How to Prep for Disaster Insurance Claims

My heart goes out to all those Sandy victims. I know the feeling of Loss, and the agony of Recovery. August 2011, explosion Fire Demolished my home. My beloved Dog was in the house. The fire was not caused by me.

It took me a year to demolish, rebuilt from scratch, and moved back into the new home. I was referred to this Houzz websites for design ideas. Great websites btw.

The Loss/ Fire recovery....the emotional toll is harder than I thought, when standing there watching my house burned. What I had, was what I was wearing that afternoon. While, wondering the first 2 hours, if my dog survived.... and He did. The firemen found him hidden under the Master Bedroom bed.

loishapi did a great job in capturing the pain and long recovery process. I echo the need for those Loss victims to be their own consumer advocates. Please work closely with the insurance adjustor. Always push back, if you don't like what you hear. Ask Tons of questions. Check with your neighbors that's going though this process. For me, getting money in phases for rebuilt of a home was long and painful. Plus, the long itemized list of items to capture on a list. The distinction of Replacement value vs. Depreciated value are terminology that you will learn.

Contractor/ Builder Tips : Read the Contract carefully, ask for Warranty of Workmanship. I asked for 3 years warranty in writing from the General Contractor. even though it is customary for 1 year in CA.

Insurance Tips : Please look at the "Loss of Use" provision on your insurance policy. Please be sure to be current in your rental market. I learned the hard way, after the fire. I was under-insured for the Bay Area. My rent for a single 1 bedroom apartment was $2,300 a month. much higher than my mortgage. oh, I also had to pay mortgage to a burn down house, while it was being demolished and rebuilt.

Good luck with those impacted by this storm. You will survive this. I promise you. Have good friends and loves ones around you for the long ordeal ahead.

Those with custom-built homes ought to also know that some insurance companies use a computer spread-sheet called Xactimate to determine construction replacement costs. If your contractor does not use it, and most do not, you are in for months of hard negotiating. Xactimate is designed for tract-housing, not custom. The print-outs are a nightmare to review and expecting contractors to provide the kind of detail the program requires (27 nails, 16.5' of molding, etc) is overwhelming . Our home was damaged by a tree on June 29. We moved into temporary housing (covered by insurance) Oct 1 costing them $6k/month. As of now, we have a roof and replacement wall but are still about $17k short of enough to have a home again. Somehow, they'd rather pay for housing than sheetrock. We hope that, now the debris is gone and our contractor can see the full extent of needed repairs, we'll be able to convince insurance to increase the amount.
The annoying part is they are covering everything else: damaged furniture, clothing loss, furniture storage, rug cleaning...they've said yes to everything else--just not to the contractor's bid (which was the middle of the 3 we were asked to get.).
I cannot imagine handling an entire house loss and my heart goes out to those of you in Sandy-affected areas.

It is good to take insurance policy that covers the disaster recovery so that when it occurs you are secure previously and will able to safe you and your family members.

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