Everyone wants to hit the water now that summer is here. Pontoons, kayaks, sailboats, motorboats, and the like can be found everywhere. As with everything, safety measures need to be in place before your boat hits the water.
- Pay attention to the weather before you head out. No one likes to get caught in a storm. And certainly no one wants to be on the water in a thunderstorm.
- Do you have the proper equipment for your guests and your boat? For boats with engines make sure you have enough gas for a roundtrip.
- Don’t overload your boat. I know it’s going to be hard to keep your guests at a minimum, but if you don’t everyone can be swimming.
- Have lifejackets for everyone. Sure they are big and bulky, but they’ll save lives.
- Don’t drink and boat. Be the designated boater of the party. Everyone will thank you for it.
- Pay attention. I’m sure you wouldn’t want anyone to run into you and the best way to avoid that is by paying attention, cause someone else might not be.
If you are heading out on the water this summer, you need to make sure you are fully insured. Most homeowners insurance policies won’t cover boating incidents.
Contact our office today for a review of your policies.
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
Sources: http://www.discoverboating.com/beginner/safety/tips.aspx and http://www.coit.com/blog/boating-safety-tips
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Damage can come in all forms including fire and smoke damage, and water damage. If you don’t act immediately, you can be faced with additional expenses to fix that damage. We have compiled a list of tips you can enact when facing such damage. Today we are going to focus fire and smoke damage.
- Call a professional. Some by-products can cause etching which is irreversible fairly quickly.
- Do not touch anything that has been damaged with your bare hands. Your hands carry oil which can cause additional damage.
- Open up the house and air out any smoke damage, if the outside temperature is warm.
- Do not wash any of the walls that have smoke/fire damage. The wrong cleaning component can cause more damage.
- Clean off your Formica, chrome, porcelain or aluminum fixtures to prevent permanent tarnishing.
- Call a professional to clean up any upholstered furniture and carpets. Don’t clean them yourself.
- Keep away from anything and everything electronic until they have been checked out by and cleared by a professional.
- Replace your air filter on your furnace if you use forced air.
- If your ceiling is wet, do not use any of the fixtures.
- Throw away all food packages that have been opened.
- Any clothing that has been tarnished, send to a professional for cleaning.
- Clean out the refrigerator and keep the doors open, if the electricity is off.
For more information, please feel to contact our office.
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
Sources: Servicemaster
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If you rent out residential property, you face a variety of financial risks, everything from damage from fires and windstorms, through fines for building code violations, to a disgruntled tenant who sues you.
Landlord insurance to the rescue! These policies cover losses to the property, medical payments for tenants or visitors injured on the premises, and your personal liability for alleged negligence.
The amount of coverage depends on your financial situation. If you’ve taken out a mortgage on the property, the lender will probably insist that you buy a policy large enough to cover the loan balance. As a rule of thumb, the higher the value of the property and the greater the risk of potentially catastrophic liability, the more coverage you’ll need.
Your premium will depend on the type of losses covered and the extent of reimbursement. If you choose comprehensive or all risk coverage (which will pay for damage from all causes unless specifically excluded), your cost will be higher than if you buy “named perils” coverage (which covers only losses due to specific causes). Expect a higher premium for replacement value, which will reimburse you fully for rebuilding your property, than for actual cash value coverage, which will pay only the value of the property, less depreciation.
You can also reduce your premium by increasing the deductible (which usually range from $100 to 5% of the building coverage).
Optional coverages include repayment for rental income lost if the property becomes uninhabitable, and for risks of doing business with tenants, such as legal fees and liability against claims for libel, slander, and discrimination.
Our personal insurance specialists would be happy to help you choose the landlord coverage that offers the best value. Just give us a call.
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
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Homes take a beating on the outside, from wind, rain, sun, insects and snow. Summer gives you a chance to repair damage, protect your home and keep its face to the world looking bright.
Home maintenance is like housework, flossing and exercise: You might as well work it into your routine, because the penalties are worse than the jobs themselves.
Here’s just one example: Cleaning the gutters costs nothing if you do it yourself, and roughly $100 to $200 if you hire a service. Ignore the job, though, and a ruined roof or damaged foundation could cost you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to repair. Here’s why:
Leaky or overflowing gutters can rot fascia boards (the roof edge under the gutters), soffits and rafters.
Water may drip onto window trim, rotting it.
Leaky gutters let water pool at the foundation, causing basement leaks, mold and even foundation damage.
1. Paint
Fresh paint doesn’t just make your home look great. It’s a protective skin against UV light and moisture.
Earth911 tells where to get free paint:
Many household hazardous waste (HHW) facilities around the country have product exchange rooms, sometimes called swap rooms or swap shops. These rooms offer safe, unopened HHW items for public consumption, keeping them out of the landfill and letting you save some money.
Call your city to ask about your local HHW facility. Other sources for cheap paint:
- Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores (find one near you) sell “gently used” tools and supplies for home projects at low cost.
- See EcoBusinessLinks’ national directory of recycled and surplus building materials and suppliers.
- Search online for a city’s name and “salvaged building supplies” or “recycled building materials.”
