the numbers of what there's
saying people are uninsured, meaning that the client themselves has
pursued and maintains the insurance policy versus the protection that

(07:08):
the mortgage company puts on. Now, the protection a mortgage
company puts on is only for the structure. There is
no liability and there's no personal property. You can see,
they're not invested in any of that. So I wonder
if some of that could have come from that because
people can't afford it, so they're just saying, well whatever,
and the mortgage company says, well, no, no, no, no no,
I'm also part of this plan. We're going to throw
this on here at least to protect this mutual investment

(07:30):
at that part.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Okay, So really key point I want people to understand
with that is, you know, if you are even having
a wild thought in your mind as saying, I just
can't afford this premium anymore, I'm not going to do this.
You know, first of all, if you have a mortgage
on your home, the lender is not okay with that.
That is correct, And so the lender is going to,
you know, probably give you notice. You know, first and
foremost we don't have anything on file, They're going to

(07:51):
kind of give you your grace period to get something put together.
You choose not to do that, then they're going to
put a policy on for you and correct me if
I'm wrong. It typically costs probably far more than what
you would pay for oh yeah on your own absolutely,
And to your point, it's not going to cover your belongings.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
Is no, or your liability at your property. So you
are leaving yourself wildly open.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, which I don't think, and I don't think anybody
necessarily means to do that or wants to do that.
But just you know, understand, when they put a policy on,
it's not like what they currently had or the coverage
that they had. It's something completely different because now the
letters only looking.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Out for themselves.

Speaker 3 (08:26):
That is correct.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, yeah, and I know most.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Lenders because I know, I'll well, I guess it depends, well,
we have a new mortgage.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
We'll see what happens this year.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, but I know in years past, it was I
get the letter and it was like, you know, there
always needs to be that little time delay, you know,
like you get the letter saying you know, we don't
show proof of it that I have to you don't
go online and email it to him or you know whatever,
and it all it all got worked out.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
But they're paying attention. You're not going to sneak this past.

Speaker 4 (08:49):
I will tell you that if dates don't align, they
will apply forced place for even a few days because
they have a huge responsibility to that property. There's a
financial vested interest for them. So yeah, it's very it's
very finite.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Well, I mean, and just something to know because you know,
I always have concerned that when somebody you read something
like this and oh I didn't know not having insurance
was an issue, Well, no, it's really not. And understand
your risk if it is, even if you are, Like
you said, maybe in your house is free and clearer.
So now you do have choice, Like you said, nobody's
going to make you do this or you know, again,

(09:27):
how much risk can you really withstand? What's your comfort level?
You know on that should a worst case scenario happen.

Speaker 4 (09:33):
Because people think it's just to rebuild the house, but
it's not. It's to remove all the debris and the
disposal cost of debris removal, I mean the cost of
removing and disposing of bricks, and it's incredibly expensive. And
then it's to rebuild, and then it's to finish the inside,
and then it's to re buy all your stuff and
then what happens for that whole year that you are

(09:54):
displaced all of that cost So, like you know, when
when you think about the true transfer of risk. We
had a client that pays US twelve hundred dollars a year.
She had a loss. She was out in Shelby Township.
The dwelling replacement was around five hundred thousand, but the
total claim was two point one million because she had
loss of use, personal property, all of the things that

(10:15):
go into indemnifying and rebuilding you. So it's not just
for a little fire. It's it's a whole much more
than that.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Well, but this is.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Why we're having the conversation because thankfully, knock on wood,
you know, hopefully many of us get through home ownership
without honestly ever having to call absolutely, you know, in
file in anything big. But you're right if you've known
anybody who's been through a fire, because years and years ago,
my boss when I first took a job down here,
had a house fire, and it is it's the restoration

(10:46):
I mean of clothing, you know, and other stuff that
you know potentially had damage, but could they restore it
and get the smoke smell out. I mean, it's all
sorts of things you don't even think about. Oh yeah,
so you mentioned before we've had some wild weather. Yeah,
so we were talking about you know, Michigan, and you know, hey,
I think the world that we live in, everybody expects
things to go up right now. But one of the
things maybe driving some of that is maybe you're seeing

(11:08):
more claims because our weather has been a little less predictable.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Is that fair to say?

Speaker 4 (11:12):
Yeah, our weather has been has been pretty damning. I
mean we've had significant wind and hailstorms. So in Michigan.
The number one home insurance claim is going to be
your wind in hill, followed by water. And so you know,
the the integrity of the structure of the house, and
I know we're going to kind of touch on roofs

(11:33):
those are That's one of the biggest things that we're
seeing is that that the roof is the skin of
your house. It is protecting everything inside. And we have
a little bit of an aging infrastructure. New construction has
been slower over these last right, so we've got a
lot of older houses that have been sitting with with
older roofs, right, And a lot of people don't realize

(11:54):
that a new roof is part of home home maintenance
and home ownership. I think they think they're waiting for
the big sterm to combine rive it off like a
old you know, an old Disney movie or something come on.
Maybe yeah, And that's just not the case. And so
we've seen some challenges from weather and then aging infrastructure
for sure.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
But I think that's an interesting point because I mean,
I've said on occasion, is it just me or did
we have all this wind when I was a kid,
because I don't remember it now. Maybe that's just me
rose colored glasses and you know whatnot. But I'm like,
it just seems like we have more high wind days
or the storms are coming with sixty mile an hour
plus winds more consistently than I certainly remember in years past.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
Yeah, I mean, I am, by no stretch of the
imagination any weather expert, but I've been on this earth
for almost forty five years, and as an adult and
a homeowner. I mean, think about the weather over the
last even twenty years, even the last ten. For sure,
the winters are different.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
The spring and summer storms are just wild. We're getting
touched down tornadoes and little in cities and unities like.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Not ever never, never a thing.

