An independent insurance agent and broker, and income tax preparer who combines over 37 years in financial services with experience as a bank mortgage administrator and Community Relations Manager.
Ask The Expert – Real Estate – Marcia Clarke, NYS Licensed Real Estate Broker
Marcia Clarke, ABR, AHWD, CIPS, CRS, SRES
I am honored to welcome Marcia Clarke, NYS Licensed Real Estate Broker, as a guest contributor to Brooklyn Covered. Marcia brings a wealth of experience and insights to buying and selling real estate.
In this post, Marcia Clarke shares timely information for buyers and sellers who are keen on taking advantage of the late fall real estate market during the holiday season.
Take advantage of the late Fall real estate market while everyone is shopping for the holidays.
At this time of year, a brave few souls venture into the real estate market. This is a smart move as it slows as the real estate market usually cools down at the end of October. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes drop about 30% between December and January and traditionally picks up in early Spring.
Gift yourself a new home this holiday season!
Give yourself a new home in time for the holidays!
Holiday home buyers are serious about buying, and doing it quickly, visiting available open houses while others are off at the mall. For sellers, the holidays can be profitable. There is no better time to show a house than when a tasteful Christmas tree, wreath, and sparkling lights make a house feel like a potential buyer’s future home.
If you’re selling during the holidays, take this advice from staging experts:
* Keep it simple. Take down personal pictures. Put up Christmas decorations that include a tree, a wreath, and a few strands of lights outside. Place a few nicely wrapped presents under the tree.
* Play holiday music softly. Display potted evergreens in place of potted flowers.
* Some sellers even place photos or a scrapbook of the home during the summer.
The late fall holiday season is a great time to look for your new home
For buyers there is less competition from others, so they have a good negotiating position with sellers who want to move quickly. If a buyer finds a house during the holidays, it is possible that he or she will be able to come to an agreement with the seller to accommodate cherished holiday plans.
Marcia Clarke is an NYS licensed Real Estate Broker. She is the Owner and Broker of M C Realty Consulting & Management, Inc., located at 1431 Nostrand Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11226.
You can reach her by telephone at 718-484-8582, or by email at [email protected].
You can reach Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., a.k.a. BrooklynCovered at 718-489-2218 or by email at [email protected]. He stands ready to assist you with your personal insurance needs.
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Back in August, I read two articles in The City newsletter titled “NYC Denies Every Financial Claim for Hurricane Ida Flooding,” and “Ida Flood Homeowners Denied City Payouts Get Legal Options and Political Promises.”
Why New York City doesn’t owe affected residents anything
Over 4,703 NYC homeowners who suffered losses caused by Rainstorm Ida in September 2021 recently received denial of claim letters from the New York City Comptroller’s office.
The letter to the affected homeowners cited a 1907 New York City precedent established in Holzhausen v. City of New York where the City of New York was found to be not liable for damages suffered by the plaintiff, because
“In deciding adversely to the claim of the plaintiffs for damages, it was held that `the duty of draining the streets and avenues of a city, or village, is one requiring the exercise of deliberation, judgment, and discretion. It cannot, in the nature of things, be so executed that in every single moment every square foot of the surface shall be perfectly protected against the consequences of water falling from the clouds upon it. The duty is * * * of a judicial nature, for it requires the qualities of deliberation and judgment. It admits of a choice of means and of the determination of the order of time in which improvements shall be made.'”
Holzhausen v. City of New York, 116 App. Div. 812, 814 (N.Y. App. Div. 1907)
This basically means, that the City of New York, or any municipality for that matter, can’t be responsible for protecting its citizenry against the vagaries of Mother Nature.
This isn’t the first time this happened
While I grieve with those affected by Rainstorm Ida, every NYC homeowner has two resources to mitigate losses caused by external floods and internal water and sewer line backups, and sump pump failures.
They are called Flood Insurance, a separate policy purchase, and Water and Sewer Backup, which is an endorsement to many homeowner policies.
What else can we do to prepare for flood and water damage?
When storing personal items in basements or ground-level first floors, use water plastic containers, placed at least one and one-half to two feet above floor level.
Do not rent illegal basement apartments. Number one, it’s against the law. Number two, when basements suddenly flood, as happened during rainstorm Ida, people drown in these basements because they lack proper sufficient and legal means of egress.
It never fails to amaze me how quickly we tend to revert to the “Save Me” syndrome when something out of the ordinary happens. And how quickly we fight and rail against government sanctions.
We don’t want to wear masks to fight the possibility of contracting Covid-19.
Many demand the right to not be vaccinated or get booster shots but want the doctors and hospitals to save our lives when we do.
Drivers and their passengers don’t wear their seatbelts and die or suffer severe injuries in car accidents, further burdening the hospitals and our families.
