October 28, 2022 • 37 mins
Brandon Ellis with Ellis insurance joins us to discuss homeowners' insurance. Homeowner's insurance is an important part of the mortgage process. Getting your insurance agent involved in the process upfront can help you with your home buying decision. We discuss what affects the cost of your premium, options that you may or may not need and when is a good time to shop for your coverage.
Brandon Ellis, Agent Broker @ Ellis Insurance
www.linktr.ee/ellisinsured
www.ellisinsured.com
Phone: 336.701.0217
Email: Brandon@ellisinsured.com
Jeff Cunningham is a Realtor (license # 301547) with United Realty Group (Broker license C34827) serving the Triad NC area.
Jeff can be reached at
Email - jeff.cunninghamrealtor@gmail.com,
website, jeffcunningham.mysalecore.com,
Facebook,- https://www.facebook.com/jeffcunninghambroker/
Gina Milloway is the Mortgage Loan originator NMLS #1676070 & CEO of Triad Mortgage LLC, NMLS # 2385260,
Gina can be reached at,
Email: gmilloway@traidmortgagellc.com
Web: https: https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mortgageswithgina/
Office -336-290-1891
NMLS Consumer Access: https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org/
Privacy Policy: https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/privacy-policy
Triad Mortgage is an equal housing lender
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey guys, and welcome to thepodcast.
Let's get moving with Jeff andGina.
I am Gina Millway, your host,and this is, Hey, I'm Jeff
Cunningham.
I'm your local real estate agenthere in Greensboro, and, uh,
working here in the tri outtaNorth Carolina.
Welcome.
Hey everybody.
What is another gorgeous statein the Carolinas in the fall?
The trees are putting on a showthis year.
(00:22):
Like it is absolutely fabulousoutside.
The colors are amazing.
Totally agree.
I I, I, I don't know whether ornot the hurricane had anything
to do with that and, and ourinsurance guy coming in will
tell us more about that, but,uh, but yeah, the colors this
year have already beenunbelievable.
Um, just, just tons of orangeand red and it's wild.
It's, it is great.
We didn't, it didn't seem likewe got that much last year.
(00:44):
Like it was pretty, pretty fast.
Mm-hmm.
pretty dull.
Not, not as, Yeah, it was a, itwas a, it was a covid fall.
It was a covid fall.
Oh my God.
Well, let's talk Well, cool.
Yeah.
So we, um, today is exciting.
We have a guest coming in today.
So we have, uh, someone comingin who to talk to us about a
(01:04):
very important subject in thehome buying process.
And this is something that, um,I may deal with a little bit
more than you do because it'spart of, uh, the closing
process.
You have to have homeowner'sinsurance or as we call it a
hazard.
And, um, so it, it's a big partof my side of it.
And, um, I wanna bring on ourguest, um, Brandon Ellis with
(01:28):
Ellis Insurance.
Welcome, Brandon.
Hey, thanks so much, Gina andJeff.
Thanks for having me today.
Welcome, Brandon.
Thank you.
All right.
So yeah, and uh, Go ahead.
No, go ahead, I just wanna saythank you again for having me
and, uh, to Jeff as Jeff,introduce yourself.
I'm Brandon with EllisInsurance, looking at here in
Winston-Salem and, uh, servingall of North Carolina for all
your insurance needs.
(01:49):
Fantastic, fantastic.
And, uh, and, and, and, and, andreal quick, uh, so, so Brandon,
you are, you are a broker.
Uh, and we talk a little bitmore about that and we'll get
more into that a little bitlater, but, but brokers have,
uh, more, um, more to choosefrom, I guess, uh, more so than
just one line of product.
Is that, Uh, that very much so.
Yes, sir.
(02:10):
I originally cut my teeth ininsurance doing, uh, single line
captive sales.
So all my experience came fromjust learning those one
particular product lines andreally hammering down, and now I
have the, the virtue of beingable to shop you for a whole
bunch of carriers.
So all the benefit and none ofthe drawback really.
That's, That's awesome.
You know, we've, we've dealtwith so much, uh, in flexibility
(02:31):
here in the last couple of.
You know, just the way themarket's been, uh, again, being
stuck inside, whatever, um, youknow, it's, uh, it, it's it's
refreshing to have aconversation with someone who
has a little bit more to choosefrom other than just A, B, or C.
It definitely helps.
I mean, and as we all know,everyone's different.
Everyone has different needs.
Every home is different.
(02:52):
Every home buyer is different,so it doesn't make sense to try
and jam everyone in the sameshoebox, right?
So we gotta make sure we're,we're tailoring everything to
your specific needs.
And that's what I'm here for.
I'm here to make sure.
What you need is what you have.
Excellent, excellent.
Well, I don't think, you know,when people are out looking for
a home and they're shopping andthey don't really think about,
(03:13):
insurance necessarily at thattime.
And I think maybe it might be agood idea that we, we introduce
the insurance agent at thebeginning of the process to have
a conversation, find out theirneeds, but also to help in the
process of buying a home.
And in this area, you know, wedon't get a lot of turbulent
(03:34):
weather so much as some of thecoastal planes, Florida.
Or the mountains with the snow.
But we do get some weather andwe do get some, some things that
happen to home.
So, you know, maybe, um, youknow, Brandon, is that something
would you recommend ifsomebody's getting ready to put
a contract on the house before,before they put a contract,
maybe reach out to you and seewhat's going on with the house?
What's happened to the house,it's history.
(03:57):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Whenever you're shopping forhouses, we always encourage
customers to give us a shot,even if it's a couple homes.
I have no problem with runningquotes on multiple properties,
and it's very quick and easy todo that.
But it's good to know what mayhave previously happened in the
home, because as you know, inthe, in the field of insurance,
I'm sorry, in the field of realestate, you have the disclosure
pages, but those aren't alwaysfully filled out.
(04:18):
They're not always the best, uh,indicator of what's going on in
that.
And sometimes people, let's justbe honest, can be shady and try
to hide stuff.
Uh, so knowing if there'ssomething there may give you as
the buyer and if you're workingwith a, a home inspector, a
chance to really look into thoseparticular things.
But another thing, if you're anew home buyer, and if you've
never owned a home before, maybeyou've only lived with your
parents or you've only everrented before.
(04:40):
There could be some stickershock that goes along with the
price of homeowners insurance.
Mm-hmm.
typically you're looking atabout a hundred bucks a month.
Just a ballpark figure.
Right.
And that being said, it, it cango way up from there maybe down
a little bit, but things thatimpact that are replacement cost
on homes and as, uh, real estateagents and lenders, you guys are
worried about what the home isworth as far as to resell it for
(05:04):
you to.
as an insurance company, we'remore concerned about how much is
it gonna cost to rebuild thathouse.
Mm-hmm.
and those numbers can bedrastically different.
I mean, you take a shed and putit in the middle of pod up,
nowhere it's worth 50 bucks, butyou put that shed in Charlotte
downtown, and now it's worth,you know, half a million
dollars.
Mm-hmm.
So it's, it's all relative.
But that being said, it onlytakes the same 50 bucks to
(05:24):
rebuild that shed.
So I'm more concerned about howmuch it's gonna take to fix this
home back to where it was.
And we call that rep.
So we have different cost.
And to the point of having thecovid fall, you can definitely
look at the cost of buildingsupplies, the cost of, you know,
labor for building it.
It's all gone up exponentially.
So you may get a steal on ahouse and then still be looking
(05:45):
at a huge replacement cost billon your homeowner's policy.
So something to, something toconsider.
And so I think having thatinformation before you submit
your offer, before you commit toit, knowing what all of your
true financial commitment isgonna be, I think that's super
helpful.
Yeah.
And you mention.
You mentioned a good point aboutthe home inspection.
You know, if a house has had aclaim on it in the past, and we
can uncover that, then you, whenyou go out to do your home
(06:08):
inspection, you can always askyour inspector, Hey, I know this
has happened.
You know, there was a water leakfor instance, can we, you know,
maybe really pay attention tothe plumbing in the house?
Or, um, there was a fire, Well,we all know if there's a fire in
the house that it, the smoke canliterally destroy everything
inside the house.
So, um, I think knowing that upfront would really.
(06:31):
Beneficial.
Yeah.
Because like I said, any, anyhome inspector that's gonna go
in there, he's gonna just kindof give it the, the general once
over and they're not gonna knowto look for those like quote
unquote hotspots.
So yeah, knowing where they areis gonna give you a lot of power
as the home buyer.
Cause the last thing you want isto, to buy a home and miss
something huge.
And now that's gonna beexplained for you or that's
gonna be a problem for you tofix.
(06:51):
So, As much transparency as youcan get, I think is great in
that process.
Yeah, it's a, it's a greatpoint.
I, I didn't, I was, I waswalking through an inspection
yesterday, uh, and Gina, to yourpoint, um, uh, these folks had,
it looked like some previousdamage at some point.
Um, and, and you know, myinspector had mentioned that,
and, and, and granted we havenot gotten to the point yet.
(07:14):
They are homeowners now.
So, uh, they do have a policy inplace, uh, for themselves.
But again, uh, I, I, I, I do notbelieve that they actually went
out and asked for theirhomeowner to, I'm sorry, their.
Policy holders, uh, insurancecompany to take a look at the
new property.
Um, which again, it's a, it's abig step up for these guys.
(07:35):
It's a, it's a beautiful house.
Uh, nothing really structurallyor anything really wrong with
it, but yes, be for, for, for,for the point to be able to,
again, maybe negotiate.
Uh, a little bit of a betterpurchase price, um, or, you
know, again, uh, working on somereplacement and or repair cost.
Again, the discount may be inthe purchase price, um, you
(07:55):
know, for the buyers, uh, that,that's great information.
as well as, um, speaking withthese individuals before we go
in.
And, and, and speaking a littlebit about, uh, bundling and,
and, and doing multiplepolicies, uh, home life and, uh,
car insurance for, for thatmatter.
Um, Because all of us have acard in our pocket for somebody
(08:16):
we ran into that has, you know,a, an insurance guy, a realtor,
whatever.