Speaker 4 (13:03):
So we are seeing different things and we have to
respond accordingly, and that is ever changing.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Okay, So you're saying wind in hail, I think you
had also chance are also you know, can kind of
be you know, urid and obviously damaging to the exterior
of a home. We're going to assume cars are in
the garage, but I mean they have cars in the
driveway in there.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
Boy, there was a lot of cars that were not
in garage. Is this past year they looked.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
Like they went through a paint ball war.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, I hear something's coming. I do everything in my power.
They have. We appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
My vehicle's nickname is Baby Blue because it's so it's
like baby has to be in the it has to
be in the garage. Yes, but the homes exter is
obviously exposed to whether or whether it's wind, whether it's hail,
and damage obviously can be done, but sadly there are
people that like to take advantage of that, whether that's
the individual homeowner like you said, kind of almost fingers
crossed hoping first storm, kind of the right year when

(13:55):
I did a new roof anyway, or you know, I'm
certainly aware of you know, some companies that go door
to door after after a storm but trying to draw
them up business in a fraudulent way.

Speaker 4 (14:05):
From my perspective, Yeah, we see vandalism claims from roofing companies.
It's it's quite wild and you wouldn't think that that
would still be or that is something that's happening, but
we we actually currently prosecute some McComb County has a
real issue with roofing companies that will make signs and

(14:26):
make promises and put them on doors and will go
up onto roofs and use crowbars and other means to
create damage in a way that is not even slick enough.
Because so then we come in and hire a professional
and they are wind engineers, and they come up and
they look because they know that the way the wind blows,

(14:47):
and the way rain and hail kits. They know all
of these things, and you cannot create man made situations
in a weather real weather situation. And so now ale
owner is faced with having to file vandalism claims because
now they absolutely still now need a new roof because

(15:08):
now their house has actually been vandalized.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
I was gonna say, if it was it was bad
enough with maybe what yeah, the state of the roof,
you know, whatever it was. But now you've had somebody
actually physically and interesting. We were talking before we came
on air about you know, college choices for kids. It's
back to school season. Wind engineer. There's a new one.
If you're thinking of a career path you haven't thought
of before. That's very interesting.

Speaker 4 (15:28):
Yeah, I mean the reports that I get to see
that they dial into the weather maps and the wind
velocities and the directions and the detail that we get
to give to our client that says yes or no
because of the following it's it's it's really impressive.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
But but I can I can totally buy into the
fact that's maybe a bad way to say it. I mean,
I can totally understand that the way natural wind and
rain works is not the same as a crowbar, right,
I mean, so it's like, I'm with you. It's kind
of like, did you really think nobody was going to
notice this was man made?

Speaker 3 (16:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Seriously, And we're not too busy enough to do We
want to keep costs down, right, So fraud creates an
increase in costs.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Right, We are in the.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
Job of bringing you to whole. We have a legal,
binding contract between you and us. We want to give
you every right that you have, and we want to
uphold all those things. It's our job when the situation
presents itself in a covered loss that we respond accordingly.
That's what we sign up for. And so to keep

(16:36):
fraud down and to keep insurance costs down, we go
the extra mile, We send the extra engine, We do
the work. Because we're not in the business of saying no.
We're in the business of saying yes or no, depending
on the covered loss, that's the perils and understanding what
that looks like is an important part of you and

(16:56):
your agent's relationship and having a conversation of what does
my pop cover what doesn't it? You know, and and
you know, I think that knowing what you have or
don't have, spend ten minutes talking your agent once a year,
get that refresher.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
We answered a question I was going to have at
the end. Is it worth doing it?

Speaker 1 (17:13):
And yes, yes, yes it is you know, worth having
the conversation, and I think that, yeah, you have every
right as a business though to not be taken advantage of.
And it's a shame that you know, homeowners are potentially
getting taken advantage of because you're right. Fraud, whether it's
your insurance industry or the health insurance industry or any
insurance industry, it harms everybody.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
It does.

Speaker 4 (17:31):
We all get affected by the few, right, it doesn't
matter what it is. And so you know, we try
to protect everyone, and so we have certain things in
place to make sure that we're holding up the vidility
and not letting the bad people win.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Well in more power and hopefully over time they realize that,
you know, this is just not something they're going to
get away with long term, and they should go away
and do something else. So let's talk a little bit
about riffs though, because there's some win and being so
prevalent in our state, the more prevalent weather events that
cause damage. And like you said, roof maintenance is it's

(18:07):
home ownership like anything else that you should maintain. But
obviously it's a very costly repair. So people maybe kind
of putting it off, you know, maybe not doing it
as frequently as they should. And then if there's a clan,
they want you to pay for the whole thing.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
But that might be changing, right, yes, And so I
think going back to the economy, people not being able
to or not thinking about having that nine twelve, fifteen,
eighteen thousand dollars saved up to be able to replace
it in a timely manner. Right at that twenty to
thirty year mark, you know there's issues. There's been issues

(18:40):
with that than the aging infrastructure. And yes, you are correct,
Insurance companies across the board are taking a new look
at how do we manage this risk for us? And
very similar to when your car, your new car drives
off the lot, you get into that depreciation phase. Right,
So we're kind of taking a look at roofs in

(19:02):
that same place saying we are not changing the policy
language of the covered losses wind inhale, you know, you know,
physical damage from those losses. We're still going to cover
the amount that we are going to pay towards fixing
that is going to depend on the age of your roof.