Otherwise sensible people decide to operate motor vehicles after drinking or medicinal smoking. And then bitch about the police stopping them, and administering a breathalyzer test which leads to their spending time in jail and losing their drivers license.
We walk our dogs off the leash and get upset when we’re sued when they bite someone.
We blast our music at ridiculous levels at all hours of the night. Then we get ticked off when the police come to your door in response to noise complaints.
We don’t attend Community Education Council meetings, attend PTA meetings, join our child’s school School Leadership Team, or even attend “Meet the teacher night.” And then we wonder why Little Johnny or Jane can’t read at grade level by second grade.
Our local politicians and/or the Department of Environmental Protection aren’t taken to task to demand regular cleanouts of every sewer trap in our communities.
Leaves we don’t rake up and dispose of clog those same sewer traps.
Since most people never consider their own mortality or morbidity, they don’t purchase life and disability insurance to replace income lost when death or disability strikes. But we want everyone to contribute to a Go Fund Me campaign to help bury us and help our family keep the house.
So, the next time you want to vote for a politician who says there is no such thing as climate change, or who says “Big Government wants to burden you with unnecessary laws and ruin your life with increased wasteful taxes, take a minute to ask what will happen if the government doesn’t act on your behalf.
At the very least
And, at the very least, take ownership of the need to protect your home and belongings. Purchase a Flood Insurance policy and endorse your homeowner’s insurance policy with Water and Sewer, and Sump Pump failure coverage.
Municipal responsibilities for your losses may never change, but how you react and prepare for the effects of climate change will determine just how well you ride out the coming storms.
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There should be a multi-function printer in every home.
I mean,
You own 15 pairs of sneakers that cost $250 and up.
Your overly expensive clothing and shoes bear the name of people who wouldn’t give you the time of day.
The leased vehicle outside your door costs you an arm and a leg every month, and you pray you neither get into an accident nor get keyed by a jealous friend or neighbor.
The television in your living room is bigger than Sputnik.
But there’s no multi-function printer in your home.
What is a Multi-Function Printer?
With a good multi-function printer enabling you can:
print either in color or black and white,
send and receive faxes,
scan documents to one or more computers on your network.
automatically feed up to 35 pages (ADF)
read and print two-sided documents
resize documents
Why owning a multi-function printer is necessary today.
If you are scanning and emailing unencrypted documents containing your social security number, date of birth, or any other information cybercriminals can use, you might as well just call the cybercrooks and say, “Here’s my list of passwords and other confidential information. Have fun with it.”
Also, if you use any printing services offered by local office supply or mailing service stores, ask if their printers contain hard drives that keep copies of every copied or scanned document.
You may ask “why, what’s the big deal?” Many of those machines are leased. When they go off-lease, many firms upgrade to better machines with more bells and whistles. What happens, you may wonder, to the off-lease machines? In many cases, they and the hard drives containing your personal and business information are sold, often to the overseas markets. There was an actual case where a scavenger salvaged parts from discarded copy machines in another part of the world, only to discover a ton of information on the hard drive they planned to use to build computers.
The information on the hard drives was subsequently sold to local criminal organizations to acquire credit cards and establish other lines of credit to make enormous and untraceable purchases. Worse, they sold the information on the Dark Web.
No matter how you look at it, you can ruin your financial life with just one email.
Enter Your Multi-Function Printer
For my money, faxing is the safest way to transmit sensitive documents. Many presenters at several insurance and accounting industry cybercrime webinars suggest the use of faxes only. The problem? Most people no longer own either a stand-alone or multi-function printer, scanner, or fax machine. So they opt for email as the easiest choice.
What does a multifunction machine cost?
First, I suggest machines from either HP (full disclosure, it’s my favorite brand) or Brother. My suggestions are based on expert guidance, reviews, and my personal and business experience. A good model is the HP 9025e. I suggest you check out websites like Zdnet.com or cnet.com for unbiased product reviews.
Good inkjet multi-function printers are in the $100 to $600 price range. You can also opt for a laser multi, either color or black and white. I’ve always found it wise to pair a black and white laserjet printer with a color inkjet multifunction printer in my office.
Whatever you decide, it’s always a good time to protect your identity.
About the author
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., LUTCF is an NYS-licensed Independent Insurance Agent and Broker with 40 years of experience. He is celebrating 26 years as an Independent Insurance Agency Owner.
Like to speak with Eustace?
Eustace is ready to assist you with your life, disability, home, flood, renters, auto, cooperative and condominium, and wedding insurance needs. He can be reached at 718-489-2218, or by email at [email protected]. You can also contact him by going to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and completing any of the available “Contact Us” forms.
How to subscribe to the “Never Knew News” newsletter
If you’d like to subscribe to his monthly newsletter, “Never Knew News,” go to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and click on any of the “Subscribe” buttons.
