Last week, I was on vacation with my family on the South Carolina coast. As everyone is aware, Hurricane Irene slowly crept in and disrupting many on the east coast, including me and my family at the beach! We spend most of our day on Friday sitting on the porch watching the ocean and pier as the waves grew larger and larger. Water came over the dunes that are intended to keep water out, heavy rains and winds soon followed, then the surprise of a shaking house during the night because of the strong wind. To see a video we shot of the waves during the afternoon, follow this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9FxiE3QfQ. Fortunately, the area we were in had minimal damage, but it sure gave us plenty to talk about.

During the storm, a conversation arose about being prepared when disasters happen. Everyone began talking about their insurance coverage, suddenly questioning if they had enough coverage, what sort of damage it would cover, and if it was a flood, do we even have coverage for that? It really got me thinking…how many people even know what their coverage is and would know what to do in case of a disaster? Something we can do before the forecasters even spot that ominous swirl on the radar is to prepare for any emergency! Check with your insurance company to make sure you will be covered in any emergency and that your policy limit is high enough to cover even the worst of disasters.

Also, establish a plan about what you will do and who you will call in case of an emergency. There are plenty of websites about establishing plans for your family, making an out of town contact, and having emergency kits in case of power failures, etc. Another thing you can do right now to prepare is to update your contacts! Everyone uses their cell phones now to keep up with phone numbers and this will make it much easier to report damages if something were to occur. Make sure that you have your insurance company’s phone number as well as First Restoration Services in your phone so that you can expedite the process of getting help on the way by knowing quickly who to call. First Restoration’s phone number is 828-684-1582. Call us immediately if you have an emergency so we can dispatch a crew to you! Remember, we have a live answering service 24/7/365.

As always, remember, “Disasters Happen. We take care of them all.

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Ugly Truth #1: My Landlord has insurance, Mother Nature doesn’t, guess who’s liable?

Mother Nature owes me a new car and she doesn’t give a fig. You see, Mother Nature is a mother alright, but she’s also one mean, nasty, non-insurance carrying mother. How do I know this? Last week she decided to break a tree branch off a seemingly healthy tree, with no provocation whatsoever, and threw it on top of my legally parked car. Not a cloud in sight, no wind to speak of, and the mean, nasty old broad wielded her power and used the largest branch available to crush the roof of my poor, innocent car where it was parked in the drive of the house I’m renting.

Which brings me to the point about my landlord from the title of this blog. My landlord owns the house I’m renting, the small plot of land its on, the shed, the fencing, and of course as deed holder he also owns the trees, bushes, etc. So I’m sure there are lots of folks out there that are wondering why my landlord’s insurance policy on the house isn’t paying for my car since it was HIS tree that lost a branch right on top of my car. The ugly truth? It might be HIS tree but the fact he owns it doesn’t mean he is liable for the branch breaking off. If  however, it was a dead tree and he knowingly let it sit there and rot until it started dropping branches on a driveway where he knew his tenants would park in, then he could be considered liable for it. Or if he’d decided he wanted to get froggy and cut back his trees by himself, got up on a ladder and started sawing away but in his inexperience or ineptitude had let the branch fall on my car then he’d be considered liable. However the tree looks perfectly healthy and my landlord has likely never climbed a ladder to cut a branch off of anything in his life. Instead “nobody” is liable because the real culprit, Mother Freaking Nature, doesn’t carry insurance.

Read More at Confessions of a Insurance Professional…

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Take action! How many of us learn new things and don’t put them to use??

We were fortunate enough to attend the “Get Motivated” seminar (thanks to our Pres Chris Silliman) at the BiLo Center

yesterday. It was awesome. My favorite speakers were: Steve Forbes and Coach Lou Holtz!

Some tips to share:

Nothing more important than attitude. (Holtz)

READ, READ, READ!!! (Giuliani and Forbes)

Finally to make an action plan and get started!!

Sherri Redden

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Notes and tips from a Motivation Seminar;

Do something different, take a risk without knowing the end result.

We are going through a information revolution. Take advantage by learning how to use technology. Some of the dangers are being controlled by the availability of instant information.

Have fun in what you do. Focus on the future. Do everything at the best of your ability. Attack the performance not the performer!

Think of more than one solution for your problem. The first solution you think of may not be the best.

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