Um, but I, I would assumeBrandon, and, and, and I know we
talked a little bit about this,but it's gotta be beneficial,
um, to try to work a little bitof bundling, um, you know, to go
ahead and, and make your, makeyour monthly cost a little bit
easier.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
And that that is absolutely oneof the greatest discounts most
(08:38):
insurance companies offer is thebundling of home and auto
together.
So if you currently have acarrier for your auto, I always
recommend checking with themfirst.
It's great to see what kind ofdiscounts you'll get on your
existing policy.
If your auto policy, you shouldget a discount on that by adding
on the home portion, so somesavings there.
Plus you'll get a better rate.
I know some companies, uh,mentioned State Farm previously.
For them to qualify for certaindeductible levels, you have to
(09:00):
have the bundled products.
So sometimes there'sincentivizes and, and things
like that to look at.
But that being said, it's notalways the cheapest route.
I know I do have certaincustomers that have specific
needs with their home that don'tqualify for the company that's
with their auto insurance, andwe're still able to find them
great coverage.
But the nice thing about it is,as a broker, I.
Eight companies that I work withon a regular basis that do a
(09:23):
home and auto bundle.
So with One Call to me, I cancheck them all for.
See what your best option is.
And let's say you do buy apolicy with me.
You know we mentioned thoserenewal bills.
Great time to shop around.
If you get a renewal bill andyou're one of my customers and
it has gone up, I'm gonna get anotice.
And you know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna call you and say, HeyJeff, I saw that renewals coming
around.
It's going up.
I'm gonna go ahead and shop youaround, see if I can find you a
(09:44):
better rate.
I'm gonna jump on that for you,save you the headache and keep
you in the best rates and thebest.
As long as I possibly keep,That's a really nice benefit.
Awesome.
You shouldn't have to thinkabout it.
You just, Yeah.
And you're not to say that I'malways gonna have the best rate.
I'm gonna be honest.
I mean the, It's a horse race.
They companies are gonna go up,they're gonna go down, and you
as an individual may haveindividual things that are gonna
cause your rates to go up anddown.
(10:04):
But I'm always gonna try andlike I said, having that stable
of, of options for you.
So much better than if you havejust the one option.
If I, if I have one homeowner'spolicy and you no longer fit.
Well, Jeff, I don't have ahomeowner's policy for you
anymore and I may have to justhope you send me some friends.
Well treat, treat us right,Brandon, Then you'll get your
friends.
I promise.
(10:25):
I'm trying.
I'm right.
Well, let's, let's talk aboutthe policy on what, you know,
some things that maybe they canmake the policy go up or down
and in reference to somebodyshopping for a home.
Um, yeah.
One thing that I've noticed onmy side that changes is the
property type.
And, and I'm talkingspecifically between
manufactured housing.
(10:47):
And maybe even modular.
I'm not sure on your worldmodular falls into single family
on my side, but it may bedifferent on the insurance side.
But I do know that manufacturedhousing is tricky when it comes
to insurance, and we're seeing arise in the popularity of those
right now.
So what about the property type?
What are some things that weneed to look out on the property
type?
(11:07):
Yeah, sure.
And to that point, uh, there areso many different property types
as you're probably both aware.
You've got condos, townhouses,you have the mobile homes, you
have the modular homes, you havethe traditional stick built
homes.
And then within those, you have,is it frame built?
Is it masonry built?
Is it a pre 19 hundreds built?
So there's all kinds ofdifferent categories you could
(11:27):
fall into with it.
And every one of those has itsown little nuances.
But big things we dodifferentiate between modular
homes and mobile homes.
A lot of companies, um, it, themodular homes are gonna be
treated more like a stick-builthome, but it's gonna have
different, I guess, levels ofcoverage and they're gonna treat
it differently when they look atthe, We run what's called an
estimated replacement cost tool.
Mm-hmm.
of course, that's evaluated.
(11:48):
It's gonna look at things likehow that property depreciates
versus a versus a traditionalfamily home.
But to that point, whatever youhave, there is a specific
package for that and a specifictype of coverage.
Things that can make you go upor down, I mentioned.
So let's say you have a homethat's a hundred thousand
dollars.
That's what it costs to rebuildit.
So we're gonna ensure it ahundred thousand dollars, but
five years from now, it may notbe a hundred thousand dollars to
(12:10):
replace because of cost of goodsgoing up and things like that.
So does your policy haveinflation guard?
Is your policy regularlyincreasing your coverage a
amount to make sure that asprices go up, you have enough to
cover you there?
Um, If you have a lot ofdetached buildings or
structures, so let's say you'vegot some garages or a stable,
things like that, by default,most policies have coverage for
(12:32):
your detached structures, butit's usually 10 to 20% of your
total property value, like yourhome price.
So a hundred thousand be 10 to20,000.
So you may need to endorsethose.
So anything like that that youadd on endorsement, Increasing,
increasing in coverage aretypically gonna raise the
premium up annually, but it's,it's things you need to be sure
you're looking at because if youdon't have it and you have an
(12:52):
have an incident, a fire, atheft, flood, anything like
that, you could be out a lot ofmoney because those things
aren't covered properly.
Um, but as far as the otherthings that can go onto a policy
that you would look at bigthings that really need to be
added on there that a lot ofcompanies don't talk enough
about or water back.
Um, as I'm sure you both know,water claims probably one of the
(13:15):
most common ones.
And whenever it comes to a claimsituation with water, it's
always a question of how did thewater come to be?
Is it a slow leak?
Is it a sudden burst?
You know, if it's, if it's.
Maintenance where you've got apipe leak and you didn't catch
it and it slowly deterioratedyour wall and created all this
mold that's on you, that fallsunder maintenance.
Now, they may pay to remove allthe hazardous material and clean
(13:37):
up, but they're not gonna paythe replace, replace or fix your
wall or any of that stuff.
So making sure you have theright endorsements, because if
you have the proper coverage inplace, it can cover those
things.
Um, and what is, real quick, yousaid water backup.
What does that mean?
So, If, if you have a home witha sump pump, if you have a home
(13:58):
that, uh, has a, well, if thatwater comes back into your home,
traditionally speaking, that'snot covered under your
homeowner's policy.
So if you have the endorsementthough, you can get levels of
coverage from like 5,010 all theway up to 25 and 50,000.
So that way you.
Have it on there, but again, bydefault it's not a covered
peril, so you have to look atthat.
Earthquakes rarely here ofearthquakes, North Carolina, but
(14:21):
as you recall, a couple yearsago, we had a few we did that's
not covered on the policy, sothat's an endorsement.
So if you don't have it on thereand earthquake messes up your
foundation, knocks off someroofing that's on you
unfortunately, because it's nota covered peril in a lot of.
Wow.
Interesting.
Now, has that changed somewhat.
Uh, you know, I I we, we hearthe, you know, I've got air
(14:43):
quotes again, the act of God.
Um, Sure.
What, what does, what, doesanything fall under that
anymore, I should say?
Is anything insured in that bydefault?
Or is that something that's nowyou have to go ahead and select?
Well, it depends on what type ofact they got.
They're very selective.
So if a lightning hit your housecovered, right, If there is a.
(15:05):
A tree that snaps because of awindstorm in Lands House.
That stuff's covered right?
As long as a tree was healthy.
If it's a dead tree, then thatfalls under a different category
because that's maintenance It'sall about are you keeping your
stuff up?
If everyth ideal condition andsomething happens, then you're a
lot better off insurancecovering it.
But water, while you would thinkwater, like if it floods, that's
an act of gut, right?
(15:25):
You can't stop the rain.
Sure.
Flooding isn't, isn't covered.
Right.
That's, that's something that'sexcluded on a lot of policies
and to the point of doing yourhomework beforehand.
If it's not disclosed in yourbuyer's agreements or your
paperwork with your realtors, itmay, your home may be in a flood
zone, and if it is your lender,Gina Canes.
May require to carry floodinsurance.
Mm-hmm.
that's policy written throughfema.
(15:47):
So that's something you need toknow up front too, or are you
gonna have to carry thisadditional coverage?
Cause that's a separate policyabove and beyond the home policy
and for, and those have to bepaid up front and everything
else.
And for the lender, for, formost loan times, it's, it's a
matter of.
Are any structures in the floodzone?
Cuz you could have a propertyand only like the corner piece
of, of the lot being a floodzone.
(16:07):
Correct.
So there are no structures inthe flood zone for us then
that's not a big deal.
But if any piece of thestructure falls in a flood zone,
then yes, then that's a bigdeal.
And, but you know, you may beout of the woodworks as far as
the mortgage company isconcerned, like, so maybe the
flood zone starts like five feetfrom your front door.
But as a consumer, as the personliving in that house, I might be
(16:28):
like, that's all for close to myfront door and maybe even the
mortgage company doesn't, MaybeI think I need it, you know, so,
There's, there's also a littlebit of what do you need?
Not cuz I mean, as the mortgagecompany, as the realtor you're
gonna give them, you know, kindof the broad spectrum.
Here's what you need generallyspeaking.
But as an individual, you, it'sgood to talk to the insurance
(16:49):
broker because they're gonnaknow that's their bread and
butter, that's their nuancedthing.
So I'm gonna know, hey, wellyes, you're covered from the
mortgage standpoint.
You don't have to have thatflood insurance.
Something you may want toconsider.
You know, your front door isfive feet away from Right the
next two weeks.
And we are changing, you know,weather patterns are, are, are
changing a little more rapidly,I think, than they used to be.
So, you know, you just neverknow.
Mm-hmm.
(17:10):
Yeah.
And that's, Yes, the agent Iused to work for, she was famous
for always talking about chancesversus consequences, and that's
what it all is, right?
It's.
Chances are it's not gonnahappen.
But if it does, what are theconsequences if you're not
prepared?
Right?
So it's always about making sureyou're covered for, And don't
get me wrong, even as aninsurance person, I, you could
have too much insurance, right?
(17:31):
Like, I mean, you don't have tocover everything to the nth
degree.
But at the same time, underinsuring things happens all the
time and that's a much, muchbigger problem.
So yes, that's my biggest,making sure you have enough to
keep you safe.
See the point of things alwayschanging.