Have insurance, income tax, real estate, mortgage, or home inspection questions for Eustace? He’ll be happy to provide the insurance and income tax answers and will continue to call on his expert contacts for help in the other areas. Just email him at [email protected] with the subject line, “Ask Eustace.”
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Many of my clients are what I consider true insurance credit score improvement warriors.
How To Earn A Great Insurance Credit Score
While completing the homeowners insurance application for N.R.65, a new member of the Bridge Insurance Family, I asked her how she managed to obtain and maintain her sterling credit score.
N.R.65 said she pays her credit cards twice monthly.
“Twice each month?”
“Yes. Twice each month.”
“Please explain.”
Instead of paying the minimum payment each month, she doubles the payment. Then, she makes another payment of $60.00 or $70.00 whether she uses the card or not.
Her mantra? “My credit is so good, it looks better than me!”
So here’s to N. R. 65, a true credit warrior!
Another Great Tip for Rapidly Lowering Credit Balances and Improving Your Insurance Credit Score.
My client, A. B. 22 does not make her credit card payments on the due date. She instead makes her monthly payment no later than two days before monthly interest is applied to her outstanding balance. So monthly interest is applied to a lower balance, hastening how quickly she pays off each credit card.
Her system really works. She’s quickly cut down her outstanding balances using this method. And the balances fall even faster when you don’t use the cards for anything other than an emergency.
“Where do you find this interest due date” I asked.
“It’s on your monthly statement. The same monthly statement too many people tend to ignore until the last minute.”
“I looked around my apartment,” she said, “and saw books I purchased and never read. Blouses I thought I couldn’t live without still in the original wrapping with the sales tag still attached. In several cases, two or three years after I brought them home. Money wasted. Money which should have been applied to paying off credit card balances. Better still, not creating new balances or adding to existing balances.”
The Beat The Interest Payment Due Date Worksheet
I asked how she keeps up with every credit cards’ monthly interest date. She said she devised a “Beat The Interest Payment Due Date Worksheet.” She created a simple grid on a page in an inexpensive marble composition book she bought at an office supply store.
Along the X-axis, she enters the names of each card in date order and the date the payment must reach each bank. She also enters the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for each card in each box. This keeps her aware of just how much she is paying to for the use of the credit card companies’ money.
Along the Y-axis at the top of the page, she creates a column for each month where she enters every monthly payment she makes for each card. Following each payment is the date she actually made the payment. She does this to remain honest to her system.
Did The System Work?
“Two years ago, I owed about $25,000 in credit card debt. Now I’m down to just over $10,000. And I raised my insurance credit score from poor to good.”
What will your credit score do for you?
This future homeowner is well on her way to owning her own home because she lowered her credit utilization and improved her savings.
Why Does A Good Insurance Credit Score Matter?
Your credit score is a reflection of how well or how poorly you handle your finances. You don’t have to adopt miserly ways to attain a good credit score. It’s simple really. A bad credit score will cost you more money for mortgages, automobiles, and many forms of insurance.
When you are purchasing home, renters, co-op, condo, or auto insurance, your premium depends on many factors. In my experience, one of the most important is your insurance credit score.
An excellent or good score will yield the lowest premiums. A fair or poor score will saddle you with higher premiums. For example, with a fair or poor score, you can wind up paying at least 50% more in premium than someone with an excellent or good score.
There are no quick fixes to improving your insurance credit score. Insurance companies go back five years into your credit history. Important factors are your payment history, length of credit, delinquencies and credit utilization.
What’s Credit Utilization?
Just imagine your total lines of credit come to say $25,000. If you use $15,000 of your credit lines, you have a 60% credit utilization.
To get a great credit score, you shouldn’t have a credit utilization percentage of more than 19%. Anything higher and your insurance credit score will begin to drop.
Any Other Good News?
Try to avoid any of the insurance credit no-no’s on your credit record during the past five years.
There are five of them and they are:
Judgements
Foreclosures
Liens
Repossessions
Bankruptcies, whether in, coming out, or beginning one.One or any combination of these will result in a much lower insurance credit score, with higher premiums.
When I Start To Work On Improving My Credit?
There’s no time like the present. Do a little each day and watch your credit score soar to new heights.
About the author
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., LUTCF is an NYS-licensed Independent Insurance Agent and Broker with 40 years of experience. He is celebrating 25 years as an Independent Insurance Agency Owner.
Like to speak with Eustace?
Eustace is ready to assist you with your life, disability, home, flood, renters, auto, cooperative and condominium, and wedding insurance needs. He can be reached at 718-489-2218, or by email at infogreavesinsurance.com. You can also contact him by going to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and completing any of the available “Contact Us” forms.
How to subscribe to “Never Knew News” newsletter
If you’d like to subscribe to his monthly newsletter, “Never Knew News,” go to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and click on any of the “Subscribe” buttons.