(19:22):
And so we are still in a place of in
that first ten years of a new roof giving you
full replacement costs and holding onto that validity of that,
and then as that roof really starts to kind of
break down in age, then we are going to respond
accordingly with a depreciation. So if we're in year eleven,
maybe we only take two thousand dollars off, you know.

(19:45):
So you know, so it's not it's not like you're
going to have to pay for it all. I mean,
at some point could you get to that place potentially? Right,
So what we as a company did is we decided
to find really really good roofing companies that or local
grassroots Michigan that we can go to and say, how
do we work together to be able to help our

(20:07):
clients at cost get long standing roofs because we don't
want to put a band aid on it.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
We want there to.

Speaker 4 (20:15):
Be that really long, strong longevity roof so that potentially
doing their the rest of their home ownership. They want it,
and you have to deal with it again, right one
and done. Kind of a thing for this homeowner, if
you will. So we're taking strides in being able to
be not only realistic to the current conditions, being fair,

(20:36):
and then having resources right, not just saying well sorry
and washing our hands of it, but saying we've got
these companies that we have vetted and trust and can
help us get you what you need, bring you back
to whole and at a less cost for both them
and the insurance company.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Which I think, which I think is really very honorable, right,
I mean, because it would be easy, and so many
times it seems like, well, you know, you kind of
hear from somebody that you maybe you've paid a lot
of money into over years.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
Well, sorry, not my problem, this is our policy. Good luck.
And we all know that it.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
Can be challenging to find any type of construction contractors
right now to come out in a timely manner at
a price that maybe is reasonable and affordable. So I
love the fact that if you're saying, hey, look, as
a business, as an industry, we have to get our
arms wrapped around this. We cannot be the default roof
replacement option.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
And it's a little self serving, right if we're going
to be paying for a lot of it. We also
would like to be able to help reduce the cost
to the company. So it made sense to find a
good fit and to nurture those relationships so that everybody
has what they need. It's not a band aid, and
that's something we can seek our teeth into, both financially
and long term for the client. I mean, because really,

(21:46):
you know, my tagline at my agency is you're not
all sut until we've met. We're not trying to give
you just a little we want to take you the
whole way through.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Now as absolutely And is this something that's already in
place or we're kind of on the front end rolling
this up.

Speaker 4 (22:00):
Yeah, So, Michigan Farm Bureau, actually I single handedly kind
of found a local company, a roofing company that we
really just jiged with on a whole bunch of levels.
And we have made really warm introductions to the president
of Claims and to our field adjusters and so we
are actively in the works to make sure that we've

(22:22):
got a sustainable partnership that works out for everyone. But
that's us in our company because see, I saw a need,
I said, wait a minute, there's got to be a
better way, And like all good entrepreneurs, we build a
door right and invite other people through it.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
So that's kind of what we're doing.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
Other companies, I can't speak to them, but we, as
insurance companies in the state of Michigan, all have to
report to DIFFS, the Department of Insurance and Financial.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Services, what we do.

Speaker 4 (22:49):
Our policy language changes, and so a lot of the
Michigan insurance companies or people that have clients in Michigan
are all changing their language regarding the row. So it's
not just a Michigan Farm Bureau thing. This is a
totalitary insurance.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
Yeah, this is coming.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
This is industry well, I mean.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
And so then if you're somebody kind of back to
what we said a few minutes ago, and he says,
it's worth a ten minute, you know, check in with
your insurance rep every year, because if you're just getting
the premium renewal notice in the mail and you don't
ask a lot of questions and you send it back
or you're just doing an online search to price compare.
This is a little detail that could slip past and
you have no knowledge of as the homeowner.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
Right, Yeah, Because now insurance companies are saying, oh, you've
got a twenty three twenty four year age rough. You're
actually we're not even going to take you on as
a new client. They're gonna they're not gonna even they
could non renew you, and they're not even gonna want
to take you on if you're trying to shop. So
by having a client agent relationship, my client that's got
that twenty two to twenty three year old roff, I

(23:51):
say to them, listen, we've got this resource. Let's get
you a quote for this new rough.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Right.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
So I've seen it with my own clients. They got
a roof for nine or ten grand to the sixteen, seventeen,
eighteen of other carriers. So not only are we not
taking the insurance loss, they're getting a new roof that
they can stand by. It's just a conversation. It's just
being communicative with your team, having your insurance person on

(24:17):
your team, your home.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Team, which is going to be I mean now and
because this is a real estate related podcast, right, I mean,
so we're talking to I mean, for the most part,
existing homeowners, you know, potentially listening. And you know, when
we had our conversation on this back in June, I'm like, huh,
the age of the roof on my house is what again?
So I know that, you know, in a relatively short
period of a few years, this is probably something I
am going to need to look at, but kind of