I mean, if you bought a housefive years ago and insured it
(17:52):
with a company and haven'ttouched your policy, that
replacement cost might not begood in this market, right?
Mm-hmm.
and if you've not shopped, it,don't have anything on there to
account for inflation.
You may not realize it, but youmay be setting yourself up for a
big failure or you know, a bigexposure as.
Yes, Yes, yes.
Well, uh, let, let's get back toa little bit more then, uh, uh,
(18:12):
speaking a little bit about, um,the, the upfront expenses.
Um, so, uh, we, we, we've talkeda couple of weeks ago, uh, about
staying prepared, uh, and, andbeing prepared for purchasing
your home.
Um, which of course we weretalking a lot of credit
information.
We're talking a lot of expenses,savings and all that kind of
(18:33):
stuff.
Um, in the last, say few years,Uh, where has the insurance
industry gone along with, um,say, credit research, uh, you
know, reviewing the individual,not so much just the property.
How's, how's that been comingalong?
Sure.
Uh, so I feel like as far ashome goes, Home has always been,
uh, a credit review when itcomes to those quotes.
(18:55):
Now that being said, uh, as of,I think it was last year, North
Carolina has made a push to allthe auto insurance.
Underwritten through creditchecks as well.
So that's a change, but theykind of go hand in hand,
especially if you're looking todo a quote on home and auto
bundle together.
Now they are soft inquiries, sohopefully getting a quote or
check on your insurance wouldnot impact anything if you're
trying to keep your credit goodfor a pre-qualifying and things
(19:18):
like that.
But, um, to that point though,if you, if you are shopping
early, looking around at thoserates, you do have the ability
to, excuse me, you do have theability to.
What kind of, um, coverageoptions you have, just because
again, fitting the rightcoverage in place and getting
everything.
(19:39):
Sorry, I apologize.
got me there.
Uh, getting everything set up,getting everything in place is
gonna give you the option tojust really review those
coverage, get those, um, thosefinances dialed in.
If you're worried about havingenough money up front to cover
closing costs, you know, allyour transitional costs, things.
There's not really a lot of costwhen it comes to setting up the
homeowner's insurance policy.
(20:00):
If you're paying for it outtayour pockets, let's say you
bought the house cash money,there's no escrow situation you
would need to be willing to payfor either the monthly premium,
so either the first month'spremium, if you're gonna do it
monthly, or the entirety of theannual premium if you're gonna
set up that way.
So, Those typically, one ofthose two payments is typically
needed to buy in the policy.
Mm-hmm.
even if it's not gonna beeffective until a future date.
(20:20):
Um, but if you do have anescrow, if you are gonna have a
mortgage, a lot of times whatis, what happens is we'll set it
up and that is bill directly tothe mortgage company.
So I don't need a, a dime fromyou, I just need to know where
to send that bill off to.
We'll get that input into thesystem and when the homeowner's
company issues the policy, likeI said, they'll send a bill out
for the premium.
The mortgage company sends the,the check over to them.
(20:41):
Everything is hands off for meand the insured, and then that
policy goes into effect.
And then every year they justpay the renewal bills.
And of course, You don't see itdirectly, but of course it's
part of your, your mortgage andescrow and everything else.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Excellent.
Well, um, you know, in the lastcouple years, uh, most
especially with the pandemic andeverything else that's been
going on, North Carolina hasseen an influx of folks coming
(21:02):
into, uh, the state.
We don't see a lot of peoplemoving out of the state.
We see a ton coming in, um, andwe see a lot of cash buyers.
So, um, what is the Now you can,we can all, I guess, express the
importance of having insurance,but, um, but you know, a lot of,
a lot of cash buyers thatactually own the home outright
(21:24):
don't necessarily need as amortgage.
You know, they don't need it aspart of their mortgage cause of
course they don't have amortgage, so.
Sure.
What do you recommend for, forfolks that have come in and
bought a 15 year old?
Um, for$400,000 cash, um, what'stheir best bet as far as getting
insurance?
Or is there any benefit to that?
(21:46):
Sure.
Well, there's absolutely benefitto it because even if you aren't
obligated to a bank or amortgage company to pay that
money back, it is still yourmoney.
That is still an investment.
And if, you know, you bought ittoday and tomorrow something
came along, uh, act of God, uh,angry postal worker destroyed
that home and property and nowit, it no longer.
(22:06):
You still own that land?
Sure.
Mm-hmm.
But you want a$400 piece of halfacre land, right?
Yes.
With insurance, Now that that'shappened, I'm so sorry, but
here, here's a check or here is,uh, someone to help you get that
back to where it was.
So having insurance again,chances versus consequences.
But if you are a cash buyer, youknow, maybe you're buying
properties for the intent ofAirbnb them or rentals, things
(22:30):
like that.
So now you still need coverage,but you need a different kind.
So instead of a homeowner'spolicy, you'd look at like a
rental dwelling policy,something like that.
I have a family member that ownsseveral properties and that's
all she does.
And those prop, those policiesrather.
Far more affordable because allyou're really covering is
liability exposure in casesomeone's, someone wants to be
hurt by your property or on yourproperty.
(22:50):
Mm-hmm.
and the, the structure itself,but you cut out things like the
personal property contents, youcut out things like identity
theft, you know, knickknack,things like that because all
you're worried about is thebuilding.
You don't care about anythingthat's in it or anything else.
You just wanna make sure if Godforbid, that building comes
down, somebody's there to put itback up.
Yes.
So it just depends on yourneeds.
But unless you are 100% okaywith the investment, and that's
(23:14):
how I'm gonna call it, theinvestment you've made in that
house, that property, Beingreduced to rubble and no one
coming along to help you out,then that's, that's okay.
You don't need insurance.
But for a few hundred dollars ayear, I think it's worth it to
protect.
Yeah.
Often if you're talking about ahouse, hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
Yes.
And, and, and, and.
Yeah, again, where we are today,uh, we're at the end of October
(23:37):
nine, uh, 19, 19 22.
We're at the end of October in2022.
Um, so inflation is, you know,again, something that we're all
worried about.
Uh, or I should say it's, it'stouching us all every day.
Um, but at the same time eatingus up every day.
Yeah, it's pretty aggressiveright now.
Yes.
So, So again, uh, insurance, Iwould have to say would, in my
(24:01):
opinion anyways, is really justsomething that's, Um, again, we
don't know what the supplychains are gonna hap or what's
gonna happen to the supplychains tomorrow as far as
building materials, um, orsomething like that.
Um, but yeah, totally agree.
And I mean, it's highlyrecommended of course, that any
property, uh, paid off or not,uh, maintain your insurance.
(24:22):
Uh, because again, it's, it isimportant to have something
behind.
God forbid if, if, again, activeGod fire or whatever was to
happen on your property, um, youknow, paying a portion and
getting it whole again, um,would be again, something I'd
recommend.
And I, I think I'm hearing yousay the same, Brandon.
(24:42):
Well, absolutely.
Insurance is all abouttransferring the risk.
My goal in life is for me totake as much risk off of you as
possible to put it over with acompany that is able to take
care of that.
And God forbid you have a needfor it.
So that's all I, I live to dois.
Serve people and get their needsmet with the companies that can
take care of'em.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Yeah, and I would say, um, Iwould add to that, you know,
(25:02):
having from the mortgage side ofit, again, I deal with the
homeowner's insurance and thepolicy, and it's part of the
underwriting process, like it'spart of the mortgage process.
So I need to be able to talk tothe agent.
I need to be able to get thedocuments that I need from the
agent.
So those of you who are outthere shopping for the cheapest
insurance possible, and you'rebuying a house, don't do.
(25:25):
Please don't do that becauseonline agents are the worst.
When you go to, you know, I wantinsurance.com or
1-800-INSURANCE, and you callthem and you speak to agent
number 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, great.
It is a nightmare trying to getthose documents typical.
(25:46):
If anything needs to be changed.
Mm-hmm.
sometimes it takes weeks.
I mean, I've, I've had itReally?
Yes.
Well, I've had to call the barand say, Look, we can't use
these people.
You've got to find somebody thatI can communicate with, or
you're not closing on this home,because I have to have those
documents and they have to beset up in a certain manner.
And so if you're using someonewhere you don't have that
personal relationship, it canmake it really, really difficult
(26:10):
in the process.
And.
A, a lot of times I see a lot ofinsurance policies and a lot of
times they're not cheaper.
I, I see ones that come offbecause these people get paid
on.
They're pay, they're paid on acommission.
So if they can sell you, youknow, the higher policy, and you
say, Okay, sounds good.
Why wouldn't they?
(26:30):
Right.
So I see that.
I see that a lot where peopletry to go and I'm like, No,
that's, We need to find a localagent.
Yeah.
I think that's really, reallyimportant in this process.
The mortgage process for meanyway, is having a local agent.
They can reach out, I can talkto'em, you can physically talk
to'em and, and get theinformation you need.
(26:51):
Total.
Well, it's good to have someonethat knows someone that's
actually a person, right?
Like not to say that people incall centers aren't people.
They are.
Right.
But at the same time, when youhave someone that's working with
these customers directly,someone that.
Knows what their needs are.
It does make a big difference.
And you know, to your pointabout trying to get
documentation and stuff, whenyou're trying to close in a
home, you're trying to getthings done, trying to get to
(27:12):
that closing table.
Everything is a race.
And every little hiccup andevery little setback can be very
detrimental.
I mean, you could push yourclosing, it can cause more.
Mm-hmm.
fees on the back end.
So time is of the essence.
And it doesn't happen veryoften, but I've had an insurance
policy waiting for the.
You know, the owner picked theirinsurance agent, you know, this
(27:34):
is who we're gonna use.
And it delay, It actuallydelayed closing because they
wouldn't gimme the materialsthat were needed and they, you
know, this one was a local one,so they went on my naughty list
of So, you know, somebody comesback and says, We're using this
agency.
I'm like, Mm.
Well, let me tell you a littlestory about Yeah, that's a red
flag, guys.
(27:54):
That's a red flag.