Have insurance, income tax, real estate, mortgage, or home inspection questions for Eustace? He’ll be happy to provide the insurance and income tax answers and will continue to call on his expert contacts for help in the other areas. Just email him at [email protected] with the subject line, “Ask Eustace.”
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You will find a funny t-shirt in the weirdest places.
So, out of the blue, for the first time ever, I received a catalog from a firm named “The Best of Collections, Etc.”
At first, I thought someone was coming after me for the money I owed them.
Well, turns out it is one of those sales catalogs which resembles the old Fingerhut catalogs. Folksy, cute, and once directed to a different demographic.
Well, being a marketer always on the lookout for new ideas, I took a few minutes to skim through the magazine.
Everything seemed normal until page 81
All of the offerings seemed rather normal, especially the “As seen on TV” offerings. Then, I turned to page 81 for some first-class belly laughs.
The first (and best) T-Shirt read,
“Roll roll roll your joint, twist it at the end, light it up and take a puff, then pass it to a friend.”
Now, I don’t condone the use of drugs, but come on, even Katt Williams may use that little ditty in one of his comedy concerts.
Called the lady who is going to produce my upcoming podcast and the first thing she said was, “That’s hilarious!”
Second thing? “You are not going to say that on the air!”
Hah. Wait’ll she reads this.
Some of my other favorites were:
“Don’t rush me! I’m waiting for the last minute!” and,
“I told my wife to embrace her mistakes. She hugged me.”
“Once in a while someone AMAZING comes along … and HERE I AM!”
Another good one would close with a bang
And one which should become another favorite of funeral directors everywhere, “Just before I die, I’m going to swallow a bag of popcorn kernels. MY CREMATION IS GOING TO BE EPIC!”
That one should be a warning to spouses everywhere – make sure there is enough life insurance for a regular burial.
Our last time?
The really funny thing about me receiving this catalog? In big, bold letters are the words, “Is This Goodbye? Unfortunately, postage and printing costs have increased, so shop today to continue receiving our great values. Place an order soon, or this could be your LAST CATALOG!”
Wow.
Last catalog.
Funny thing is, this was the first time I ever received this catalog.
If it is to be the last one, at least I got a humorous blog post out of it.
Happy New Year everyone! May the year 2021 be filled with prosperity, joy, excellent health, and all the success you and those you love can handle!
About the author
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., LUTCF is an NYS-licensed Independent Insurance Agent and Broker with over 38 years of experience. He is celebrating 25 years as an Independent Insurance Agency Owner.
Like to speak with Eustace?
Eustace is ready to assist you with your life, disability, home, flood, renters, auto, cooperative and condominium, and wedding insurance needs. He can be reached at 718-783-2722, or by email at [email protected]. You can also contact him by going to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and completing any of the available “Contact Us” forms.
How to subscribe to his newsletter
If you’d like to subscribe to his monthly newsletter, “Health, Safety, and Good News You Can Use,” go to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and click on any of the “Subscribe” buttons.
Have insurance, income tax, real estate, mortgage, or home inspection questions for Eustace? He’ll be happy to provide the insurance and income tax answers and will continue to call on his expert contacts for help in the other areas. Just email him at [email protected] with the subject line, “Ask Eustace.”
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Betcha Never Knew About These Three Insurance Policy Discounts
“Bundling and saving”, is not the only method to save money on your home and automobile insurance policy. There’s a better way to realize massive insurance policy discounts.
Use insurance policy discounts to cut your home and automobile insurance costs!
Improve your Insurance Credit Score. Not A Discount, But It Will Still Save Your Money
This is the easiest way in the world to lower your home and auto premiums. Companies place you in excellent, good, fair, poor, and ‘forget about it’ pricing tiers. So, if you begin with a poor score, do all you can to pay bills on time, lower your credit utilization, and give the five (5) major insurance credit score no-no’s a chance to come off your credit record.
What are these five (5) no-nos?
Judgments
Foreclosures
Repossessions
Liens
Bankruptcies, or going into or coming out of a bankruptcy
Don’t forget, these no-nos will affect your insurance credit score for Five (5) years.
Hey, five and five. How about that?
Now, on to the three insurance policy discounts.
How Much Can These Three Insurance Policy Discounts Save You?
Based on your insurance company, you can actually save up to 40% on your annual homeowners’ insurance premium. So, imagine your annual premium is $2000. Using these three insurance policy discounts could help you realize an annual savings of $800. And that is not chicken feed.
Fire Extinguishers, Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors, Deadbolt Locks
Some companies give you an immediate five percent (5%) discount when you keep functioning fire extinguishers, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, and deadbolt locks. Fire extinguishers and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are required in many cities. So, you actually benefit from obeying the law.
