It’s an adventure when you go out to buy your first home. I’ve bought a few houses since I’ve moved to California and I learned something new each time. Are there always surprises along the way? Heck yeah! But your home insurance shouldn't be one of them.
I bought a total fixer upper for my first house. The house had good bones but overall it was a dump. The walls and ceilings were all tobacco yellow. The house smelled like an ash tray. It was dirty, the pool was green, cloudy and I'm sure infested with mosquito's.  The prior owner had also put a dog run by the ac unit which meant that all the lines and hoses had been used as a place to pee or poop. Everything was dated to the 1960's. Did this stop me, hell no! Should it have given me pause, heck yeah! But, I was convinced the nice sized lot, the pool and the bones of the house were good so why not buy it and make my own.
After buying the house I spent the first few days putting a thick coat of primer on everything, tearing out all the floors and getting an exterminator in to kill all the uninvited friends. The exterminator was so helpful, he actually told me the roaches that were living in the house don’t really like being inside. So, I guess that was good to know. After about a week of working on the house it was finally habitable. I would still wake up early to pick up dead roach bodies but at least it had new floors paint and was clean.  
I spent every weekend working on that house. And it became a beautiful little cottage style home by the time I was done. I learned a lot fixing up that house. I literally touched every square inch of that place inside and out. Good thing it wasn’t too big.
One fun thing I learned involved how the dishwasher drained. I always wondered why the water from the dishwasher would shoot out the air valve. It seemed like an odd fountain effect. I only later realized the prior owner had never knocked the plug in the garbage disposal out. So instead of draining through the disposal and down the pipe it would shoot out above the sink and into the drain that way. The things you learn along the way.
The same can be true for home insurance. This is a subject that you don't learn in school. You are kinda on your own to figure things out. And when escrow tells you need to get a home policy you get online and look for a company to call. Hopefully, you find an agent that will do a good job explaining what your insurance options are and what the coverage does for you. There are a lot of options that you can add to a home insurance policy. Since we were talking about water squirting out of the sink above there are several optional water coverage's you can add to your Homeowner's policy. Water Backup is an available option. It comes in handy if your drain line to the street gets blocked and water backs up into the house and floods. Another option is Water Seepage. That would cover if a pipe or ac unit slowly leaked water and caused rot to your home. Basic water coverage is included with your home insurance. An example of that would be you are hanging a picture and you put a nail through the water line. The sudden discharge of water is covered under your policy. But those other two options are not standard. In my case say the water instead of going in the sink shot behind the cabinets and got into the drywall. I could have filed a claim under home insurance because that would have been a sudden and accidental discharge of water. Fortunately, I never had to do that.
Insurance can be complex but working with a professional they will help explain what your options are and work to get the best policy that fits your specific needs. Find an agent that will spend the time to tell you what the coverage does for you so that you can learn how the home insurance policy works. Call me at 951-395-0754 if you are buying a home and need some insurance.

​It’s always fun to day dream what it would be like to have so much money that you could buy any vehicle you wanted. I’ve seen a few most expensive car lists lately. And, dang you can spend a fortune on buying cars. Have you ever wondered what it would cost to insure one of these cars? I did, so I ran some numbers just for fun.
First I had to figure out who I wanted to be in order to run some numbers. Why not be the newest member of the LA Clippers Kawhi Leonard. He just recently signed a contract for about three years making over 100 million dollars. I think that would give us plenty of money to spend on cars. Doing some basic math every game that Mr. Leonard plays he makes about 400 thousand. So, minus some taxes, paying his agent it should take about two games to have enough cash on hand to buy a new ride.
Then I needed to find some uber expensive cars to balance out the garage. First we need a daily driver. I went with a 2019 Porsche 911 GT2 RS. It retails in the range of 350 thousand dollars. Then we are going to need a date car. We can’t take out our classy LA ladies in a sports car if we are going to the theater. So, I added a 2019 Rolls Royce Ghost also reasonably priced at around 350 thousand dollars.  And finally, I’m a professional athlete. I need some exotic sports car to show the boys. I picked a Lamborghini Aventador SVJ. That one retails about a half million dollars.  
Next were the coverages. Hey, if I’m worth hundreds of millions of dollars I’m maxing out my limits. I picked and underlying limit of 1 million dollars. Meaning if I injure someone with my car my base limit is a million dollars that insurance will pay. The deductible I picked on the car was the max of 2500 dollars. Hey, I might as well save a few dollars with a higher deductible. I included medical payment for me and my passengers. Just in case the airbag deploys and cracks a tooth or two I can have some dentist money.
So, what did this policy cost me? For a year the total came it at slightly under 36,000 dollars. Not too bad especially since I’m insuring over a million dollars worth of cars. This quote is based off having a clean driving record and living in Beverly Hills. Any tickets or other rating factors could change things. Give me a call Kawhi to get your insurance started. Hey, I lived in Corona… we were kinda neighbors! To lock in this rate call me at 951-395-0754.