(24:40):
leapfrogging a little bit to somebody buying a home. Yeah, right,
somebody buying a home that maybe has a roof that's
right at that twenty ish year mark.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
It's not.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
You probably can't negotiate it because it's still fine. From that,
you know, from buying a house perspective, this sellar's going
to No, the roof is perfectly fine. I'm not buying
you a new roof, But then you go have to
get the insurance to get to the closing table, and
you could maybe not now, but at some point have
an insurance curer saying that reof doesn't meet our expectations.
So something to be on the lookout for.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
I will tell you that I answer multiple questions for
real estate agents every week about this, and I think
home inspectors and real estate agents and insurance people all
need to get together over coffee and we need to
talk about this because none of us are here trying
to kill any deals. We just need to all understand
the way that the industries are changing, right, and how

(25:30):
it's title, insurance, inspection, real estate and lending. That's how
we get to the closing table, right, And so when
one of those has a monumental or potentially monumental change,
we all need to be talking about it. And so
real estate agents need to be aware of to your point,
we're probably not going to be able to negotiate a

(25:52):
new roof under the house. However, a roof that has
missing lifting curling, a roof that's got one year or
less during an inspection. Please understand, mister and missus realestate agent,
your client is going to be faced with some significant
challenges we're going to have to address. I mean, you
may not be able to get an insurance company that

(26:13):
will will get you to the closing table.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
And then it's now the agents have to understand to say, okay, now,
the one representing the sellers, look, you have to understand
what you're trying to sell, because it's not just this
buyer that's going to be told that, it's going to
be pretty much any buyers.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Right, So it's exactly this is not just me being
like poopaying on this deal. This is us saying we
have a structural vdility issue for an insurance and we
have to figure out what this looks like.

Speaker 3 (26:40):
And that's that's a big deal.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
I mean, that's that's and it's not like the sellers
can just go file acclaim there's no damage.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
It's just old.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
So I think that while you're setting, before you get
ready to sell your house, I think it's important to
for for sellers to think about this and be realistic
that and it's not fair you don't know what you
don't know. So these kinds of educational moments are going
to help everyone just game plan and pivot and be
able to say, okay, so we might have some new challenges,

(27:10):
how do we navigate through these?

Speaker 1 (27:12):
No, absolutely, And you're right, because people don't know what
they don't know. If you've been you know, homeowner, and
in the in the length of time people are spending
in their home is lengthening, right now, you know, there
was a point in time that they moved every five
to seven eight years.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Well that's not really the case right now, and.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
So they're staying in there. And you know, I've you've
probably heard it too. There's more than one person I
know that has moved, so they didn't have to put
a new roof on.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
Right, It's like I'm moving.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
It's somehow it's easier for me to go through all
of that than to pay for the new You pay
for the new roof. And so if you have a
potential seller, think and well, I'll just get out from
underneath this.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
I know I'm close.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
I'll just get out of here and let this be
somebody else's problem, you know, ohn A Na.

Speaker 2 (27:50):
That may not be the case.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
It may be something that becomes a negotiation point, you know,
in the process, or like you said, it's something that
the agent is talking to the seller about up front. Hey,
let's talk about this before we even put the home
on the market. And what you know, Yeah, if it
is old, if it is lifting, curling, you know, things
of that nature. Let's be realistic about what this is
going to look like moving forward.

Speaker 4 (28:09):
I think that is important. I think that don't shy
away from treat it like you would the scary water
in the basement, right, I mean right, so every real
estate agents that you know, here's about the water in
the basement. We all have this like tingled down the
back of our neck, right kind of think about the
roof in the same way. We have to be realistic
and honest with everyone. I also think there's a miseducation

(28:33):
or there's new opportunities that people don't know that you
can get roofs less expensive than maybe in years past.
There are new there's new technology, there are new companies
coming out being able to do it less expensively.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Which is great news, which is absolutely.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
Huge because now we get to say maybe maybe before
you sell your house, you do put the new roof
on and it only costs you twelve, but you can
make your price twenty because it's got a new rough
because that's a huge selling fee given the market we're in.
So this is not necessarily a negative. It just needs
to be a conversation with with with knowledgeable options.

Speaker 2 (29:10):
Well.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Absolutely, and I think and let's face it, I mean
some some home maintenance problem projects are more exciting and
fun than others.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Right, And a roof is I don't think most nobody.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
Thinks, yay, this is the way I get to spend
my money, and most of us can't see our rough.
I mean, I'm sure so I can't say much about
seven feet in my house to begin with, but I
mean a roough we don't see. We don't spend any
time on it. It's not sexy, it's not fun, right,
but it does warrant a conversation. And to your point,
if there are new technologies that are bringing that price,
because I think that's been one of the biggest issues,

(29:40):
is the fear of the cost. It's one of the bigger,
you know, bigger things to deal with. And if that
maybe you know there is some new technologies helping that,
or relationships that somebody like you have, you know, with
vendors that can do this, you know it's well worth doing.
And hey, it's nothing if your industry and mindustry doesn't
have to learn how to pivot every now and then. Right, Absolutely,
what's a month if we're not learning something new and

(30:02):
changing things. Okay, so let's go to the other thing
that you just mentioned, which was the scary water problem. Yeah, right,
because if you take wind and hail as kind of
in one silo or one buckets. A lot of claims
that you see water tends to be another one. Yep,
And you've taught me a little bit. I'm no expert
at this, but you've taught me that there's two different
types of water damage, right, and so can you explain.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
That to our folks?