Alarm Systems
You can realize additional discounts up to 20% of your annual premium by installing a central-station monitored alarm system. It’s like getting paid to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Claim-Free Discounts
I’ve always questioned the sanity of people who say, “I’ve been paying this policy for ten years and never put in a claim. I think it is time for me to put in a claim and get some of my money back!”
Okay, first off, you’ve just informed your agent you intend to commit fraud. So, when you go to trial, I will testify against you. Purposely screw up my great loss ratio? I don’t think so.
Better you should just maintain your home to prevent losses and get a part-time job to supplement your income. Why? Because many insurance companies offer what is called a”Claim Free Discount” when you don’t have claims.
How Much Can A Claim Free Discount Save Me?
One of the insurance companies I work with as an independent insurance agent offers an annual Claims Free Discount of ten percent (10%).
Let’s imagine your annual homeowners’ insurance premium is $2000 at this years’ renewal. With just a Claims Free Discount, you would automatically qualify for the ten percent (10%) discount of $200. Now your annual premium drops to $1800.
What Should You Do With All The Money You Save With These Three Insurance Policy Discounts?
I learned long ago what you earn isn’t as important as how you use what you earn. So, you’ve perhaps saved up to 40% of your annual homeowners’ premium. You can choose to use the money for a new bag, a vacation, or a fabulous pair of shoes. Or, you can use your savings to enhance your insurance portfolio. You can purchase additional
life insurance to pay your mortgage or rent should you die;
disability insurance to provide an income when you are too sick or injured to work;
long term care insurance to get skilled nursing care not covered in your health insurance policy. And, it will also to protect your home from Medicaid’s dreaded, “Five Year Lookback.”;
increase your automobile insurance; and
add a Personal Umbrella Liability policy for greater protection from lawsuits.
My next post will cover other insurance policy discounts.
About the author
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., LUTCF is an NYS-licensed Independent Insurance Agent and Broker with over 38 years of experience. He is celebrating 25 years as an Independent Insurance Agency Owner.
Like to speak with Eustace?
Eustace is ready to assist you with your life, disability, home, flood, renters, auto, cooperative and condominium, and wedding insurance needs. He can be reached at 718-783-2722, or by email at [email protected]. You can also contact him by going to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and completing any of the available “Contact Us” forms.
How to subscribe to his newsletter
If you’d like to subscribe to his monthly newsletter, “Health, Safety, and Good News You Can Use,” go to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and click on any of the “Subscribe” buttons.
Have insurance, income tax, real estate, mortgage, or home inspection questions for Eustace? He’ll be happy to provide the insurance and income tax answers and will continue to call on his expert contacts for help in the other areas. Just email him at [email protected] with the subject line, “Ask Eustace.”
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I walked out of the offices of the insurance company I dedicated 13 years of my life to, into an unknown, unplanned, unintended future.
Medical insurance: none.
No rate books.
Lacking a company structure and culture.
Truly my own boss.
Thankfully, fully licensed.
Used a part-time position at H and R Block to learn the income tax preparation business from the world leaders.
While preparing taxes, I gave each tax prep client who came to my desk my calendar, card, and a list of my insurance services.
Prospecting. And the plan worked.
Many of those wonderful folk are still clients to this day.
25 Years and Counting!
Many of those years weren’t filled with Harvard Business Review successes, but we never missed a meal and always wore clean clothes. Went to more movies than I can remember. Even attended NY Liberty games, and the theatre at least twice each year.
Sadly, Ashley and I survived the loss of her mother in 2002, and later, three of her grandparents.
But along the way, we found Prep For Prep, which led to Poly Prep, which led to Yale, (Lord to I miss going to Yorkside Pizza and enjoying their Chicken Tenders!). Now Ashley enjoys a stage and TV screen career whose trajectory is ever skyward.
I am blessed with agency agreements with Travelers, Kingstone, and Progressive insurance companies, as well as Guardian, and Globe Life, just to name a few.
Empire Safety Council named me a Delivery Agent and Instructor in April of 2000. Can’t wait to write my tell-all about some of those wild classes. Especially the time a married couple made out in the bathroom during class!
And through it all, I still wake up each and every day and feel blessed to say, “Thank you Lord for another day to serve the public with the greatest products in the world. Even when they think they won’t be burglarized, suffer a disability, have a house fire, or die.”
And guess what? In my mind, I’m just getting started, really ready to rock and roll as I share decades of accumulated knowledge and experiences with anyone willing to learn.
Many thanks to my many wonderful clients, the companies which believed in me, and in my mission, and most of all to my world-class, true-gift-from-God-even-though-she-sometimes-drives-me-beserk-daughter, Ashley.
Without you kiddo, I don’t think I would have made it this far.
Here’s to at least 50 more. So what if I’m just a little bit greedy. I think I deserve it.
