What Happens If Your Home Is Damaged In A Hurricane?…
The damage a storm causes to your home can leave you feeling lost and devastated. Concerns about securing your family’s safety, restoring your property, and getting your life back together can be completely overwhelming. With destructive storms becoming more and more common, it pays to have a strategy to help you deal with the damage. It is best to have a hurricane damage insurance claims attorney by your side. They can provide you with the information you need to successfully obtain loss reimbursement through your insurance policy.
Prioritize Safety Above All Else
Whether your house sustained significant wind damage, was struck by lightning, or even got flooded, the aftermath of a storm can pose further serious dangers and injuries. The first thing you have to do is to make sure you and your loved ones are safe and unharmed. Don’t take unnecessary risks inspecting your property and taking photos of the damage, as it can be done at a later, safer time.
Assess The Damage
Once you think it’s safe enough to move around your home, it’s time to inspect the entire area and assess the damage. Seeing your precious home destroyed can be a highly emotional process but documenting the damage must be done before contacting your insurance company. If possible, get a good look at the roof in order to see if there is anything that could cause interior harm to your home. The more photos and videos you take, the better. Document everything! If there are things that are not able to be photographed or videoed, document them with detailed written notes.
Contact Your Insurance Agent/Company
Once you’ve taken photos of the damage your home incurred, call your insurance company or agent as soon as possible and explain your situation. Discuss the damage and provide the photos you took along with proper documentation. Your agent will be able to guide you through the next steps in making a claim by providing you with a claim number and a local list of emergency service providers in case you need it.
Every insurance policy is unique, and there are various types of coverage that you may be able to utilize for hurricane-related property damage. Just remember that most homeowner’s insurance policies won’t cover flood damage, so contact your flood insurance company if your home has flooded. It is best to not record a statement to your insurance adjuster. Just remember the adjuster that you speak to is not on your side and is part of a profit-making insurance business. Your property damage insurance attorney can assist you with your comments to the insurance adjuster. It is best if the two of you are present when the adjuster comes to review your damaged property.
Keep Your Receipts And Create A Documentation File
You may end up needing to spend money on immediate repairs to your home for safety reasons. That’s okay, but make sure you keep your receipts. Remember that payments for temporary repairs are part of the total settlement, if you pay a contractor a large sum for a temporary repair job, you may not have enough money for permanent repairs. The same rule applies to temporary housing. If you’re forced to pay for a place to stay because your home is too badly damaged, save all the receipts.
Homeowners’ insurance policies provide coverage for the cost of additional living expenses if your home is damaged by an insured disaster. It is a good idea to create a documentation folder, either a physical or electronic one, that you can use to store all your documents and supporting evidence. It may take months for the insurance company to process your paperwork, and the condition of your property can change before this process is complete, so you want to be sure you have evidence. There will usually be insurance forms you have to complete when your property is damaged. This is where that great assessment you did earlier comes in handy. The more information about your damaged property that you can provide to the adjuster and insurance company, the faster your claim can be settled.
Even if you do have a solid insurance policy, you may still qualify for more federal disaster assistance. You will be required to file documents in order to receive these loans. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provides a variety of assistance to homeowners who were affected by storm damage.
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