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Absolutely.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
So, we like to say outside water in is not
covered unless it comes up through your floor drains and
the basement or your some pump stops working. So if
you get high water and it starts coming through your
front door, if you get water that starts coming in
through windows with flood water, right, flood water, outside water in,
unless you have a flood policy, there's not going to

(30:46):
be any coverage. Most people that have are any floodplain
of some kind are very well aware because the mortgage
company requires them to have again, back to that good
old mortgage company, they require them to have flood coverage. Now,
once that mortgage is no longer you know, active, and
they have paid off the mortgage, then the client then

(31:07):
has the ability to decide if they want to remove
that flood. That's only a requirement of the lender. So
some people the water has actually gone down a little
bit where a few years ago it was really high,
but then we've gotten all this rain, so who knows
what all that's going to look like in a little bit.
So the biggest one that we see is your water
in the basement. So it's your some pump that stops
working regardless of electricity, outage, wear and tear, or just volume,

(31:31):
right it can't keep up. Or you get water that
comes up through the floor drains in the basement, so
either clean water, rain water, or sewage water.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
Yeah, so those are common claims. So again something to
know if it's like truly flood and unless you have
a flood insurance, you're going to.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
Be kind of out of lock.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
You are.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
I mean just there's no there's no if on that.
You are just out of luck period the end. Yeah,
so be aware of that now. When we moved into
our new home earlier this year for the first time,
you know, we did have to get flood insurance because
we are on a floodplane. And I've heard somebody tell
me and I don't know if this is true, So
I'm going to pick your brain on this one. Is
that the government keeps adding floodplaines because they're trying to,

(32:09):
you know, get people to pay more to help them
cover the people like now, so they get a lot
of flooding.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Is that true or you see no evidence of them
messing with floodplanes.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
I mean, the flood planes are always changing, and you
can actually pay and have a resurvey done. So I
want to say, it's like two fifty five hundred dollars
something to that effect, and you can actually have a
resurvey done to see if potentially you no longer have that.

Speaker 3 (32:33):
Threat to your particular property.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
There haven't a lot of redeterminations of flood zones, so
sometimes it won't affect the current homeowner, but it will
affect them if they.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
Were to go and sell. I mean all I have
no idea. It sounds right because I hate to say it.
The world is so backwards, so possibly.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Well, I related put you on the spot. No, it's okay,
but I didn't mean to do it.

Speaker 1 (32:57):
I said necessarily that way, but I might answer to
everything is that I've heard this from somebody like on
a podcast.

Speaker 2 (33:01):
Well it's twenty twenty four, like that's theme. Listen.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
It sounds on part of what everything else is happening
in the world.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
Yeah, it's probably right because it just seems like we're
gonna upside down.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Is an upside down world, if you will.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
I was gonna say, the biggest thing to remember is
you don't have coverage for that water backup in the
basement without having a special endorsement. So you have to
have an additional coverage that has separate cost to be
able to provide you restoration and contents for your basement
from that sum pump or through that floor drain water.
So that is one of the most underused or misused

(33:39):
endorsements on a policy because.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
You don't realize.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
How much coverage you actually need for a basement. Restoration
is quite expensive and replacing contents is very expensive, and
not all.

Speaker 3 (33:54):
Policies do both.

Speaker 4 (33:55):
So when you see that we're limited water back up,
that means that we're only going to provide kind of
like red it is a red flag. Limited means we're
reducing coverage. So we don't want limited, we want all encompassing.
We want restoration, and we want contents replacement. Because water
is very damaging. It does not take very long for
things to get ruined.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
No, I mean, and you know, kind of like you
we talked about you know at the beginning, you know,
where if you have a fire or something like that,
it's not just you know, rebuilding the house, it's all
the other things. Well, same with water in the basement.
It's not just getting rid of the water. That's step one.
But then you have the potential mold remediation and you know,
like you said, content replacement, and you know, some people
have finished basements with a lot of you know, expensive

(34:34):
things down you know, down there.

Speaker 4 (34:36):
So yeah, making sure you have the adequate water backup
coverage is super important, making sure it's not limited, and
then doing your you know, battery backup systems are not expensive.
It's a nice way. Water detection systems are also really nice.
Those are on every you know faucet that has an
automatic shot off valve. But that battery backup some pump

(34:57):
is huge. It really does save a lot of people
from some damaging situations. And you get discounts on your
home insurance for those extra layers of protection.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Oh good, good to know, good to know on that.
Should I just have something that come when we were
talking to now it's gone, so I'm gonna have to
come back to that if it hits so as we're
sitting here and we're recording. We're just days away from
Labor Day. It feels like the middle of summer this
weekcause they're recording. This is very hot, so it's hard
to talk about the season that's coming. But just wanted
to kind of get some of your input on when

(35:28):
we hit fall, we do tend to see more candles
being lit and fire pits and fireplaces, and they're cozy
and they're warm, but they also tend to lead to
some house spires and damage, any tips, anything that people
should know so that they don't get themselves in trouble
when it comes to that.