I recently wrote a post about how we are in the heart of wildfire season. Wildfire season is always a scary time because one day everything is fine and the next we could be dealing with a major blaze. Even when the winds are low and the weather is mild there is still a risk for a fire to spread quickly through brush that has been sitting dry all summer.
A few weeks ago Corelogic released an extensive survey of areas at risk for wildfire. After reading through the report I can see both good and bad things related to the report. The bad is that pretty much all of southern California is in a high risk zone for wildfire. In fact Corelogic rates LA, Riverside and San Diego counties as the highest risk regions in the entire country. Scrolling through their data they use historical fire history, existing fuel aka native growing vegetation, the slope where said vegetation is growing and the direction the slope faces to determine properties at risk. They took all these factors and calculated it out over the areas where people were living. They then rated four categories, Extreme risk, High risk, Medium and Low. After all that was done they rated the counties with the most homes in the high risk areas. Yay! LA wins. Riverside took second and San Diego third.
What makes a high risk zone according to corelogic. The biggest risk is your proximity to native growing materials. Yes, slope and direction impact the rating but realistically it is all about how much distance you have between your home and the hillsides where the brush is growing.
So, how will this information be used by home insurance companies moving forward. The good aspect of reports like this are that it does show that most homes are at low risk. If insurance companies use this data they will be able to be more specific about what constitutes high or low risk.  Rather than just excluding whole cities they can now begin to take on some risk in areas they now consider too high a risk. If insurance companies delve even further into the report they might also look at which direction the brush is located from the home. Is the brush on a slight downslope facing north? If that is the case it might be a lower risk home than a house on top of a hill with a steep slope with brush to the south.
Rings of fire. That’s what I’m going to call the rating system for Corelogic. Basically imagine native brush as your most at risk area to start a fire, that’s the internal ring and where you are at extreme danger. Next is the edge where the native brush comes up to open areas or developed areas. That is your high risk area for homes. The next level away from the brush is moderate risk and then it leads low risk.  The further you get from the native materials the safer it is.  Good news, most of us live in low risk areas!
At the end of the day wildfires seem to be increasing with regularity. That isn’t a good thing for people who live in Southern California. The more fires we have the harder it will be to find a company to cover the home and we will all end up paying more for the insurance.
If you’d like to read the Corelogic report you can click here. https://www.corelogic.com/insights/wildfire-risk-report.aspx?WT.mc_id=crlg_190905_XhT4I
It is really interesting to see how they draw a comparison to hurricanes on the east cost to fires out west. The basic comparison goes like this, just like hurricanes build strength over warm open water wildfires do the same over native growing brush.  The larger the fire gets the more intense and more damage they do. Is more data better or worse for the insurance business? We will see! Give me a call if you’d like to take a look at your current home insurance. 951-395-0754

​The first home I ever bought was a condo. It was a beautiful end unit condo that was flooded with natural light. It was a bit dated when we moved in. But, after installing some new floors over a weekend, fixing up the kitchen with new tiles and painting the walls it was really nice and updated. I enjoyed the condo life. Not having to mow the lawn, not worrying about fixing a roof or painting the outside of the house. Having a community pool and pretty paths to walk it was great. Sadly, when more kids entered the picture it was time to move on from our pretty condo to a bigger house with a yard. Gone was my cheap mortgage and carefree weekends where I could just relax and watch football without thinking about cleaning the pool or mowing the lawn.
If you are living in a condo or thinking about buying one you need to get yourself some insurance. Now, condo insurance works different from your home insurance. Your insurance company is not covering the structure of the home because the condo association has a policy to rebuild the building. So, why per se do you need insurance if the building is going to be rebuilt by the association?  Imagine this, the whole condo burns to the ground. The association rebuilds the building and puts drywall up in your condo but that is where they stop. All those fixtures, flooring, cabinets, lights are your responsibility.
Additionally, you also need liability insurance if someone were to slip and fall inside your condo. The association won’t cover what happens inside your home.
Condo Insurance isn’t cheap. It’s not as expensive as home insurance and not as cheap as renters insurance.  It’s in the middle there. And you can customize it to your liking. But, you do want to make sure you can rebuild your place the way it is today. Think about the cost for new cabinets for your kitchen and bathrooms. Think about how much it would cost to put new floors.  Do you have any nice lighting? And then consider the labor it would cost to put all that stuff back into your condo.
Make sure you are covered properly. I know everyone wants to save money on insurance. But, you do want to make sure if something were to happen you could actually rebuild your place the way it is today. Call today to get a quote on some condo insurance. We will be happy to go over what your options are and give you a great price. 951-395-0754