Um, so yeah, well, we're bigadvocates of going local
anyways, uh, and, and, andthat's what we want to again,
uh, if we can keep our businesshere in North Carolina,
especially in the triad, then ofcourse we're gonna, we would
advocate to do that.
Um, and, and again, Brandon, youare right here in the heart of
the triad here in, uh, Midway,North Carolina.
Mm-hmm.
(28:15):
um, which is, uh, I think it'spretty much dead center in our.
Um, it's pretty much deadcenter, right?
At least vertically in thestate.
It's pretty dead center.
Yes.
So that's pretty and pretty muchhard.
Well too, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, so in instances where,again, we have, you know, a
scenario like that where, whereGina is having a difficult time
and the borrower, uh, buyer ishaving a difficult time.
(28:38):
Um, and let's just say that, uh,there's a situation where the
individual had been dropped inthe past, or let's just say that
that individual is dropped rightnow because.
I don't know, rental insuranceor whatever.
Um, what can they do and whowould they contact again to
again, get that coverage or getcoverage replaced?
Sure.
Well, let's start by calling methat that's your best stop.
(29:00):
Or if you can't get ahold of me,any insurance broker is probably
a good place to start becausethen that you're gonna have the
ability to.
Compare a lot of rates cuz itcan be very monotonous to call
one company to get one quote toturn around, call one more
company to get one.
You know, that could take a lotof time.
Uh, and not that there's notmerit in that and some companies
you can only get by calling'emthat way.
But with me or any other brokerfor that matter, you're
(29:21):
typically gonna get the optionof seeing multiple quotes all at
one time.
And again, while.
To Gina's point, you know, whywould anyone sell you the least
expensive thing?
Because they do get paidcommission.
And I do get paid commission,but at the same time, I have so
many options and so manycarriers.
My goal is always value as wellas coverage.
So, It's, it's always my thoughttoo.
(29:43):
Cause again, I'm frugal.
I am a person that minds that.
But I'm gonna present you withthe a I'm gonna show you the
Roll Royce.
It might not be in your budget,it might not be what you want or
need, but I'm say, Hey, this isan option.
If, if you want it, there it is.
Here's what I think's your bestfit.
Here's what's gonna be withinyour budget.
I always try and take that intoa consideration because like I
said, inflation is rough.
Uh, buying a home in general isexpensive.
So every little bit you can helpa person.
(30:06):
I think that adds value.
I think that is important, but.
At the end of the day, the mostimportant thing is getting the
right coverage, right?
And so my goal is to find thathappy medium between the two and
taking care of your customer.
If you take care of people,they'll take care of you.
That's always been my motto.
Absolutely.
Um, and, and yes, uh, again,brokers, we, we, we mentioned
(30:26):
brokers.
Uh, you know, again, Jayna is abroker here with, with Triad,
um, and you of course are, arewith Ellis insured.
Um, so.
Brokers do have the ability toshop a little bit for you, or at
least provide you differentproducts.
Um, where you'd mentionedearlier, uh, you know, again,
it's uh, you call one specificagency.
(30:49):
You might just get one specificoption.
Um, So, of course, uh, we wannamake sure that we are not
underinsured, uh, to Gina'spoint.
Uh, but at the same point, wewanna make sure that we are
adequately insured.
And, and I know that that'ssomething that you do, Brandon,
um, for your clients.
Now, again, even if you'reproviding a quote for the Rolls
(31:09):
Royce, um, but at least they'regonna have something that's
gonna get'em again, theinsurance that they need on a
daily basis.
I'm pretty sure everybody atDrives Road Royce once, once
upon a time, drove a HondaCivic.
So it's all fun, Absolutely,Absolutely.
You know, Carl, before you walk,I'm here for whatever stage
you're in and you know, that's,that's, that's my goal is just
(31:31):
to, um, be whatever you need meto be.
Right.
Okay.
Was there anything else?
Fantastic.
Anything else, Brandon, that youthink people should know when
they're, they're getting readyto buy a home and looking for,
for homeowner's, insurance,Anything we didn't cover?
I think we did a really good jobof covering everything.
Um, some things I would justkeep in mind, you know, one of
the most common claims inAmerica, there's over a thousand
(31:53):
house fires a day.
Wow.
Be mindful of you know, whatyou're doing in your home.
Be mindful of how you'reprotecting yourself, because at
the end of the day, whetheryou're covered under insurance
or not, being safe in your home,taking care of your home,
keeping it up, that's, that's animportant thing to.
And when you're working withyour realtor and working with
your lender, make sure that thehouse you're buying has been
(32:15):
kept up and, and all be.
Cause the last thing you wannado is move into a lot of
problems.
But if you get in there and youhave issues, make sure you've
got the coverage in place.
Make sure you've talked to thatinsurance agent.
Make sure you've got all theseendorsements that you need,
because like I said, the worstthing you want to do is jump in
and then now you've got thishuge mess because you didn't do
all the homework on the frontend.
So if someone's unsure abouttheir coverage, can they reach
(32:37):
out to you and maybe do a policyreview and.
Uh, I can absolutely do a policyreview.
Now that being said, it wouldrequire you to have access to
your policy as, I can't pull itfrom, there's no reserve or
database with that information,so like the deck page, but that
being, Yeah.
Now, but if you didn't have thatinformation, it still wanted to
quote for me, All I need is yourbasic information.
You know, where you live, theaddress of the property we're
(32:58):
insuring date of birth, thatkind of.
And I can give you a quote onthat property.
I'm gonna base it solely off ofwhat the replacement cost is,
what my, you know,recommendations of coverages
are, those kind of things.
But if you do have, like, ifit's an existing property and
you have a declaration page fromyour current company, then I can
compare things to apples.
To apples.
Do they have this endorsement?
Do I have this endorsement?
And then it's a truer quote.
(33:19):
It, it lets you see.
Okay.
Apples to apples, whateverything is right.
Can I save you money?
Can I add more value to you?
What can I do?
Right?
And I think that's important tomake sure that you're comparing
the actual coverage you haveversus to the coverages being
quoted to you.
Because there are a lot ofdifferent ways to go about it
and making sure it's the same,because if it's not the same,
then well, it's not the same.
It's not apples to apples.
So, And especially, like I said,if you're buying a new property,
(33:43):
inherently that quote may bedifferent, right?
It's a whole nother location.
But if it's the same property,if it's your home of 20 years
and you're just trying to find abetter rate, I absolutely
recommend blank.
Gina said having that originalpage from your current company
so that way you can make sure,Cause if I'm getting you a, a
much, much cheaper rate, likeinsanely cheaper rate, you
should probably ask questions.
Right?
Right, Sure.
Cause there's very few, I mean,most companies are pretty, I
(34:05):
mean, we're gonna.
Best case near a couple hundreddollars a year.
But if we're saving lots andlots of money, you might wanna
ask questions cuz there's achance that something's changed.
On that quote, you know, they'vereduced the coverage amount on
the home or they've raised theuh, the.
the deductible amount.
So now your premium's lower,which, you know, there's
definitely ways to get that costdown, but just make sure you
(34:25):
understand that because the lastthing you want to do is get into
a claim situation and find outyou've had all these changes
that are now way nodding yourfavor.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
It's all about being smart anddoing the homework.
Yes.
Yes.
Find someone who's gonna helpyou.
Right.
Someone that already knows, butlook.
Well, that's perfect.
And, and you know, again,that's, that's something we've
been talking about a lot here.
(34:46):
Again, we, we, we seem to beshift.
Um, from the seller's market,um, into more of a buyer's
market.
And, and, and the buyers, I, I,I will say aren't, uh, in the,
um, it's, it's right in themiddle.
The pendulum is shifted or isswinging a little bit.
So buyers have a little moreroom to negotiate.
(35:07):
Now, we're not in a buyer'smarket yet, but um, but I think,
you know, soon enough we willbe.
Um, and in doing so again, justhaving the preparation, being
prepared by your, or I shouldsay with your agents and having
that information up front is.
Is great.
And um, and again, we, we wouldencourage folks to reach out to
their insurance agents and letthem know, Hey, we are in the
(35:30):
market for buying a new homenow.
And again, just updating theirinformation, not necessarily the
policy in the house so that theymay be leaving, but again,
updating their information withuse so that again, they'll be
prepared when.
We do find that house for'em.
And, and, and boom, you get,you're ready to go and you
provide them that quote in 10 or15 minutes, right?
Oh yeah.
Even less if's already had theinformation on file, so Right.
(35:51):
Switch shopping early is key.
And like you said, and I, Iwanna reiterate this to Jeff,
you mentioned, especially as we,we are gradually shifting back
towards that buyer's market.
You know, if we discover thingson the claims history, if we can
help the.
The inspectors find these littlehot spots as they were mm-hmm.
that's gonna give you yourbuyers more negotiation power
and everything's negotiable inreal estate.
Right.
So yeah, absolutely.
(36:12):
The more you can show that.
It's gonna inconvenience or be aproblem or something you're
gonna have to deal with, it'sgonna give you more leverage.
Making that transit more, moreleverage, and feel more
confident going into that houseand, and buying it and
purchasing, especially if it'snever had a claim, that'll make
you feel, you know, a littlemore confident about making that
strong offer on that home aswell too.
So, All right.
Well, I think that peace of mindis huge.
(36:33):
Peace of mind.
Yes.
Peace of mind preparedness.
So I think that about cover.
Today.
Um, so Brandon, you offerPerfect.
We talked about home today, butyou also offer auto as well,
right?
I do do home auto and smallbusiness insurance.
So workers' comp, uh, generalliability, all those things.
Perfect.
Fantastic.
All right, so we will put yourinformation and contact into
(36:53):
the, the buy on the link below.
Do you wanna give anybody aquick way to contact you, uh, a
phone number or email address?
Sure you can find me.
Uh, my local phone number is(336) 701-0217.
Uh, if you're on anything socialmedia, I am at Ellis.
And of course, if you want tofind me, uh, the website is
(37:13):
www.ellisinsured.com.
And yeah, that's it.
If you, if you need me, you canfind me.
I'm, I'm out there.
I'm trying to put my faceeverywhere.
So reach out to me.
I'm happy to give you a quote.