Love to all, and again, thank you.
Eustace L Greaves Jr.
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr. LUTCF has enjoyed a career in insurance, income tax preparation, investments, and defensive driving instruction spanning nearly 39 years. You can reach him at his office number, 718-783-2722, his cell at 917-783-7209, or via email at [email protected]. Please visit his website, https://greavesinsurance.com where you can subscribe to his monthly newsletter, “Health, Safety, and Good News You Can Use.”
If you are ever in New Haven, Connecticut, take some time to order a great meal (like their Chicken Tenders) from Yorkside Pizza Restaurant. They are located at 288 York Street, New Haven, CT, 06511. Their telephone number is 203-787-7471, and their website address is www.yorksidepizza.com. Enjoy!,
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Automobile Insurance Policy Details Are Fraught With Danger
I enjoyed a great conversation with a nice gentleman the other day. He’d been referred to me for an automobile insurance policy. He readily admitted his last automobile insurance company dropped him back on July 1, 2020, for having two (2) “incidences” during the past three (3) years.
He tried, without success, to acquire new coverage for two (2) months prior to his prior company’s non-renewal date. After many tries, he simply couldn’t understand why no one would take him up as his one accident was not-at-fault and the other incident, a moving violation, resulted only in a ticket, no points.
I ran him through one of my preferred companies and discovered why no one wanted to take him.
How Automobile Insurance Policy Owners Put Themselves In Danger
Auto and home insurance are analogous to term life insurance. Basically your coverage, unlike whole or permanent life insurance, runs out after a certain number of years. If your policy allows the coverage to continue, the premium skyrockets to an amount that becomes untenable to maintain. So you wind up losing your “cheap” insurance, usually at the same time it is most important for your family’s financial well being.
In New York State, auto and home insurance companies write you policies with a term of three (3) years. So, if you maintain a good auto driving record, for example, renewal is a no-brainer. Too many “incidences” though, and renewal may come at a hefty price, or not at all.
So. several years ago you called one of those over-the-phone, direct-to-a licensed advisor automobile insurance companies and got a terrific rate.
You just weren’t aware it could have even been better.
You didn’t know your new policy contained a ticking time bomb.
So you contacted your independent agent or broker who’d been through hell, high water, and even a couple of claims with you, canceled your current policies, and moved to your new company.
Which Rating Factors Matter Most To Automobile Insurance Companies When You Want To Move Your Policy?
How long you’ve been licensed.
Your gender and age.
Your insurance credit score.
How many current moving violations (with some companies, during a period of as many as five (5) years) are on your record when you apply.
Policy lapses for non-payment of premium.
License suspension or revocation.
The length of time you were without auto insurance. Nowadays, the lack of a personally owned auto insurance policy for more than 30 days even if you didn’t actually own a vehicle, will disqualify you from getting insurance from many companies. 1
And Finally, The One Factor Most Consumers Know Nothing About
Few, if any, of the major preferred companies take new business coming from indemnity or non-standard insurance companies.
And that is where your company placed your coverage. Its indemnity or non-standard insurance company. The nice person on the phone never suggested you could request quotes for their Preferred or Standard companies. Or, even if you didn’t qualify for those companies now, you weren’t advised to try again in six (6) or twelve (12) months.
For this reason, you’re basically stuck with your automobile insurance company.
Your Policy Is Emblazoned With An Automobile Insurance Scarlet Letter
For this reason, and this reason alone, I couldn’t offer this gentleman a quote from any of my preferred companies. So, I took the only choice open to me. I gave him a quote from the New York Automobile Insurance Plan (NYAIP). In many cases, the NYAIP is the last resort for those needing automobile insurance.
The NYAIP quote? Close to $6,295 for one year, about $4,500 more than the quote I would have been able to get him from one of my preferred companies.
I called him back.
Told him the quote.
He said, “Forget it,” and hung up.
Why Do Some Automobile Insurance Companies Engage In These Practices?
Short answer? Got me.
For many companies, the name of the game is increasing market share, no matter the immediate cost. So, if your profile permits, you will be placed into their Indemnity or Non-Standard company, offering you a competitive, lower premium just to get your business. Then as claims from other drivers in your Indemnity company roll in, your premium begins to increase. This increase will be imperceptible at first. Then one day, you will open your renewal envelope and receive the shock of your life.
Even if your record is perfectly clean, when you begin calling other insurance companies to secure a lower-cost automobile insurance policy, your current indemnity policy status will prevent you from doing so.
What You Should Do Today
Find your automobile insurance policy and call the insurance company or agent. Ask whether you are in an Indemnity or Non-Standard automobile insurance company. If you are, request they requote your policy for either their preferred or standard company.
Now, when you want to switch companies, it won’t be the type of company preventing you from moving your coverage.