​I was reading an article a few weeks back about how in San Francisco battery packs from the Toyota Prius are being stolen.  You would think there would be much easier things to steal, but since I'm not in the crime syndicate who am I to judge. But, it is happening with pretty frequent regularity now and it's something to be aware of. So, what would happen with your auto insurance if this happened to you?
It seems like cars and theft have been happening since cars rolled out of the showrooms. During the gas crisis of the 70’s people had to lock their gas caps because people were siphoning gas out of the tank. Have you ever tried to siphon gas out of a car? I watched my dad try to do this once. He put a hose in the gas tank, and sucked as hard as he could. You can pretty much imagine how this ended. Yup, he ended up with a mouth full of gas.  After a few more mouthfuls he quickly gave up and headed to the gas station to fill up his gas cans.
Back to the point of this article. Theft and cars has happened for a long time. That's why auto insurance companies have offered protection for theft. And over the years the things that are stolen have changed. Wheels were big when everyone was trying to put the biggest tires on their cars back in the 90’s. Radios were big for awhile too when people were putting custom sound systems in their cars. Then for a minute catalytic converters were big theft items because some cars had high levels of gold in the systems.  Now, it seems stealing battery packs out of a Prius is a thing.
These batteries are not light. They can weigh over a hundred pounds. And apparently they can be sold online for a few thousand dollars. Thus, the desire for these items.
Now if your car gets broken into comprehensive coverage is going to pay to fix your car. It’s the same coverage that also covers if your car gets washed away in a flood, hail storm hits, your car burns up in a fire, the windshield gets broken. It’s a great coverage and surprisingly it is still relatively inexpensive.  It will cover the labor to fix what got stolen and pay for the parts too. You would just be responsible for your deductible. Most of the time it is much less expensive to buy than collision insurance. There are some exceptions to this. I was doing insurance for a Can Am the other day and the comprehensive was actually more expensive than the collision. The Can Am is an off road 4x4 vehicle. I can imagine the rates are more because trailers are a popular theft item these days. And, where do you keep your Can Am when you take it out? Yes, a trailer. Once these 4x4’s are gone it’s almost impossible to recover them.
When you are ready to get some auto insurance and if you want to talk about the best coverage options give me a call at 951-395-0754

It’s the end of the summer and it is officially fire season across the state of California. Last year was a rough year for the state. Up in northern California the City of Paradise was basically burned off the map. The extent of the devastation was so significant that it will take years for people to rebuild and the city to get back to where it was before the fires. Along with the devastation insurance companies ended up paying out billions in claims.  The significant losses for insurance companies have led to wide spread changes in the home insurance industry.
We also had fires in southern California north of Los Angeles. The devastation was not nearly as bad as up north but still significant. Many expensive homes were lost and many neighborhoods were uprooted.
Last week a few miles from my office in Temecula a fire started in the mountains west of Murrieta. We had thunder storms earlier in the day and I would suspect that lightning may have caused the fire. No official word on the cause has been released however. The fire quickly flared up due to high winds and thick brush. The flames rushed down the hillside quickly consuming over 1000 acres. The fire department threw tons of man power and equipment at the flames. Fortunately, they seemed to make good progress early on and were able to protect the neighborhoods at the bottom of the mountain from major losses.  In the end nearly 2000 acres of brush were burned. Two houses sustained damage and hundreds were evacuated for days.
In response to the fires from last year insurance companies at the beginning of the year started sending out mass letters of non renewals to homeowners. Areas that insurance companies would once cover quickly were ruled un insurable. That has lead homeowners searching for new home insurance carriers and not many companies willing to take on the risks. There are still some companies willing to take on higher risk homes, but areas in rural or near wild growing brush are very difficult to get home insurance on now. The California Fair Plan was designed to fill the gap for the most extreme risk homes that no other insurance carrier would cover. But, now they are getting used much more frequently because there are so few options.
We also saw major increases in insurance rates. All the major companies increased the rates significantly for residents in Northern California. Areas that were once considered safe to insure are not considered riskier. For a long time insurance companies had two tiers of risk. Southern California was considered high risk and we all paid more for home insurance than Northern California did. Now insurance companies look at both areas as high risk and the rates have leveled out.
The first few fires are a good reminder to be prepared. If you live anywhere near open brush, hillsides, dry grassy fields have a plan. Know where your important documents are. Have more than one way to get out of your neighborhood and be ready to go. Your safety is the most important thing.
If you get a non renewal letter from your home insurance company give me a call. I still have options for homes that have more than 100 feet clearance from brush. I also sell the California Fair Plan and can give you a price. Call today for your home insurance quote! 951-395-0754