Uh, go over your coverages oranswer any questions, even if
you're not ready to make a, atransaction today or change of
coverage.
If you have a question, I, Ihope to be.
I resource to you, so gimme acall and let me help you out.
(37:35):
Absolutely.
I, I 100% agree, Brandon isfantastic.
So you guys reach out to me ifyou have any questions about
your, your insurance needs.
So thank, thank you so much.
Absolutely.
Thank Nina so much for coming.
Appreciate Yeah, no, thank youfor having me.
I really appreciate it.
All right, so we, that is allfor today and we'll see you guys
on the next podcast.
See you guys next time.
Take care everybody.
Hey guys, and welcome to thepodcast.
Let's get moving with Jeff andGina.
I am Gina Millway, your host,and this is, Hey, I'm Jeff
Cunningham.
I'm your local real estate agenthere in Greensboro, and, uh,
working here in the tri outtaNorth Carolina.
Welcome.
Hey everybody.
What is another gorgeous statein the Carolinas in the fall?
The trees are putting on a showthis year.
(00:22):
Like it is absolutely fabulousoutside.
The colors are amazing.
Totally agree.
I I, I, I don't know whether ornot the hurricane had anything
to do with that and, and ourinsurance guy coming in will
tell us more about that, but,uh, but yeah, the colors this
year have already beenunbelievable.
Um, just, just tons of orangeand red and it's wild.
It's, it is great.
We didn't, it didn't seem likewe got that much last year.
(00:44):
Like it was pretty, pretty fast.
Mm-hmm.
pretty dull.
Not, not as, Yeah, it was a, itwas a, it was a covid fall.
It was a covid fall.
Oh my God.
Well, let's talk Well, cool.
Yeah.
So we, um, today is exciting.
We have a guest coming in today.
So we have, uh, someone comingin who to talk to us about a
(01:04):
very important subject in thehome buying process.
And this is something that, um,I may deal with a little bit
more than you do because it'spart of, uh, the closing
process.
You have to have homeowner'sinsurance or as we call it a
hazard.
And, um, so it, it's a big partof my side of it.
And, um, I wanna bring on ourguest, um, Brandon Ellis with
(01:28):
Ellis Insurance.
Welcome, Brandon.
Hey, thanks so much, Gina andJeff.
Thanks for having me today.
Welcome, Brandon.
Thank you.
All right.
So yeah, and uh, Go ahead.
No, go ahead, I just wanna saythank you again for having me
and, uh, to Jeff as Jeff,introduce yourself.
I'm Brandon with EllisInsurance, looking at here in
Winston-Salem and, uh, servingall of North Carolina for all
your insurance needs.
(01:49):
Fantastic, fantastic.
And, uh, and, and, and, and, andreal quick, uh, so, so Brandon,
you are, you are a broker.
Uh, and we talk a little bitmore about that and we'll get
more into that a little bitlater, but, but brokers have,
uh, more, um, more to choosefrom, I guess, uh, more so than
just one line of product.
Is that, Uh, that very much so.
Yes, sir.
(02:10):
I originally cut my teeth ininsurance doing, uh, single line
captive sales.
So all my experience came fromjust learning those one
particular product lines andreally hammering down, and now I
have the, the virtue of beingable to shop you for a whole
bunch of carriers.
So all the benefit and none ofthe drawback really.
That's, That's awesome.
You know, we've, we've dealtwith so much, uh, in flexibility
(02:31):
here in the last couple of.
You know, just the way themarket's been, uh, again, being
stuck inside, whatever, um, youknow, it's, uh, it, it's it's
refreshing to have aconversation with someone who
has a little bit more to choosefrom other than just A, B, or C.
It definitely helps.
I mean, and as we all know,everyone's different.
Everyone has different needs.
Every home is different.
(02:52):
Every home buyer is different,so it doesn't make sense to try
and jam everyone in the sameshoebox, right?
So we gotta make sure we're,we're tailoring everything to
your specific needs.
And that's what I'm here for.
I'm here to make sure.
What you need is what you have.
Excellent, excellent.
Well, I don't think, you know,when people are out looking for
a home and they're shopping andthey don't really think about,
(03:13):
insurance necessarily at thattime.
And I think maybe it might be agood idea that we, we introduce
the insurance agent at thebeginning of the process to have
a conversation, find out theirneeds, but also to help in the
process of buying a home.
And in this area, you know, wedon't get a lot of turbulent
(03:34):
weather so much as some of thecoastal planes, Florida.
Or the mountains with the snow.
But we do get some weather andwe do get some, some things that
happen to home.
So, you know, maybe, um, youknow, Brandon, is that something
would you recommend ifsomebody's getting ready to put
a contract on the house before,before they put a contract,
maybe reach out to you and seewhat's going on with the house?
What's happened to the house,it's history.
(03:57):
Yeah, no, absolutely.
Whenever you're shopping forhouses, we always encourage
customers to give us a shot,even if it's a couple homes.
I have no problem with runningquotes on multiple properties,
and it's very quick and easy todo that.
But it's good to know what mayhave previously happened in the
home, because as you know, inthe, in the field of insurance,
I'm sorry, in the field of realestate, you have the disclosure
pages, but those aren't alwaysfully filled out.
(04:18):
They're not always the best, uh,indicator of what's going on in
that.
And sometimes people, let's justbe honest, can be shady and try
to hide stuff.
Uh, so knowing if there'ssomething there may give you as
the buyer and if you're workingwith a, a home inspector, a
chance to really look into thoseparticular things.
But another thing, if you're anew home buyer, and if you've
never owned a home before, maybeyou've only lived with your
parents or you've only everrented before.
(04:40):
There could be some stickershock that goes along with the
price of homeowners insurance.
Mm-hmm.
typically you're looking atabout a hundred bucks a month.
Just a ballpark figure.
Right.
And that being said, it, it cango way up from there maybe down
a little bit, but things thatimpact that are replacement cost
on homes and as, uh, real estateagents and lenders, you guys are
worried about what the home isworth as far as to resell it for
(05:04):
you to.
as an insurance company, we'remore concerned about how much is
it gonna cost to rebuild thathouse.
Mm-hmm.
and those numbers can bedrastically different.
I mean, you take a shed and putit in the middle of pod up,
nowhere it's worth 50 bucks, butyou put that shed in Charlotte
downtown, and now it's worth,you know, half a million
dollars.
Mm-hmm.
So it's, it's all relative.
But that being said, it onlytakes the same 50 bucks to
(05:24):
rebuild that shed.
So I'm more concerned about howmuch it's gonna take to fix this
home back to where it was.
And we call that rep.
So we have different cost.
And to the point of having thecovid fall, you can definitely
look at the cost of buildingsupplies, the cost of, you know,
labor for building it.
It's all gone up exponentially.
So you may get a steal on ahouse and then still be looking
(05:45):
at a huge replacement cost billon your homeowner's policy.
So something to, something toconsider.
And so I think having thatinformation before you submit
your offer, before you commit toit, knowing what all of your
true financial commitment isgonna be, I think that's super
helpful.
Yeah.
And you mention.
You mentioned a good point aboutthe home inspection.
You know, if a house has had aclaim on it in the past, and we
can uncover that, then you, whenyou go out to do your home
(06:08):
inspection, you can always askyour inspector, Hey, I know this
has happened.
You know, there was a water leakfor instance, can we, you know,
maybe really pay attention tothe plumbing in the house?
Or, um, there was a fire, Well,we all know if there's a fire in
the house that it, the smoke canliterally destroy everything
inside the house.
So, um, I think knowing that upfront would really.
(06:31):
Beneficial.
Yeah.
Because like I said, any, anyhome inspector that's gonna go
in there, he's gonna just kindof give it the, the general once
over and they're not gonna knowto look for those like quote
unquote hotspots.
So yeah, knowing where they areis gonna give you a lot of power
as the home buyer.
Cause the last thing you want isto, to buy a home and miss
something huge.
And now that's gonna beexplained for you or that's
gonna be a problem for you tofix.
(06:51):
So, As much transparency as youcan get, I think is great in
that process.
Yeah, it's a, it's a greatpoint.
I, I didn't, I was, I waswalking through an inspection
yesterday, uh, and Gina, to yourpoint, um, uh, these folks had,
it looked like some previousdamage at some point.
Um, and, and you know, myinspector had mentioned that,
and, and, and granted we havenot gotten to the point yet.
(07:14):
They are homeowners now.
So, uh, they do have a policy inplace, uh, for themselves.
But again, uh, I, I, I, I do notbelieve that they actually went
out and asked for theirhomeowner to, I'm sorry, their.
Policy holders, uh, insurancecompany to take a look at the
new property.
Um, which again, it's a, it's abig step up for these guys.
(07:35):
It's a, it's a beautiful house.
Uh, nothing really structurallyor anything really wrong with
it, but yes, be for, for, for,for the point to be able to,
again, maybe negotiate.
Uh, a little bit of a betterpurchase price, um, or, you
know, again, uh, working on somereplacement and or repair cost.
Again, the discount may be inthe purchase price, um, you
(07:55):
know, for the buyers, uh, that,that's great information.
as well as, um, speaking withthese individuals before we go
in.
And, and, and speaking a littlebit about, uh, bundling and,
and, and doing multiplepolicies, uh, home life and, uh,
car insurance for, for thatmatter.
Um, Because all of us have acard in our pocket for somebody
(08:16):
we ran into that has, you know,a, an insurance guy, a realtor,
whatever.
Um, but I, I would assumeBrandon, and, and, and I know we
talked a little bit about this,but it's gotta be beneficial,
um, to try to work a little bitof bundling, um, you know, to go
ahead and, and make your, makeyour monthly cost a little bit
easier.
Yeah, no, absolutely.
And that that is absolutely oneof the greatest discounts most
(08:38):
insurance companies offer is thebundling of home and auto
together.
So if you currently have acarrier for your auto, I always
recommend checking with themfirst.
It's great to see what kind ofdiscounts you'll get on your
existing policy.
If your auto policy, you shouldget a discount on that by adding
on the home portion, so somesavings there.
Plus you'll get a better rate.
I know some companies, uh,mentioned State Farm previously.