Speaker 4 (35:43):
I would say that fall one of the biggest potential
issues for a house is maintaining the integrity of the
gutter system. Is keeping the leaves as these leaves start
falling in the fall, is keeping the gutter systems clean
and free, because as they get clogged and as the
weather changes, when we create dams in those in those gutters,

(36:05):
then water can't flow properly, which means it's going to
butt up against the house and create a whole host
of issues. So, yes, gutters are important. Yes, candles, fire pits.
You know, anytime you're gonna have fire outside, you need
to have water readily accessible. I think that's very important.
Making sure you're not barbecuing right up next to your house.
I've seen many barbecues go a little awry and the

(36:26):
vinyl siding up the side gets gets melted. That's that's
can be scary. So things like making sure your chimney
gets cleaned out, or you properly understand how to look
at the way your fireplace looks so that when you
go to turn it on or use it for that
first time, that everything's you know, those birds nests up there,

(36:48):
make sure you got to cap.

Speaker 3 (36:49):
Up at the top. You know, some of those things.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
But I would say the number one thing in the
fall is probably your leaves and your gutters.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
We just had ours cleaned just a couple of weeks ago,
because again, previous homeowners maybe not so much, and we
had some drainage and other stuff we wanted to get done.
And I was surprised that maybe it wasn't as bad
as I thought.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
That it was.

Speaker 1 (37:08):
But there were a couple of places, you know, and
we wanted to get you I get that out and
make sure everything was draining like it's like it's supposed
to so, And I know we've covered this before when
you've been on, but I always think, you know, we
might have different people listening. So I wanted to kind
of come back to tree damage because that's another thing
that happens. And you can have a tree come down,
and like, like you said, how many times have we
seen this year tornadoes or high wind shear storms bringing

(37:31):
multiple trees down in a neighborhood, falling on cars and
on homes and stuff like that. What do people need
to know and recognize about if you're the recipient of
a tree falling into your property, your yard, or it's
your tree that fell, what do they need to know?

Speaker 4 (37:45):
Yeah, trees are a whole thing, right, They're beautiful, they
give us oxygen, and they are the bane of our
existence when it comes from all on one thing. So
the basic rule to that is kind of your property
your claim. So if your neighbor's tree falls onto your house,
it is still your claim. It's your claim to fix
the house, it's your claim on the vehicle. So when

(38:05):
a tree falls on a car, which actually happens quite often,
that's actually a comprehensive claim. So it's not a collision
a little smaller of a deductible generally speaking, but the
general rule is your property, your coverage, your claim. Now,
we do have times where the neighbors tree will fall
onto the other neighbor's house, and if there is a

(38:27):
history documented that this tree has been a problem, We've
tried to get it cut down, We've had, you know,
multiple conversations, and they won't maintain it properly.

Speaker 3 (38:36):
Potentially, after we take.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
Care of the coverage for you, could we subrogate and
go back to the other neighbor's insurance company to get
back some money. Usually it's not the cost of layers
is too much or something like that, but there is
some potential there. But just know that amicable neighborly conversations
about aging trees is and addressing them before or an

(39:00):
insurance claim happens is the best way to approach that.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
Of course, that okay, I wanted to cover that.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
And then just one other thing, kind of a little
deeper into the year while we have you here, because
after we get past fall, we start to have that
season that has the white stuff. Yeah I'm not saying
the name, but it falls from the sky and it
can have ice involved, and it can stack up on
driveways and sidewalks and things of that nature. And while
you may not be venturing outside, your Amazon delivery person

(39:27):
probably is, and the pizza delivery person maybe, and the
neighbors walk in the dog and so there is still
a liability risk there with that season as well.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
Right, Yeah, And honestly, just back to that home maintenance
responsibility of the homeowner with the new roof, it is
that of maintaining your property. So you need to make
sure that you're keeping pathways clear and salted and that
you're creating a safe environment for you and your guests.
Because if in the event, you do not create a
safe environment and.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
You could be held liable for the ill.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
Maintenance of your property and somebody comes on and does
hurt themselves, there is coverage on your policy, but you
you you do create a liability situation for yourself. And so,
you know, maintaining the integrity of your home during the
winter has its challenges because of the weight of snow
and you know, water and ice in that thaw freeze situation,

(40:21):
but also of your sidewalks and of your front porch
and being aware of salting and slipping falls and things
of that nature. Is as absolutely a responsibility.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Absolutely, I mean, and we just bring this up not
to panic pedal by certainly any stretch of the imagination,
but we recognize there are certain seasons that bring with
it certain you know, challenges, you know, and we want
and again from the real estate side, we know home
is a really big investment. You get the benefit of
living in it, which is really cool because I don't
live in a four oh one K plan, but I
live in my home. But they're with that does come responsibilities,

(40:53):
and we don't ever want somebody to have to feel
like home ownership was the worst decision they ever made,
you know. We want this to be something that they enjoy.
And so we wanted to cover some of the you know,
some of the primary things that can be a source
of friction, you know.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
And I will tell you these things.

Speaker 4 (41:07):
With a good sit down with an agent, we can
fill those gaps and they're not something you have to
worry about, yeah, I mean, really, these are just the
things that could be a big issue. And so we
transfer the risk, right, we use insurance and say these
are your potential risks, but don't.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
Worry, we're going to cover gotcha.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
But as these things change, you call your agent back,
and we we make them change as you have changed.