2. Mulch
Laying a 1- to 3-inch layer of mulch on garden beds spares a lot of weeding. Mulch smothers weeds by depriving them of oxygen and light and it holds moisture in the soil, saving water and giving plants a consistent source of moisture.
Mulch includes many materials placed on the ground to prevent weeds from growing, including rocks, gravel and plastic. Leaves, grass clippings and tree bark are organic materials most often used on garden beds. Hay and straw also are used in vegetable gardens. Organic mulch breaks down into nutrients that feed plants.
Be careful in vegetable gardens to avoid mulch with pesticides, herbicides or other garden chemicals. Also, used incorrectly, mulch can damage or kill trees and ornamental plants by depriving them of oxygen, so leave a 3- to 5-inch space around stems of younger plants and give mature tree trunks eight to 12 inches. North Carolina State University’s Cooperative Extension Service explains how to safely use mulch.
Free or cheap sources of mulch:
- Grass clippings. Let them cool down before mulching.
- Raked leaves. Shred first with a shredder or lawn mower so air and moisture can reach the soil beneath.
- Shredded wood or bark. Electric utility companies and tree services may have cheap or free wood chips or shredded bark. Also, some cities collect leaves and branches, chipping them for use by local residents.
- Cardboard. Ask recycling centers and appliance stores for free cardboard. Wet it down, cut it to fit and place it around plants, covering with soil or bark mulch. This is best in wet climates where cardboard breaks down into the soil. WikiHow gives instructions on using cardboard and has more ideas for cheap mulch.
3. Seal wood decks
The cheap way to approach this job is to do it yourself. It’s not difficult, although it’s nice to have help. You’ll spend a couple hundred dollars on supplies and rented tools. Do it annually or every two to three years, depending where you live. Ignore the job long enough and you’ll need to replace the deck, at a cost of thousands of dollars.
Read the entire article here.
Read more at http://www.moneytalksnews.com/2014/06/02/12-cheap-and-easy-summer-home-projects/#4f2LmYs5xjDE2Rbw.99
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Summer is right around the corner, and with it comes a parade of graduations, barbecues, holidays and other gatherings with family and friends. Although summer parties are a source of excitement for most people, these get-togethers can also raise the risk of expensive liability claims. Whether you are throwing a birthday party or hosting a Father’s Day picnic at your home, you never know when an accident could occur. As more people enter your home, the risk of someone sustaining an injury on your property increases dramatically. For example, if you are operating a grill during a summer barbecue, your guests could be burnt accidentally. Likewise, if you own a pool, guests could injure themselves diving in, or they could slip and fall on the wet ground next to the pool. If someone sustains an injury on your property, they may file a lawsuit against you in order to recover medical expenses and/or lost wages related to the injury. If you don’t have enough homeowners insurance coverage to pay the damages awarded to the individual in court, you will be forced to come up with the money on your own, which can lead to serious financial problems. In some cases, a large liability settlement could even require you to file bankruptcy or sell your home and other valuable assets in order to pay the amount you owe. If you are planning to host any parties this summer, review your homeowners insurance policy before you send out the invitations to ensure that you have the proper amount of liability coverage. If you discover that your coverage is lacking, consider investing in additional coverage to protect yourself against loss. If you aren’t sure whether your policy provides sufficient coverage, consult our office for guidance.
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There are several steps you can take to ensure you are getting the best Homeowners insurance rates possible for the coverage you need:
- Before purchasing a home, it is wise to learn about its insurance loss history. If there have been past losses, be sure to inspect the home closely to determine if proper repairs were made. The CLUE and A-PLUS databases enable insurers to check the claim history of the property as well as that of the homeowner.
- Raising your deductible is a great way to reduce your premiums. Higher deductibles on your Homeowners insurance could produce savings of 25% or more.
- Consider upgrades to your home. Do you need to modernize your heating, plumbing, and electrical systems to reduce the risk of fire and water damage? Are there upgrades you could make that would reduce the risk of damage in windstorms and other natural disasters? You might be able to save on your premiums by adding storm shutters, reinforcing your roof, or buying stronger roofing materials. Older homes can be retrofitted to make them more capable of withstanding earthquakes. If you do make home improvements, be sure to make your insurer aware of the changes.
- Improve your home security. You typically can get premium discounts of at least 5% for installing a smoke detector, burglar alarm or dead-bolt locks. Some companies will cut your premium by as much as 15% or 20% if you install a sophisticated sprinkler system and a fire and burglar alarm that signals the police, fire department, and other monitoring stations. These systems are not inexpensive and not every system qualifies for a discount. Before you buy such a system, find out what kind your insurer recommends, how much the device would cost, and how much you would save on premiums.
- Buy your Home and Auto policies from the same insurer. Some companies that sell Homeowners, Auto and Liability coverage will take 5% to 15% off your premium if combine policies with them.
- Maintain a good credit rating. Most insurers use credit-based insurance scores to determine Homeowners and Auto coverage premiums. All else being equal, a person with a good credit score will pay much less for insurance than someone with a lower score.
Contact our office today for more information.
Content provided by Transformer Marketing.
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Everyone wants to hit the water now that summer is here. Pontoons, kayaks, sailboats, motorboats, and the like can be found everywhere. As with everything, safety measures need to be in place before your boat hits the water.