​Oh the things “millennials” have brought to the world. My favorite is that they now call growing up… adulting! Back in my day we just called them life lessons and we figured things out. I guess I am old at this point. So, adulting lesson for the day involves one of my favorite topics Renters Insurance.
I get a lot of young adults who will go to rent their first apartment and they find out the landlord requires they buy renters insurance before they get the keys. This leads to a panicked call where they just want to pay the minimum to make the landlord is happy. They aren’t actually interested in buying the policy, they just do it because they have to.
What should you know about your new renters insurance policy? First all policies are not created equal. You can find cheap renters policies out there and guess what? Those cheap policies aren’t going to do much if you actually need to make a claim. You might as well spend a few extra dollars and but a policy that will actually protect you and your stuff. 
The first coverage you should care about is coverage for your belongings. Insurance companies call this “personal property”. Basically what that means is anything you can pack up and move into your apartment is covered for fire, theft, water damage, smoke damage and whatever other claims the policy allows for.  Buy enough coverage to actually replace your stuff. I’m sure you have clothing, some electronics, furniture and some appliances.  It may not seem like it is very valuable, but if you were to try to go out and replace your stuff it adds up quickly. 
There is another part to your property coverage that is vital to know. Some companies offer Actual Cash Value or you can also add Replacement Cost Coverage. Here’s the difference ACV gives you a depreciated value of your belongings. For example if you have an old pair of sneakers they will give you 50 cents to pay for your loss. Replacement Cost gives you new stuff for your old stuff. Same old sneakers are stolen now you can get money to buy yourself a new pair of shoes. The payouts are vastly different and for the extra few dollars buy the Replacement Coverage.
The next part of your renters policy is your Liability coverage. That covers if someone comes over to hang out and now slips on your freshly moped floor. They throw their back out and can’t go to work for a few weeks. This will protect you from being sued. Most landlords required 100 thousand dollars minimum.
Med Pay is also included in your policy. That covers minor injuries, stitches or casts if a visitor gets injured at your place.
Loss of Use. This is a great coverage that comes with your policy. It means that if you have to move out because there is a fire or a toilet overflows. You can get some money to stay in a hotel for a few days or rent a new place while your old place is getting fixed.
You will also be able to select your deductible. Basically, your deductible is what you are responsible for before the insurance company pays out anything. 
So, that’s your adulting lesson for the day. You may not have wanted to buy renters insurance but it is a great policy to have. Just pay the couple of extra dollars to add the replacement cost coverage onto your policy. You can get a basic policy for between 10-15 dollars. That’s less than buying a large pizza once a month! Call me today to get your renters insurance started. 951-395-0754 