Speaker 1 (41:31):
Okay, so let's let's talk about that, because you said
it's worth having at least an annual conversation with your
insurance provider. I mean now the times that I think,
you know, like like I called your office when we moved, right,
you know, realistically, I mean.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
I knew I had to.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
We're changing, we're making some Is there other trigger points
where somebody should call you besides the annual premium, Like
something changed in their life that they should be calling you.

Speaker 4 (41:52):
I personally really think it's important to upfront discuss the
kinds of things that should trigger them to be like, oh,
I should probably let my agent know, right, because it's
you know, there's some consumer responsibility. But I also feel
like it's my job to help them educate. So, you know,
adding children, children moving out, because some of this has
to do with on the auto side, right, divorce, their marriage,

(42:14):
upgrades to your home. Did you just put in one
hundred thousand dollars kitchen? Did you just refinish your basement?
Did you add a liability exposure like a pool or
a hot tub. If you don't advise your insurance agent,
did you add a liability exposure? We don't have that noted,
and there's a huge loss you could potentially be faced
with no coverage. You know, did you add a deck?

Speaker 1 (42:36):
You?

Speaker 4 (42:37):
Did you add goats or chickens to your backyard and
we didn't know about it. So just life changes things
that we could make sure that we have adequate coverage for.
As you increase your risk, we increase coverage. Or potentially
I have to say, actually, this doesn't fit within our
coverage parameter. You can't do this and still maintain the

(42:59):
integrity of your polo. See we have to have that
conversation and change things up.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
So oh interesting, now goats and chickens I did not.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
Oh no, I mean you can. You just have to
have the right policy.

Speaker 2 (43:08):
I'm just laughing at that.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
That was one that I would would not have been
on my raidar. I don't raise either, but I mean
it's just I would not have thought some.

Speaker 4 (43:14):
Carriers will not allow for any even personally used animals
on the property.

Speaker 2 (43:19):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Interesting, Well, I mean, always good to know we always
learned something. Yeah, right, So Denise, let me a couple
of things before we wrap up. There could be people
that are sitting here going, you know, boy, my premiums
are high enough. I think something happened that I could
make a claim for, but I don't know that I
want to because I don't want to like have my
premium go up. So should people hold back and then

(43:42):
if they can afford to just fix it, fix it
on their own, or should they not be so afraid
to reach out and if something has happened and filed
the claim.

Speaker 4 (43:49):
So not all carriers are the same or look at
the situation the same. So I'm only going to speak
for ours.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (43:54):
We have the innate ability to want you to reach
out to us to say, hey, this happened. Can I
have someone come and look at it? Because what we
don't want to happen is for you to think you
fixed it. Now we have a massively bigger issue and
we're all going to be in a bad place. We

(44:16):
will allow an adjuster to come out do an evaluation
right up what we think needs to be done, and
you have the ability to withdraw the claim and take
care of it on your own, okay, meaning that you're
going to get our professional advice as to how to
fix this. But if it's less then or equal to
your deductible or let's say it's two thousand dollars to fix,
but you have a thousand dollars deductible. I don't want

(44:38):
you to lose your claim free discount, right because and
your claim is going to hang on for three years.
We don't want you have to go through three terms
with a loss of a claim free discount for an
extra thousand dollars. You know, for most people as a homeowner,
that's something that makes sense that we would probably want
to They would want to absorb that cost and just
fix it themselves so we can withdraw the claim and

(45:00):
will not.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Penalize you for it. I will tell you that not
all carriers will do that.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Okay, So good to know. And again why you should
maybe be talking to somebody denise.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
You know, or call me and be like, this is
what happened. What do you think now? Granted I can't
I am not the determiner. My name is on the wall,
but I am not an adjuster, So I stay in
my lane, right and I but I know enough to
have an intellectual conversation to say, hey, call plumber, call
an electrician, get get get an idea of what the
problem looks like what that cost might look like.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
And sometimes they'll call me back and say it's.

Speaker 4 (45:29):
Eight hundred and fifty bucks. It's an in a weekend
with me and my wife.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
We're gonna just take care of it great, perfect, you know, perfect.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
I think that and more people are opting for higher
deductibles to help reduce some of that insurance cost. So
they're not going to file little claims, right, you know
they're not. It's nothing to see a twenty five hundred
or a five thousand dollars deductible. That is so kind
of like it really is, which you.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Kind of watched.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
My next question was, you know, what can people do,
you know, to keep insurance coverage, but to keep the
cost down as much as pass And that's going to
be one of the one of the first things I'm assuming.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
Is it's at the easiest, right, and it's not.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
Always like it doesn't always make sense, so it's very individualized.
We're on someone's policy because it's kind of a percentage, right,
So on somebody's policy, to go from one thousand to
twenty five hundred dollars deductible, it might only save them
one hundred and sixteen dollars a year.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
Does that make sense? I don't know.