For them to qualify for certaindeductible levels, you have to
(09:00):
have the bundled products.
So sometimes there'sincentivizes and, and things
like that to look at.
But that being said, it's notalways the cheapest route.
I know I do have certaincustomers that have specific
needs with their home that don'tqualify for the company that's
with their auto insurance, andwe're still able to find them
great coverage.
But the nice thing about it is,as a broker, I.
Eight companies that I work withon a regular basis that do a
(09:23):
home and auto bundle.
So with One Call to me, I cancheck them all for.
See what your best option is.
And let's say you do buy apolicy with me.
You know we mentioned thoserenewal bills.
Great time to shop around.
If you get a renewal bill andyou're one of my customers and
it has gone up, I'm gonna get anotice.
And you know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna call you and say, HeyJeff, I saw that renewals coming
around.
It's going up.
I'm gonna go ahead and shop youaround, see if I can find you a
(09:44):
better rate.
I'm gonna jump on that for you,save you the headache and keep
you in the best rates and thebest.
As long as I possibly keep,That's a really nice benefit.
Awesome.
You shouldn't have to thinkabout it.
You just, Yeah.
And you're not to say that I'malways gonna have the best rate.
I'm gonna be honest.
I mean the, It's a horse race.
They companies are gonna go up,they're gonna go down, and you
as an individual may haveindividual things that are gonna
cause your rates to go up anddown.
(10:04):
But I'm always gonna try andlike I said, having that stable
of, of options for you.
So much better than if you havejust the one option.
If I, if I have one homeowner'spolicy and you no longer fit.
Well, Jeff, I don't have ahomeowner's policy for you
anymore and I may have to justhope you send me some friends.
Well treat, treat us right,Brandon, Then you'll get your
friends.
I promise.
(10:25):
I'm trying.
I'm right.
Well, let's, let's talk aboutthe policy on what, you know,
some things that maybe they canmake the policy go up or down
and in reference to somebodyshopping for a home.
Um, yeah.
One thing that I've noticed onmy side that changes is the
property type.
And, and I'm talkingspecifically between
manufactured housing.
(10:47):
And maybe even modular.
I'm not sure on your worldmodular falls into single family
on my side, but it may bedifferent on the insurance side.
But I do know that manufacturedhousing is tricky when it comes
to insurance, and we're seeing arise in the popularity of those
right now.
So what about the property type?
What are some things that weneed to look out on the property
type?
(11:07):
Yeah, sure.
And to that point, uh, there areso many different property types
as you're probably both aware.
You've got condos, townhouses,you have the mobile homes, you
have the modular homes, you havethe traditional stick built
homes.
And then within those, you have,is it frame built?
Is it masonry built?
Is it a pre 19 hundreds built?
So there's all kinds ofdifferent categories you could
(11:27):
fall into with it.
And every one of those has itsown little nuances.
But big things we dodifferentiate between modular
homes and mobile homes.
A lot of companies, um, it, themodular homes are gonna be
treated more like a stick-builthome, but it's gonna have
different, I guess, levels ofcoverage and they're gonna treat
it differently when they look atthe, We run what's called an
estimated replacement cost tool.
Mm-hmm.
of course, that's evaluated.
(11:48):
It's gonna look at things likehow that property depreciates
versus a versus a traditionalfamily home.
But to that point, whatever youhave, there is a specific
package for that and a specifictype of coverage.
Things that can make you go upor down, I mentioned.
So let's say you have a homethat's a hundred thousand
dollars.
That's what it costs to rebuildit.
So we're gonna ensure it ahundred thousand dollars, but
five years from now, it may notbe a hundred thousand dollars to
(12:10):
replace because of cost of goodsgoing up and things like that.
So does your policy haveinflation guard?
Is your policy regularlyincreasing your coverage a
amount to make sure that asprices go up, you have enough to
cover you there?
Um, If you have a lot ofdetached buildings or
structures, so let's say you'vegot some garages or a stable,
things like that, by default,most policies have coverage for
(12:32):
your detached structures, butit's usually 10 to 20% of your
total property value, like yourhome price.
So a hundred thousand be 10 to20,000.
So you may need to endorsethose.
So anything like that that youadd on endorsement, Increasing,
increasing in coverage aretypically gonna raise the
premium up annually, but it's,it's things you need to be sure
you're looking at because if youdon't have it and you have an
(12:52):
have an incident, a fire, atheft, flood, anything like
that, you could be out a lot ofmoney because those things
aren't covered properly.
Um, but as far as the otherthings that can go onto a policy
that you would look at bigthings that really need to be
added on there that a lot ofcompanies don't talk enough
about or water back.
Um, as I'm sure you both know,water claims probably one of the
(13:15):
most common ones.
And whenever it comes to a claimsituation with water, it's
always a question of how did thewater come to be?
Is it a slow leak?
Is it a sudden burst?
You know, if it's, if it's.
Maintenance where you've got apipe leak and you didn't catch
it and it slowly deterioratedyour wall and created all this
mold that's on you, that fallsunder maintenance.
Now, they may pay to remove allthe hazardous material and clean
(13:37):
up, but they're not gonna paythe replace, replace or fix your
wall or any of that stuff.
So making sure you have theright endorsements, because if
you have the proper coverage inplace, it can cover those
things.
Um, and what is, real quick, yousaid water backup.
What does that mean?
So, If, if you have a home witha sump pump, if you have a home
(13:58):
that, uh, has a, well, if thatwater comes back into your home,
traditionally speaking, that'snot covered under your
homeowner's policy.
So if you have the endorsementthough, you can get levels of
coverage from like 5,010 all theway up to 25 and 50,000.
So that way you.
Have it on there, but again, bydefault it's not a covered
peril, so you have to look atthat.
Earthquakes rarely here ofearthquakes, North Carolina, but
(14:21):
as you recall, a couple yearsago, we had a few we did that's
not covered on the policy, sothat's an endorsement.
So if you don't have it on thereand earthquake messes up your
foundation, knocks off someroofing that's on you
unfortunately, because it's nota covered peril in a lot of.
Wow.
Interesting.
Now, has that changed somewhat.
Uh, you know, I I we, we hearthe, you know, I've got air
(14:43):
quotes again, the act of God.
Um, Sure.
What, what does, what, doesanything fall under that
anymore, I should say?
Is anything insured in that bydefault?
Or is that something that's nowyou have to go ahead and select?
Well, it depends on what type ofact they got.
They're very selective.
So if a lightning hit your housecovered, right, If there is a.
(15:05):
A tree that snaps because of awindstorm in Lands House.
That stuff's covered right?
As long as a tree was healthy.
If it's a dead tree, then thatfalls under a different category
because that's maintenance It'sall about are you keeping your
stuff up?
If everyth ideal condition andsomething happens, then you're a
lot better off insurancecovering it.
But water, while you would thinkwater, like if it floods, that's
an act of gut, right?
(15:25):
You can't stop the rain.
Sure.
Flooding isn't, isn't covered.
Right.
That's, that's something that'sexcluded on a lot of policies
and to the point of doing yourhomework beforehand.
If it's not disclosed in yourbuyer's agreements or your
paperwork with your realtors, itmay, your home may be in a flood
zone, and if it is your lender,Gina Canes.
May require to carry floodinsurance.
Mm-hmm.
that's policy written throughfema.
(15:47):
So that's something you need toknow up front too, or are you
gonna have to carry thisadditional coverage?
Cause that's a separate policyabove and beyond the home policy
and for, and those have to bepaid up front and everything
else.
And for the lender, for, formost loan times, it's, it's a
matter of.
Are any structures in the floodzone?
Cuz you could have a propertyand only like the corner piece
of, of the lot being a floodzone.
(16:07):
Correct.
So there are no structures inthe flood zone for us then
that's not a big deal.
But if any piece of thestructure falls in a flood zone,
then yes, then that's a bigdeal.
And, but you know, you may beout of the woodworks as far as
the mortgage company isconcerned, like, so maybe the
flood zone starts like five feetfrom your front door.
But as a consumer, as the personliving in that house, I might be
(16:28):
like, that's all for close to myfront door and maybe even the
mortgage company doesn't, MaybeI think I need it, you know, so,
There's, there's also a littlebit of what do you need?
Not cuz I mean, as the mortgagecompany, as the realtor you're
gonna give them, you know, kindof the broad spectrum.
Here's what you need generallyspeaking.
But as an individual, you, it'sgood to talk to the insurance
(16:49):
broker because they're gonnaknow that's their bread and
butter, that's their nuancedthing.
So I'm gonna know, hey, wellyes, you're covered from the
mortgage standpoint.
You don't have to have thatflood insurance.
Something you may want toconsider.
You know, your front door isfive feet away from Right the
next two weeks.
And we are changing, you know,weather patterns are, are, are
changing a little more rapidly,I think, than they used to be.
So, you know, you just neverknow.
Mm-hmm.
(17:10):
Yeah.
And that's, Yes, the agent Iused to work for, she was famous
for always talking about chancesversus consequences, and that's
what it all is, right?
It's.
Chances are it's not gonnahappen.
But if it does, what are theconsequences if you're not
prepared?
Right?
So it's always about making sureyou're covered for, And don't
get me wrong, even as aninsurance person, I, you could
have too much insurance, right?
(17:31):
Like, I mean, you don't have tocover everything to the nth
degree.
But at the same time, underinsuring things happens all the
time and that's a much, muchbigger problem.
So yes, that's my biggest,making sure you have enough to
keep you safe.
See the point of things alwayschanging.
I mean, if you bought a housefive years ago and insured it
(17:52):
with a company and haven'ttouched your policy, that
replacement cost might not begood in this market, right?
Mm-hmm.
and if you've not shopped, it,don't have anything on there to
account for inflation.
You may not realize it, but youmay be setting yourself up for a
big failure or you know, a bigexposure as.
Yes, Yes, yes.
Well, uh, let, let's get back toa little bit more then, uh, uh,
(18:12):
speaking a little bit about, um,the, the upfront expenses.
Um, so, uh, we, we, we've talkeda couple of weeks ago, uh, about
staying prepared, uh, and, andbeing prepared for purchasing
your home.
