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Brian Edgren
President
EHL Insurance |
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Welcome to edition #12 of our client newsletter. We are very grateful for your response to our efforts to maintain open communication with you, our trusted clients. Inside this issue you can see how we are reorganizing ourselves in order to better serve you. Also, we understand that when several people call with the same question, there may be hundreds more who share the concern. For example, if you own a vacant house, check out the lead article for important information. Last, we cannot say thank you enough for your referrals. They are the life-blood of our business. We mail out several $10 gas cards each month as a small token of our appreciation, and from these, draw the name of a winner who receives a $100 gift card. See the bottom of this page for notification of this issue’s winner.
Brian Edgren, President EHL Insurance
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By Jeff Ogard |
At EHL, our goal is to help our clients reduce their total cost of risk. One way of dealing with risk is insurance. We work hard to present our clients to the insurance industry in such a way that the majority of companies will want their business. This optimizes the number of choices that people have, and inherently holds costs down. Unfortunately, insurance companies are not fighting over the opportunity to insure vacant/unoccupied houses.
 Houses are insured on a homeowners policy when the owner occupies the home; and a dwelling fire policy when the owner does not. While definitions and coverage features vary by policy type and company, in general a house is deemed vacant when the furnishings have been removed; and is unoccupied when no one has resided in the home for a period of time prior to the claim (i.e. 60 or more days). In the case of a dwelling fire policy, occupancy may require that someone was using the home as their “primary” residence.
Many people end up with a vacant/unoccupied home without intending to:
 Our client moves into a new home, and the sale of the previous home is taking much longer than expected;
A parent dies, leaving our client with an inherited home that is now unoccupied;
A tenant moves out of a rental house, and it is taking a long time to find a new renter;
A “fixer upper” has been purchased, and the buyer believes that after investing time and money for a few months, the home can be sold for a nice profit. Unfortunately, the sale is taking a long time.
Possible risk management techniques:
Retain the exposure – While the value of the home may be such that you decide to not insure the building, (assuming you have no mortgage), no one should be without liability insurance. Make sure you have sufficient liability limits on that location to “tuck under” your personal umbrella policy.
“Loss control” the exposure – fire/burglar alarm systems can discourage would be vandals and provide earlier warning for fire. Keeping a modicum of heat in the unit can also avoid plumbing problems during cold weather. Doing what you can to keep the property visible to neighbors is also a good idea.
Avoid the exposure – selling an unwanted property is the cleanest solution of all. However, tough real estate markets can impact both the price received as well as the time needed to find the right buyer.
Insure the exposure – There are coverage restrictions once a house has been vacant for, i.e., 60 days. There may be no vandalism coverage after this time, and water damage may also be excluded. No preferred market wants to insure vacant homes. However, if you have insured this house with the same company for many years, they will often work with you and us to buy a little more time to find a renter or buyer. Being an independent agency, we have dozens of companies from which to choose, and many specialize in various segments of the industry. Some will insure vacant homes, and some will even insure the fixer upper for a set period of time while work is being conducted. Premiums are relatively high, and coverage relatively scant. This combination provides impetus to complete projects in a timely manner, and then find a renter or buyer as soon as possible.
One area where we have helped people is when they can use an otherwise vacant home as overflow space from their primary home. For example, empty nesters move into a smaller home, but have yet to sell the former homestead. Instead of emptying it of all its furniture, use it as a guest house for when kids/grandkids/friends come to visit. This enables us to retain coverage with the broader coverage/lower priced/preferred market homeowners company, providing far greater coverage and lower premiums for our client. The policy will be the same as if you bought a vacation home in the mountains or at the beach.
The key in any of the above situations is good communication. Our Personal Risk Advisors are experts in this area, simply because it has become so prevalent the past few years. Please let us know about these situations as far in advance as possible. Specialty companies often do not allow agents to bind coverage without a completed application, a photo and a down payment. Finding out about the situation after the fact limits our ability to act as swiftly as may be needed.
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Rhonda Byers |
By Jeff Ogard |
Rhonda’s is a familiar name to those of you who insure your business with EHL. She has been with us since 1993 and has deep experience in both personal and commercial lines of business. For the past several years, she has supervised our commercial account managers and personally been involved in delivering very high levels of customer service to our larger business clients.
In an effort to continually improve our client service, we have recently restructured our organization. Rhonda is now the direct supervisor for all our Personal Risk Advisors, our Communications Coordinator, and as before, our Commercial Account Managers. Aspects of service involving process, or how work gets done, are now centralized under agency administration. Rhonda now reports directly to our President, Brian Edgren, who is responsible for agency operations. While I am still responsible for all personal insurance for EHL, this change frees my time to focus more time on sales, marketing, product training, and relationships with our insurance companies.
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Debbie Green (left) and Rhonda Byers (right) celebrating Hillary Ferris's (center) first day of work on June 1st. |
Rhonda has a BA in Business Administration with a specialty in finance. She currently is licensed in Property and Casualty in the state of Washington, holds her CISR (Certified Insurance Service Representative) and CIC (Certified Insurance Counselor) designations. An active member of our community, Rhonda is on the coaching staff of CK United, and has volunteered as a coach for many years in other local soccer clubs in Kitsap County. Rhonda lives in Poulsbo with her husband Dave and daughter Shaylee. Her two eldest children Sydney and Siara live in Cheney and attend Eastern Washington University. If Rhonda isn’t at work, you can find her on a soccer field.
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By Jeff Ogard
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 These are among the most dangerous additions that people can bring onto their residential property. The potential for lawsuits is well above average, and as a result, most low cost insurance companies have little interest in insuring people who incorporate these into their life style.
While some companies will insure homes with trampolines, provided safety nets and fences are in place, zip lines and dangerous dog breeds are often considered uninsurable. Please call us prior to taking on such a risk!
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By Jeff Ogard
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If you have a boat or motorcycle insured with us, and you have taken a safety course, please let us know. It may result in a lower premium. The same holds true for membership in some of the motorcycle clubs. Let us know the details, and we will inquire as to whether your insurance company offers a discount.
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By Jeff Ogard
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Are you concerned about having enough insurance for your mobile tech devices (laptops, iPhones, iPads) or other special classifications of personal property? Coverage limits vary dramatically by insurance company, so please talk to one of our Personal Risk Advisors to ensure there is no gap between your present coverage and your expectations!
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 Thank you for recommending EHL to your friends and family! For each person or family you refer to us, we will send you $10 in gasoline gift cards, and enter you in our bimonthly drawing for $100 and our annual drawing for $500.
We are pleased to announce this issue’s winner. Phil Castell’s name was drawn from all clients and other friends who referred someone to us, and will receive a $100 gift card. |