Speaker 4 (46:20):
We're on another policy that might be three hundred and
sixteen dollars, So then you start thinking, eh, that might
be you know. So it's a risk tolerance and it's
a conversation. Again, have a relationship with someone where you
can play the game and work with the numbers and
look at different alternatives and choices. Another great way that

(46:40):
some people will use is not ensuring to one hundred
percent of replacement cost. It's a little bit of a
great area and it could be a little taboo, but
there are perfect scenarios and where this plays out. We've
got a couple that's lived in this house for thirty
five or forty years, and it was the house that
they raise their whole family, and it's significantly bigger than.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
What they need, and they live there alone.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
They don't have a mortgage or they have a little
tiny bit left and to completely replace this house for
an easy number, let's say it's five hundred thousand, but
they're like, God, I don't I wouldn't need quite this
exact same everything.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
I'd be okay with a little smaller.

Speaker 4 (47:24):
So maybe they choose to ensure to eighty or ninety
percent of the replacement costs, meaning they're willing to self
ensure a little bit of that so that maybe they
don't quite have you know, the taj mahal Right, they're
willing to reduce some of that. And that's that's a
tool that we can use.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
So mean, but again it goes back to, and I've
said this before on different topics, is whether it's a lender,
whether it's your real estate agent, whether it's your insurance
you know agent is Yes, you can do a lot
of research online these days. You can do all sorts
of calculators and estimated costs, you know, and get quotes
in all of that at but nothing beats talking to
a local expert in my opinion.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
Real people, real solutions. You can look me in my eyes,
we can look through the stuff I with me as
an agency owner, my staff representing a company. That's right here.
There's no red tape. It's just we pick up a
phone and the answer the answer people are right there.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
There's something to be said about that.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
No, absolutely, And I think, like I said, Hey, I'm
a researcher too. I google the heck and research stuff
before any big purchase.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
I mean, I really do. I get it.

Speaker 1 (48:29):
But when you're ready to kind of start pulling the
trigger on things, you're you're really getting ready to do something.
And I think again, anything having to do with home
ownership or insurance and things like that, talk to a
local person.

Speaker 4 (48:41):
You have licenses like this is a real thing, like you,
we have education and cees and oh, the list goes
on of the things that we have to do to
make sure we are maintaining the level of knowledge that
it takes to do this at the level that is safe.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
And yeah, well, I.

Speaker 1 (48:58):
Mean because you should be surround yourself by a great team, right,
I mean, whether that's I mean in the real estate transaction,
you kind of listened to them all off before you've
got the lender of the inspector, you know, and all
of that. I mean I would say the same thing
with a financial planner. Yeah, I mean, yeah, could I
could I day trade, Sure could. Don't know that it'd
be overly effective.

Speaker 4 (49:15):
We could also all change our oil, but very few
of us arecuit driving our car up on ramps and
our driveway.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
Dan used to do it before I got My dad
used to. Yeah, that's so that's a bygde Era I
yes too, but I mean I really think there's something too, because,
like you said, there, I mean kidding aside. You are licensed,
you have to know, you have to really know your business,
and most of us don't know the insurance business. Let's
face it, most of us run to the hills if
anything that smells like insurance comes up. We don't read

(49:40):
about it. We're not knowledgeable. We know enough to be dangerous,
and you really need to talk to an expert. That's
why we had Denise Mansfield here today. Denise, if somebody
wanted to reach out to you, let's say, you know,
you struck something in them that they want to talk
to you, or they want to you know, you have
somebody to do a second that kind of look over
the coverage they have and see if they're properly insured
or maybe you know, switch their business to you.

Speaker 2 (49:59):
We're Can they reach you?

Speaker 4 (50:01):
The best way to reach us would be our office
phone number which is five eight six five two two
four four two seven, and we service the entire state
of Michigan.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
Awesome.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
Was there anything that we didn't cover that you wanted
to make sure you got out there to the listeners today?

Speaker 4 (50:16):
No, just the importance of having an insurance person in
your family circle. Your home agent is likely able to
take care of a lot more than just that, and
it really does all flow together, the home, the auto,
the life. If you're a business owner, your business insurance
we take the entire family and look at ways of

(50:38):
managing and helping them maintain their risk out in the world.
And it doesn't really pay to have that spread all over.
It's not your best interest having one person that can
help kind of look at it all and do it
all for you. There's a lot of there's a lot
of power in that and I see that every day.
So just just take take the time to make a
good relationship with an.

Speaker 1 (50:58):
Agent, absolutely, and into the time to have a conversation
if you haven't done it in a while, if you've
been kind of an online shopper, you know, from an
insurance perspective, take the take the time, you know, the
twenty minutes or whatever it's going to take to have
a conversation with somebody and really have them ask allow
them to ask you the questions that you don't know
to ask yourself. Yeah, absolutely, I mean that because that's

(51:18):
I remember when we first met, Thatsking. I'm like you
asked questions nobody had ever asked me before, you know,
and we got into the nitty gritty on some things,
and I mean, I feel now i sleep at night,
I feel that I am protected and covered, and I
want that for everybody.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
It's it's big, it's important.

Speaker 1 (51:33):
So well, again, thanks Denise for being here today our
pleasure and listeners. I hope that you enjoyed this conversation.
As I said, we were recording this the week heading
into Labor days, so if you're listening to it right
as this gets published, I hope you have a wonderful
Labor Day weekend. And we will be back soon with
another episode and we look forward to chatting.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
With you soon.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
We hope you enjoy today's episode. Don't forget to subscribe,
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