Um, which of course we weretalking a lot of credit
information.
We're talking a lot of expenses,savings and all that kind of
(18:33):
stuff.
Um, in the last, say few years,Uh, where has the insurance
industry gone along with, um,say, credit research, uh, you
know, reviewing the individual,not so much just the property.
How's, how's that been comingalong?
Sure.
Uh, so I feel like as far ashome goes, Home has always been,
uh, a credit review when itcomes to those quotes.
(18:55):
Now that being said, uh, as of,I think it was last year, North
Carolina has made a push to allthe auto insurance.
Underwritten through creditchecks as well.
So that's a change, but theykind of go hand in hand,
especially if you're looking todo a quote on home and auto
bundle together.
Now they are soft inquiries, sohopefully getting a quote or
check on your insurance wouldnot impact anything if you're
trying to keep your credit goodfor a pre-qualifying and things
(19:18):
like that.
But, um, to that point though,if you, if you are shopping
early, looking around at thoserates, you do have the ability
to, excuse me, you do have theability to.
What kind of, um, coverageoptions you have, just because
again, fitting the rightcoverage in place and getting
everything.
(19:39):
Sorry, I apologize.
got me there.
Uh, getting everything set up,getting everything in place is
gonna give you the option tojust really review those
coverage, get those, um, thosefinances dialed in.
If you're worried about havingenough money up front to cover
closing costs, you know, allyour transitional costs, things.
There's not really a lot of costwhen it comes to setting up the
homeowner's insurance policy.
(20:00):
If you're paying for it outtayour pockets, let's say you
bought the house cash money,there's no escrow situation you
would need to be willing to payfor either the monthly premium,
so either the first month'spremium, if you're gonna do it
monthly, or the entirety of theannual premium if you're gonna
set up that way.
So, Those typically, one ofthose two payments is typically
needed to buy in the policy.
Mm-hmm.
even if it's not gonna beeffective until a future date.
(20:20):
Um, but if you do have anescrow, if you are gonna have a
mortgage, a lot of times whatis, what happens is we'll set it
up and that is bill directly tothe mortgage company.
So I don't need a, a dime fromyou, I just need to know where
to send that bill off to.
We'll get that input into thesystem and when the homeowner's
company issues the policy, likeI said, they'll send a bill out
for the premium.
The mortgage company sends the,the check over to them.
(20:41):
Everything is hands off for meand the insured, and then that
policy goes into effect.
And then every year they justpay the renewal bills.
And of course, You don't see itdirectly, but of course it's
part of your, your mortgage andescrow and everything else.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Excellent.
Well, um, you know, in the lastcouple years, uh, most
especially with the pandemic andeverything else that's been
going on, North Carolina hasseen an influx of folks coming
(21:02):
into, uh, the state.
We don't see a lot of peoplemoving out of the state.
We see a ton coming in, um, andwe see a lot of cash buyers.
So, um, what is the Now you can,we can all, I guess, express the
importance of having insurance,but, um, but you know, a lot of,
a lot of cash buyers thatactually own the home outright
(21:24):
don't necessarily need as amortgage.
You know, they don't need it aspart of their mortgage cause of
course they don't have amortgage, so.
Sure.
What do you recommend for, forfolks that have come in and
bought a 15 year old?
Um, for$400,000 cash, um, what'stheir best bet as far as getting
insurance?
Or is there any benefit to that?
(21:46):
Sure.
Well, there's absolutely benefitto it because even if you aren't
obligated to a bank or amortgage company to pay that
money back, it is still yourmoney.
That is still an investment.
And if, you know, you bought ittoday and tomorrow something
came along, uh, act of God, uh,angry postal worker destroyed
that home and property and nowit, it no longer.
(22:06):
You still own that land?
Sure.
Mm-hmm.
But you want a$400 piece of halfacre land, right?
Yes.
With insurance, Now that that'shappened, I'm so sorry, but
here, here's a check or here is,uh, someone to help you get that
back to where it was.
So having insurance again,chances versus consequences.
But if you are a cash buyer, youknow, maybe you're buying
properties for the intent ofAirbnb them or rentals, things
(22:30):
like that.
So now you still need coverage,but you need a different kind.
So instead of a homeowner'spolicy, you'd look at like a
rental dwelling policy,something like that.
I have a family member that ownsseveral properties and that's
all she does.
And those prop, those policiesrather.
Far more affordable because allyou're really covering is
liability exposure in casesomeone's, someone wants to be
hurt by your property or on yourproperty.
(22:50):
Mm-hmm.
and the, the structure itself,but you cut out things like the
personal property contents, youcut out things like identity
theft, you know, knickknack,things like that because all
you're worried about is thebuilding.
You don't care about anythingthat's in it or anything else.
You just wanna make sure if Godforbid, that building comes
down, somebody's there to put itback up.
Yes.
So it just depends on yourneeds.
But unless you are 100% okaywith the investment, and that's
(23:14):
how I'm gonna call it, theinvestment you've made in that
house, that property, Beingreduced to rubble and no one
coming along to help you out,then that's, that's okay.
You don't need insurance.
But for a few hundred dollars ayear, I think it's worth it to
protect.
Yeah.
Often if you're talking about ahouse, hundreds of thousands of
dollars.
Yes.
And, and, and, and.
Yeah, again, where we are today,uh, we're at the end of October
(23:37):
nine, uh, 19, 19 22.
We're at the end of October in2022.
Um, so inflation is, you know,again, something that we're all
worried about.
Uh, or I should say it's, it'stouching us all every day.
Um, but at the same time eatingus up every day.
Yeah, it's pretty aggressiveright now.
Yes.
So, So again, uh, insurance, Iwould have to say would, in my
(24:01):
opinion anyways, is really justsomething that's, Um, again, we
don't know what the supplychains are gonna hap or what's
gonna happen to the supplychains tomorrow as far as
building materials, um, orsomething like that.
Um, but yeah, totally agree.
And I mean, it's highlyrecommended of course, that any
property, uh, paid off or not,uh, maintain your insurance.
(24:22):
Uh, because again, it's, it isimportant to have something
behind.
God forbid if, if, again, activeGod fire or whatever was to
happen on your property, um, youknow, paying a portion and
getting it whole again, um,would be again, something I'd
recommend.
And I, I think I'm hearing yousay the same, Brandon.
(24:42):
Well, absolutely.
Insurance is all abouttransferring the risk.
My goal in life is for me totake as much risk off of you as
possible to put it over with acompany that is able to take
care of that.
And God forbid you have a needfor it.
So that's all I, I live to dois.
Serve people and get their needsmet with the companies that can
take care of'em.
That's awesome.
That's awesome.
Yeah, and I would say, um, Iwould add to that, you know,
(25:02):
having from the mortgage side ofit, again, I deal with the
homeowner's insurance and thepolicy, and it's part of the
underwriting process, like it'spart of the mortgage process.
So I need to be able to talk tothe agent.
I need to be able to get thedocuments that I need from the
agent.
So those of you who are outthere shopping for the cheapest
insurance possible, and you'rebuying a house, don't do.
(25:25):
Please don't do that becauseonline agents are the worst.
When you go to, you know, I wantinsurance.com or
1-800-INSURANCE, and you callthem and you speak to agent
number 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, great.
It is a nightmare trying to getthose documents typical.
(25:46):
If anything needs to be changed.
Mm-hmm.
sometimes it takes weeks.
I mean, I've, I've had itReally?
Yes.
Well, I've had to call the barand say, Look, we can't use
these people.
You've got to find somebody thatI can communicate with, or
you're not closing on this home,because I have to have those
documents and they have to beset up in a certain manner.
And so if you're using someonewhere you don't have that
personal relationship, it canmake it really, really difficult
(26:10):
in the process.
And.
A, a lot of times I see a lot ofinsurance policies and a lot of
times they're not cheaper.
I, I see ones that come offbecause these people get paid
on.
They're pay, they're paid on acommission.
So if they can sell you, youknow, the higher policy, and you
say, Okay, sounds good.
Why wouldn't they?
(26:30):
Right.
So I see that.
I see that a lot where peopletry to go and I'm like, No,
that's, We need to find a localagent.
Yeah.
I think that's really, reallyimportant in this process.
The mortgage process for meanyway, is having a local agent.
They can reach out, I can talkto'em, you can physically talk
to'em and, and get theinformation you need.
(26:51):
Total.
Well, it's good to have someonethat knows someone that's
actually a person, right?
Like not to say that people incall centers aren't people.
They are.
Right.
But at the same time, when youhave someone that's working with
these customers directly,someone that.
Knows what their needs are.
It does make a big difference.
And you know, to your pointabout trying to get
documentation and stuff, whenyou're trying to close in a
home, you're trying to getthings done, trying to get to
(27:12):
that closing table.
Everything is a race.
And every little hiccup andevery little setback can be very
detrimental.
I mean, you could push yourclosing, it can cause more.
Mm-hmm.
fees on the back end.
So time is of the essence.
And it doesn't happen veryoften, but I've had an insurance
policy waiting for the.
You know, the owner picked theirinsurance agent, you know, this
(27:34):
is who we're gonna use.
And it delay, It actuallydelayed closing because they
wouldn't gimme the materialsthat were needed and they, you
know, this one was a local one,so they went on my naughty list
of So, you know, somebody comesback and says, We're using this
agency.
I'm like, Mm.
Well, let me tell you a littlestory about Yeah, that's a red
flag, guys.
(27:54):
That's a red flag.
Um, so yeah, well, we're bigadvocates of going local
anyways, uh, and, and, andthat's what we want to again,
uh, if we can keep our businesshere in North Carolina,
especially in the triad, then ofcourse we're gonna, we would
advocate to do that.
Um, and, and again, Brandon, youare right here in the heart of
the triad here in, uh, Midway,North Carolina.
Mm-hmm.
(28:15):
um, which is, uh, I think it'spretty much dead center in our.
Um, it's pretty much deadcenter, right?
At least vertically in thestate.
It's pretty dead center.
Yes.
So that's pretty and pretty muchhard.
Well too, Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, so in instances where,again, we have, you know, a
scenario like that where, whereGina is having a difficult time
and the borrower, uh, buyer ishaving a difficult time.
