By this time, your St. Patrick’s Day apparel should be tumbling in the washing machine after your annual celebration of Irish culture. Despite the amount of green beer you may have consumed, you may come to realize that pure luck can’t always keep accidents at bay. Unfortunate things just happen sometimes, especially during a seasonal transition from winter to spring, so you should do everything you can to prepare for anything when it comes to your home as well.
Let’s walk through a typical scenario of something extremely devastating to a family: a household fire. This is something we, of course, hope that none of our clients ever have to go through, but it does happen. It’s estimated that there is a total of $7.3 billion in property loss in the United States every year due to household fires. Putting aside the obvious but important points like finding a safe place to stay post-fire, there’s a laundry list of to-dos that you would need to begin, and making a claim is the first step of the mountain of paperwork you’re about to go through.
Now that you’ve secured a place to stay and have made an initial claim, you should begin to collect your receipts on any expenses you incur through daily living, along with any other records you collect along the way. Find out if you receive funds from your insurance company upfront, or if you have to submit expenses and get reimbursed. After collecting the “fire report” that was completed by the local fire department, you’ll need to share this document along with a list of possessions that were in your home (a home inventory) that include dates of purchases, descriptions of items, and any information you can help prove the cost of the item when purchased. Don’t forget that you’ll still need to pay your bills along the way, including your mortgage and car bills. If you need help, you can usually call those companies and ask for some leniency while you deal with this disaster.
Most importantly, you’ll have to ask for help and ask questions along the way. You’ve most likely not been through several household fires, so you’re probably not well-versed on the subject like a professional agent would be. Your agent can answer questions and help offer advice and recommendations for submitting a claim, helping you secure your home, the process of recovering items if they are salvageable, and sorting through your records, and staying organized for any replacement-cost situations along the way.
Imagine having to sort through this whole unfortunate scenario if you didn’t have a homeowner’s insurance policy. You would be stuck at step one with nothing in your hand but some salvaged goods and a ton of financial debt. Having to get through a house fire is a nightmare to think about, but it’s even harder to imagine that some go through without the proper insurance coverage they needed. SOGO Insurance can help ensure that you never have to go through this type of situation without the proper coverage in place. Contact one of our agents today and let us get you set up with the perfect homeowner’s insurance policy that will keep you feeling “lucky” all year long.
In case you missed it: Check out “4 Perfect Last-Minute Spring Break Getaways” to plan a lovely little vacation, and be sure to secure travel insurance for your trip.