Have you ever wondered where hurricanes get their names? I have and after doing some research apparently there is a top secret department at the National Hurricane Service that comes up with them. They are alphabetical so Dorian being the fourth letter was the fourth storm of the season. Most letters get a name but they skip a few letters. I guess there aren’t many good names for U. Sorry Ursula you won’t be named for a hurricane just a giant sea hag! 
It feels like we have been watching hurricane Dorian for a month now! What started as a tropical depression on August 24 and grew into a monster storm before hitting the Bahamas still continues to work its way up the east coast. Currently it is soaking the eastern part of North Carolina. It will be several more days before this storm finally heads out to sea.
The devastation left behind in the Bahamas is unimaginable. With maximum winds reaching a frightening level of 185 miles per hour the hurricane sat for days over the island. The entire island was basically left uninhabitable when the Dorian finally headed north. The basic survival needs like water, food, shelter and sanitary place to bath are now a major challenge for the people living there. The total loss of life won't be known for awhile due to the enormity of the situation. Judging from the photos entire families could have been lost in the storm. Hopefully the help that is beginning to arrive will be able to get people off the island and get basic services restored soon for the ones that decide to stay.
Since this is an insurance blog here are some things to keep in mind. Home insurance for damage done by hurricanes falls into a few different categories. You have your wind damage, you have damage done by driving rain and you have flood damage done by water rushing into the house. Most insurance companies cover wind damage and damage done by wind driven rain. But, most policies don’t cover flood damage. And the flood is what tends to cause most of the destruction.  If you look at all those blank concrete slabs in the Bahamas you can see the damage flood and waves can cause to a home.
If you are in an area where you can get hit by a Hurricane you should definitely consider buying flood insurance. It seems like these storms are increasingly rain events and like in Houston a few years ago the floods can be the most devastating part of the storm. Between rivers overflowing, lakes exceeding their banks, ocean tides rising well beyond normal. Flood insurance is an important policy to consider when covering your home. Out here in sunny southern California it may not be as necessary but earthquake insurance is definitely something to consider.  Oddly, I sell more earthquake insurance when hurricanes hit than I do after small earthquakes. A good insurance agent can run a flood quote for you. They can also sometimes provide a flood map. The flood map will show how your home is situated in relation to rivers, lakes and tides. The higher the risk the more you will pay for insurance. But, if you are in a low risk area the cost is pretty affordable. If a hurricane the size of Dorian was to stall over an area even the low risk zones would sustain major damages.  Talk to a professional insurance agent and get the details. If you are in California give me a call and I can discuss your options. 951-395-0754

​So, you are at a cocktail party and you meet a person who states they are an insurance agent.  Hey, congratulations, you are probably talking to the most interesting person in the room. Maybe that’s not actually the case but lets say the insurance agent is the only other person in the room and you have no choice but to talk with him or her. What could you possibly talk about that won’t bore you to death? I have compiled a fascinating list common auto insurance myths. They are great conversation pieces! Feel free to use them even if you aren’t talking with an insurance professional.  They might even make you seem like you are the most interesting person in the room!

Myth 1:
The color of your car impacts your insurance rate!

So, this myth for some reason continues to persist. On the surface it makes no sense that a particular color car would somehow impact your insurance rates. But, some people out there still think it does. Now, the roots of this myth date back to a study that showed certain color cars get more tickets. The old study implied that red cars tend to get pulled over more and in turn the drivers are issued more tickets. Now, tickets do impact your insurance rate, but the color of your car does not.

Myth 2
At age 25 your auto insurance rates automatically go down.

Now, there is some historical accuracy to this myth. Back in the day insurance companies used to be able to use age as a rating factor for auto insurance.  But, that was ruled to be age discrimination. So, insurance companies had to remove age from their rating factors. They replaced it with years of driving experience. Age does still have an impact on your rate, but you will no longer see some magical rate reduction at age 25. Instead you will see a gradual reduction of your insurance rate as you get more years experience driving a car.

Myth 3
You hit a car and did some minor damage to a person’s bumper. The best thing to do is pay out of pocket for the repairs so it doesn’t impact your insurance rates.

In California you will not be charged for an accident if your insurance company pays out less than 1000 for an accident. That means if you scratch someone’s bumper and the repairs and rental car cost comes in at less than 1000 you will not have an accident on your record. That means there is no benefit to not filing a claim if the accident is really minor. Now, if it your auto insurance pays more than 1000 dollars you will have an accident on your record. But, from my experience almost all people would rather use their insurance than pay out of pocket more than a 1000 dollars. Additionally, it is a lot easier to just let your insurance company pay for the repairs. You won’t get a call six months later saying “oh, by the way the person who fixed my car did a bad job, I now need more money”. Just let your insurance company handle it.

Myth 4
My auto insurance will cover me when I drive to Mexico.

Living close to the border we get this question a lot. Now, there are some companies that will pay to get your car fixed if you have an accident in Mexico.  Usually there is a maximum distance they will cover up to. But, here’s the thing. NEVER RELY ON YOUR AMERICAN INSURANCE WHEN DRIVING IN MEXICO! Wow, I just used all caps. I must be serious. There are several reasons to not use your American insurance in Mexico. The first is Mexico doesn’t recognize American insurance companies. So you are basically driving without insurance. Secondly, if you have an accident in Mexico you will most likely be found at fault if you have American auto insurance. You will also be responsible for getting your car back across the border to get it repaired in the U.S.  So, make your life easier so that you don’t have to spend a night in a Mexican jail. Buy Mexican auto insurance before you cross the border.
Those are the four myth’s for the day. I have a few more which I’ll do in a later post. If you have ideas please put them in the comment section or just email them to me. And when you need to get insurance give me a call at 951-395-0754