(28:38):
Um, and let's just say that, uh,there's a situation where the
individual had been dropped inthe past, or let's just say that
that individual is dropped rightnow because.
I don't know, rental insuranceor whatever.
Um, what can they do and whowould they contact again to
again, get that coverage or getcoverage replaced?
Sure.
Well, let's start by calling methat that's your best stop.
(29:00):
Or if you can't get ahold of me,any insurance broker is probably
a good place to start becausethen that you're gonna have the
ability to.
Compare a lot of rates cuz itcan be very monotonous to call
one company to get one quote toturn around, call one more
company to get one.
You know, that could take a lotof time.
Uh, and not that there's notmerit in that and some companies
you can only get by calling'emthat way.
But with me or any other brokerfor that matter, you're
(29:21):
typically gonna get the optionof seeing multiple quotes all at
one time.
And again, while.
To Gina's point, you know, whywould anyone sell you the least
expensive thing?
Because they do get paidcommission.
And I do get paid commission,but at the same time, I have so
many options and so manycarriers.
My goal is always value as wellas coverage.
So, It's, it's always my thoughttoo.
(29:43):
Cause again, I'm frugal.
I am a person that minds that.
But I'm gonna present you withthe a I'm gonna show you the
Roll Royce.
It might not be in your budget,it might not be what you want or
need, but I'm say, Hey, this isan option.
If, if you want it, there it is.
Here's what I think's your bestfit.
Here's what's gonna be withinyour budget.
I always try and take that intoa consideration because like I
said, inflation is rough.
Uh, buying a home in general isexpensive.
So every little bit you can helpa person.
(30:06):
I think that adds value.
I think that is important, but.
At the end of the day, the mostimportant thing is getting the
right coverage, right?
And so my goal is to find thathappy medium between the two and
taking care of your customer.
If you take care of people,they'll take care of you.
That's always been my motto.
Absolutely.
Um, and, and yes, uh, again,brokers, we, we, we mentioned
(30:26):
brokers.
Uh, you know, again, Jayna is abroker here with, with Triad,
um, and you of course are, arewith Ellis insured.
Um, so.
Brokers do have the ability toshop a little bit for you, or at
least provide you differentproducts.
Um, where you'd mentionedearlier, uh, you know, again,
it's uh, you call one specificagency.
(30:49):
You might just get one specificoption.
Um, So, of course, uh, we wannamake sure that we are not
underinsured, uh, to Gina'spoint.
Uh, but at the same point, wewanna make sure that we are
adequately insured.
And, and I know that that'ssomething that you do, Brandon,
um, for your clients.
Now, again, even if you'reproviding a quote for the Rolls
(31:09):
Royce, um, but at least they'regonna have something that's
gonna get'em again, theinsurance that they need on a
daily basis.
I'm pretty sure everybody atDrives Road Royce once, once
upon a time, drove a HondaCivic.
So it's all fun, Absolutely,Absolutely.
You know, Carl, before you walk,I'm here for whatever stage
you're in and you know, that's,that's, that's my goal is just
(31:31):
to, um, be whatever you need meto be.
Right.
Okay.
Was there anything else?
Fantastic.
Anything else, Brandon, that youthink people should know when
they're, they're getting readyto buy a home and looking for,
for homeowner's, insurance,Anything we didn't cover?
I think we did a really good jobof covering everything.
Um, some things I would justkeep in mind, you know, one of
the most common claims inAmerica, there's over a thousand
(31:53):
house fires a day.
Wow.
Be mindful of you know, whatyou're doing in your home.
Be mindful of how you'reprotecting yourself, because at
the end of the day, whetheryou're covered under insurance
or not, being safe in your home,taking care of your home,
keeping it up, that's, that's animportant thing to.
And when you're working withyour realtor and working with
your lender, make sure that thehouse you're buying has been
(32:15):
kept up and, and all be.
Cause the last thing you wannado is move into a lot of
problems.
But if you get in there and youhave issues, make sure you've
got the coverage in place.
Make sure you've talked to thatinsurance agent.
Make sure you've got all theseendorsements that you need,
because like I said, the worstthing you want to do is jump in
and then now you've got thishuge mess because you didn't do
all the homework on the frontend.
So if someone's unsure abouttheir coverage, can they reach
(32:37):
out to you and maybe do a policyreview and.
Uh, I can absolutely do a policyreview.
Now that being said, it wouldrequire you to have access to
your policy as, I can't pull itfrom, there's no reserve or
database with that information,so like the deck page, but that
being, Yeah.
Now, but if you didn't have thatinformation, it still wanted to
quote for me, All I need is yourbasic information.
You know, where you live, theaddress of the property we're
(32:58):
insuring date of birth, thatkind of.
And I can give you a quote onthat property.
I'm gonna base it solely off ofwhat the replacement cost is,
what my, you know,recommendations of coverages
are, those kind of things.
But if you do have, like, ifit's an existing property and
you have a declaration page fromyour current company, then I can
compare things to apples.
To apples.
Do they have this endorsement?
Do I have this endorsement?
And then it's a truer quote.
(33:19):
It, it lets you see.
Okay.
Apples to apples, whateverything is right.
Can I save you money?
Can I add more value to you?
What can I do?
Right?
And I think that's important tomake sure that you're comparing
the actual coverage you haveversus to the coverages being
quoted to you.
Because there are a lot ofdifferent ways to go about it
and making sure it's the same,because if it's not the same,
then well, it's not the same.
It's not apples to apples.
So, And especially, like I said,if you're buying a new property,
(33:43):
inherently that quote may bedifferent, right?
It's a whole nother location.
But if it's the same property,if it's your home of 20 years
and you're just trying to find abetter rate, I absolutely
recommend blank.
Gina said having that originalpage from your current company
so that way you can make sure,Cause if I'm getting you a, a
much, much cheaper rate, likeinsanely cheaper rate, you
should probably ask questions.
Right?
Right, Sure.
Cause there's very few, I mean,most companies are pretty, I
(34:05):
mean, we're gonna.
Best case near a couple hundreddollars a year.
But if we're saving lots andlots of money, you might wanna
ask questions cuz there's achance that something's changed.
On that quote, you know, they'vereduced the coverage amount on
the home or they've raised theuh, the.
the deductible amount.
So now your premium's lower,which, you know, there's
definitely ways to get that costdown, but just make sure you
(34:25):
understand that because the lastthing you want to do is get into
a claim situation and find outyou've had all these changes
that are now way nodding yourfavor.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Absolutely.
It's all about being smart anddoing the homework.
Yes.
Yes.
Find someone who's gonna helpyou.
Right.
Someone that already knows, butlook.
Well, that's perfect.
And, and you know, again,that's, that's something we've
been talking about a lot here.
(34:46):
Again, we, we, we seem to beshift.
Um, from the seller's market,um, into more of a buyer's
market.
And, and, and the buyers, I, I,I will say aren't, uh, in the,
um, it's, it's right in themiddle.
The pendulum is shifted or isswinging a little bit.
So buyers have a little moreroom to negotiate.
(35:07):
Now, we're not in a buyer'smarket yet, but um, but I think,
you know, soon enough we willbe.
Um, and in doing so again, justhaving the preparation, being
prepared by your, or I shouldsay with your agents and having
that information up front is.
Is great.
And um, and again, we, we wouldencourage folks to reach out to
their insurance agents and letthem know, Hey, we are in the
(35:30):
market for buying a new homenow.
And again, just updating theirinformation, not necessarily the
policy in the house so that theymay be leaving, but again,
updating their information withuse so that again, they'll be
prepared when.
We do find that house for'em.
And, and, and boom, you get,you're ready to go and you
provide them that quote in 10 or15 minutes, right?
Oh yeah.
Even less if's already had theinformation on file, so Right.
(35:51):
Switch shopping early is key.
And like you said, and I, Iwanna reiterate this to Jeff,
you mentioned, especially as we,we are gradually shifting back
towards that buyer's market.
You know, if we discover thingson the claims history, if we can
help the.
The inspectors find these littlehot spots as they were mm-hmm.
that's gonna give you yourbuyers more negotiation power
and everything's negotiable inreal estate.
Right.
So yeah, absolutely.
(36:12):
The more you can show that.
It's gonna inconvenience or be aproblem or something you're
gonna have to deal with, it'sgonna give you more leverage.
Making that transit more, moreleverage, and feel more
confident going into that houseand, and buying it and
purchasing, especially if it'snever had a claim, that'll make
you feel, you know, a littlemore confident about making that
strong offer on that home aswell too.
So, All right.
Well, I think that peace of mindis huge.
(36:33):
Peace of mind.
Yes.
Peace of mind preparedness.
So I think that about cover.
Today.
Um, so Brandon, you offerPerfect.
We talked about home today, butyou also offer auto as well,
right?
I do do home auto and smallbusiness insurance.
So workers' comp, uh, generalliability, all those things.
Perfect.
Fantastic.
All right, so we will put yourinformation and contact into
(36:53):
the, the buy on the link below.
Do you wanna give anybody aquick way to contact you, uh, a
phone number or email address?
Sure you can find me.
Uh, my local phone number is(336) 701-0217.
Uh, if you're on anything socialmedia, I am at Ellis.
And of course, if you want tofind me, uh, the website is
(37:13):
www.ellisinsured.com.
And yeah, that's it.
If you, if you need me, you canfind me.
I'm, I'm out there.
I'm trying to put my faceeverywhere.
So reach out to me.
I'm happy to give you a quote.
Uh, go over your coverages oranswer any questions, even if
you're not ready to make a, atransaction today or change of
coverage.
If you have a question, I, Ihope to be.
I resource to you, so gimme acall and let me help you out.
(37:35):
Absolutely.
I, I 100% agree, Brandon isfantastic.
So you guys reach out to me ifyou have any questions about
your, your insurance needs.
So thank, thank you so much.
Absolutely.
Thank Nina so much for coming.
Appreciate Yeah, no, thank youfor having me.
I really appreciate it.
All right, so we, that is allfor today and we'll see you guys
on the next podcast.
See you guys next time.
Take care everybody.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.