Notes:
1. In my previous post “8 Tips To Save Money On Your Automobile Insurance, (https://brooklyncovered.com/8-tips-to-save-money-on-your-automobile-insurance/)”, I wrote about the good old days when most auto insurance companies allowed you to go from one to up to three years owning a personal auto insurance policy without extra premiums or flat-out rejection. Some companies didn’t even factor in the lack of automobile insurance, as long as you didn’t own a car in your own name. In either case, I suggested the purchase of a monthly zip car membership where your membership automatically provided you with liability insurance coverage. This removed the necessity of maintaining a non-owned auto insurance policy. Thus, when you decided to purchase your own vehicle, the money you’d spent on the zip car membership:
Wound up saving you money on your new auto insurance policy as you’d been continuously insured, and,
Enabled you to qualify for a better or preferred company in an insurance company’s member companies.
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., LUTCF is an NYS-licensed Independent Insurance Agent and Broker with over 38 years of experience. Eustace is ready to assist you with your life, disability, home, flood, renters, auto, cooperative and condominium, and wedding insurance needs, and can be reached at 718-783-2722, or by email at [email protected]. You can also contact him by going to his website and completing any of the available “Contact Us” forms.
If you’d like to subscribe to his monthly newsletter, “Health, Safety, and Good News You Can Use,” go to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and click on any of the “Subscribe” buttons.
Have insurance, income tax, real estate, mortgage, or home inspection questions for Eustace? He’ll be happy to provide the insurance and income tax answers and will continue to call on his expert contacts for help in the other areas. Just send him an email to [email protected] with the subject line, “Ask Eustace.”
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Recently, a client asked me the following question:
“It has been years since I took out a mortgage. I notice that instead of the old Good Faith Estimate, I am getting a Loan Estimate. What is a Loan Estimate? Are they the same thing?”
When It’s Out of Your Comfort Zone, Seek Help
I am comfortable and qualified to questions concerning life, disability, home, flood, renters, auto, co-op, and condominium insurance. I don’t possess the same knowledge levels about mortgages. So, I reached out to three of the top home mortgage lenders I know for their insights about the new Loan Estimate form.
Somehow, I know this will cost me big time down the road.
My Panel of Experts Answer The Question of “What Is A Loan Estimate?”
Ennell Esperance, a Senior Home Lending Advisor (NMLS ID: 68006) with the Home Lending Division of JPMorgan Chase Bank, provided me with some recent history about this topic.
In 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a government agency that regulates consumer financial instruments such as mortgages, retired the Good Faith Estimate form (in part) and created the Loan Estimate form.
On the Good Faith Estimate form, lenders used their own language to describe the loans. Multiple estimates could seem very different. Consumers were confused by that document.
How Does The Loan Estimate Work?
The new Loan Estimate consolidates four forms into two: the Loan Estimate and the Closing Disclosure.
The new Loan Estimate is a three-page form that you receive within three business days after you apply. It is not a loan approval or rejection. It simply gives you loan terms, projected payments, and closing costs for review.
Standardized Wording in The Loan Estimate
Leon T. Gelzer, Sr., (NMLS ID: 41256), is a Santander Bank Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) officer and Community Mortgage Development Loan Officer. He described how the Loan Estimate standardizes the wording that lenders can use. You’ll see which costs are fixed and which are not, allowing you to shop lenders.
Leon went on to say it also prevents surprise fees by establishing tolerance levels. If you do take the loan and the fee amount estimated is more than the amount paid, the lender makes up the difference.
I would imagine every mortgage lender does their best to avoid this reality.
How Loan Estimate Costs Are Broken Down
Peter Chace, a Mortgage Loan Officer (NMLS ID: 206181), with TD Bank directed me to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s website to view samples of the Loan Costs and Closing Disclosure forms (Click Here to go to the CFPB website) and highlighted how costs are also broken down in the following categories:
Loan Costs (origination charges, services you can’t shop for and services you can shop for) and Other Costs (taxes, government recording fees, pre-paid fees, and initial escrow payments, for example).
Closing Disclosure The Closing Disclosure is a five-page form that buyers receive before closing. It has the final terms and costs associated with the mortgage and specifies the amount of money you need on-hand at closing. Buyers can easily compare the Loan Estimate to the Closing Disclosure. Buyers will have three (3) days to review the form and ask questions.
I want to thank these gentlemen for being so generous in sharing their time with me, and ultimately, you.
Let’s Thank Our Experts
Here is the contact information you’ll need to reach of our experts who contributed:
Ennell Esperance can be reached by telephone at 718-810-7680, and by email at [email protected]; Leon T. Gelzer, Sr.’s office number is 718-302-5418. Leon’s email address is [email protected]. Peter Chace can be reached by telephone at 917-715-2818. Peter’s email address is [email protected].
