Second Installment of a Series
As we were still in a state of shock, one of our neighbors started calling around to see if there were any hotel vacancies that night so that my family and I would have a place to sleep. As it was I didn’t get much sleep that night….
We ended up at the local Residence Inn – Maumee, Ohio for the first week after returning home from our summer trip. Although it is a nice place, another hotel was the last place that I wanted to be after returning home from a 6 day vacation. We knew after the first night that we would need to find other accomodations for the period of time that our home would be under construction.
One of the first items that the owner of the emergency cleanup company advised me of was to check on the level of insurance coverage I had for alternate living expenses. He was concerned that whatever accomodations needed for the duration of the reconstruction, that we lived within the budget allowed by our homeowners’ insurance policy. Thankfully we were protected by our insurance agent and we had adequate alternate living expenses to cover the costs of our housing and other displacement costs.
A personal homeowners insurance policy pays to repair or replace your home and possessions when they are damaged. The main portion of the policy covers the repair and replacement for the structure of the house. Also covered are the homeowners’ personal possessions. You may wish to consider a policy that pays to replace items rather than cash value coverage.
Most policies also provide coverage for liability in order to protect you for damage inflicted to people or property. Finally, your homeowners policy should provide for coverage of your additional living expenses if you are unable to remain in your home after damage and during the time of its repair. If you are concerned as to whether you have enough homeowners insurance, you may want to check out Liz Weston’s MSN Money Blog captioned “Is your home underinsured? 8 keys“.
The first morning after discovering the water damage, I needed to make some phone calls and I returned to our home. We were fortunate that we had so many helpful neighbors. They started to contact the developer of our subdivision to inquire as to whether we may be able to rent a spec home he had just built in our neighborhood, but one street over. He gave it consideration and agreed to rent the home to us. His willingness to help us out was very much appreciated, as it allowed my 8 year old daughter to remain in the same neighborhood with many of her friends and would allow her to ride the same school bus to school. Although he didn’t need to do it, Richard Leffler of Leffler Custom Homes stepped up and helped us out. We are thankful for his kindness.
Next on the to do list was a meeting with the insurance adjustor. In retrospect, I should say, insurance adjustors, with the emphasis on there being more than one. I will fill you in on that part of the story in my next installment.
Michael P. Dansack
It is my plan to continue this series of blog posts to chronicle our ordeal as we deal with the insurance company and the restoration of our home. In the next posts, I will chronicle dealing with Insurance companies on damage claims, the stressful nature of trying to rebuild/restore your home , replacement of personal property and the back and forth with the insurance company and vendors. I will also touch upon the help, kindness and understanding that we have received from our neighbors, family, co-workers and friends. Although my postings will not be solely about legal issues, it may give you some insight into what it is like to deal with a devastating loss and the challenges that one faces in trying to rebuild their home.