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., LUTCF is an NYS-licensed Independent Insurance Agent and Broker with over 38 years of experience. Eustace is ready to assist you with your life, disability, home, flood, renters, auto, cooperative and condominium, and wedding insurance needs, and can be reached at 718-783-2722, or by email at [email protected]. You can also contact him by going to https://greavesinsurance.com and completing any of the available “Contact Us” forms.
If you’d like to subscribe to his monthly newsletter, “Health, Safety, and Good News You Can Use,” just to his website, https://greavesinsurance.com, and click on any of the “Subscribe” buttons.
Have insurance, income tax, real estate, mortgage, or home inspection questions for Eustace? He’ll be happy to provide the insurance and income tax answers and will continue to call on his expert contacts for help in the other areas. Just send him an email to [email protected] with the subject line, “Ask Eustace.”
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Today’s clever insurance commercials are a necessary evil. They provide more information about bundling and saving and less about the coverages you, your family, and your business really need.
We can change that by simply asking the right questions.
Customizing Your Insurance
No insurance company owns a monopoly on helping you customize your insurance.
None.
Commercials, Commercials, Commercials
Commercials are designed to increase brand awareness using gimmicks, including celebrity spokespersons, animals, car crashes and chases, and, well, anything they think you will remember when it is time to buy insurance.
Does Every Company Allow You To Customize Your Insurance?
You can customize your home, life, auto, renters, co-op, condo, disability, long-term care, personal umbrella, and, yes, even your flood insurance with any company licensed to do business in the State of New York and every other state in the Union.
Every company gives you the ability to customize your insurance.
Every single one.
The problem is that most consumers aren’t served by most of the television commercials aired today.
They are goaded into a perpetual state of dissatisfaction with their current career, even when their current career is doing a good job for them.
It’s What Consumers Don’t Know About Their Insurance Which Hurts Them
Each year, I make at least 25 insurance-based presentations for HUD-approved housing agencies and organizations such as Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City, Harlem Churches for Community Improvement, and Impacct. I always ask those in attendance to tell me their automobile insurance coverages. Inevitably, 14 out of 15 give the same answer, “Full Coverage.”
Not 25/50/10.
Not 250/500/100.
Full coverage.
When I ask them how much their policies cover in an accident, they usually reply that they’re not sure, but they did save money by bundling their home and auto.
Yay,
Buying What You Need Is A Two-Edged Sword
As long as the policy or policies quoted for you meet your state’s required minimum coverage limits, buying the cheapest policy or bundle possible is actually all you need.
What if, though, you just struck and killed a pedestrian or lost control of your vehicle and totaled a house? Will your policy provide you with the actual amount of money you will need when the jury hands down some obscenely massive award against you?
Imagine coming home to find;
Your home is on fire.
Two (2) feet of toxic sewage water sloshing about your finished basement.
Burglars paid you an expensive visit while you are at work or the market.
Your good dog had a bad day.
There are three feet of floodwater in your home, and you don’t own a flood insurance policy.
What Questions Should I Ask?
What, if any, hoops must I jump through in case of a claim?
Are policy coverages or exceptions more important to know?
Why do I have duties after a loss?
In case of a covered cause of loss, how easily will my claim be settled?
Is your claim service fair?
What Should My Insurance Company and/or Independent Agent and Broker Teach Me?
Why buying home insurance based on your home’s replacement cost is essential.
How to determine your condominium and cooperative apartment “walls in” insurance coverage based on what a licensed contractor would charge to completely repair fire or water-damaged walls, ceilings, and floors.
It is important for renters to complete a personal home inventory down to the last sweat sock.
How owning Life and Disability insurance will prevent financial disaster should death or disability destroy the earning power of a family breadwinner.
Reasons why every property policy should include Water and Sewer Backup coverage. And why every cooperative and condominium apartment owner should add the Loss Assessment endorsement to their coverage.
Why buying flood insurance, even when their home is not in a high-risk flood zone, is a smart financial move.
And, of course, what coverages do I actually need to protect my family and home from most disasters?
The other day a woman asked me for my honest opinion of who I felt was the best insurance company out there.
My answer?
The one with whom you secured the proper policies, with sufficient coverages, which is in force at the time of your claim.
A company that won’t make you jump through hoops to settle a claim fairly. An independent insurance agent and broker willing and able to service your policies. With premiums accurately reflecting the coverages your policies provide.
Nothing else matters.
As for the commercials, well, give my regards to Broadway.
At least until we can enjoy live theater again. Until then, stay healthy and safe.
Eustace L. Greaves, Jr., LUTCF is an independent insurance agent and broker, licensed to conduct business in New York State. Contact Eustace at 718-783-2722, 718-489-2218, by email at [email protected] or by completing the contact form on this page, or one of the many contact forms on his website, https://greavesinsurance.com.
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