One good thing about making websites for different businesses is that you are forced to learn about many things due to exposure! Insurance has never interested me much, except how I can get by with as little as possible and as cheaply as possible. Several years ago I bought a TBird convertible and set about to find the cheapest SC car insurance I could find. I ended up moving from 20 years at Nationwide to Allstate, and saving (no kidding) ONE-HALF of the premium.
But that's not what I'm talking about here. I live in a condo about 3 miles from North Myrtle Beach, and we recently had a shake-up in the HOA board. Many things changed, and one of them was an old by-law we had that said if your condo had a problem that damaged another's condo, you had to pay for it. I always felt pretty safe because I was on the ground floor and have a corner unit. Unless I had a tremendous flood or it caught on fire, I wasn't likely to have to pay for somebody else's unit.
Come to find out that South Carolina laws stated that in a condominium project, all units were responsible for their own contents and repairs, regardless of which unit caused the damages. So all of a sudden after 5 years of living here, I felt forced to buy an HO6 Condo policy. I talked to Scott, my Allstate agent, and got a policy...again at half the price most people pay for it. Because of the conversation, I end up making him a website, so it was a good thing. But this is what I learned, and much of it from discussing the website and the content that I needed to write. We're STILL writing, and I'm still learning. But here are some things you might not know as a real estate agent, and might want to!
If a condo is located in an area of any beach that is considered a high hurricane damage probability, states have a separate state-funded wind and hail insurance policy. Regular insurance companies refused to insure oceanfront property, so it was necessary for the government to step in and help out. It's not unreasonable, but it's not cheap, either. South Carolina recently extended the zone about 15 miles outside of the actual beach area, and my condo fell in that zone. So here we go again! I find out that my HO6 policy won't cover any kind of wind or hail damage. Doesn't have to be a hurricane, either. Suddenly my 5 years of being uninsured was a distant and pleasant memory...:-(
I think most people understand that flood insurance is separate from regular homeowner's insurance. Coastal SC homeowners insurance covers fire, theft (and only if you live in it!) liability for someone getting hurt on your property, damage from a tree falling on it, (unless you are in that "zone" and the wind blew the tree down) internal flood damage, such as a washing machine malfunction, and maybe a few other things I've forgotten. It might be a helpful thing to tell your buyer if you're in a coastal town, especially if they are a first-time home buyer. I certainly never knew that I wasn't covered if we had a regular storm and it blew my neighbor's trashcan into my front window.
But there is some good news. Allstate has many ways to get discounts on your premiums. One of the most important is the multiple policy discount. I think I sort of knew this, but have a friend who didn't, and now she's moved her HO6 policy to Allstate too, and saved a big chunk on her car insurance for doing it!
If you have your car insurance at one company, be sure and keep your other policies with the same company. They work together and each gets a discount. Combining all of mine took about $50 off my HO6 policy and over $100 off my car insurance. And also, if you live in one state and buy property at the beach or just another state, you can have your regular insurance at home with Allstate, and get the property insured with an Allstate agent in the other state. It still is counted as a multiple policy discount and really helps with your premiums! That bit of knowledge should impress buyers of oceanfront property.
I won't go into the other discounts that Allstate offers because you see them on TV all the time. But I ended up paying a little extra for that accident forgiveness clause even though I haven't had an accident in 30 years. Now if I do have a wreck that's my fault, they can't cancel me or take away my safe driving discount. And every year I don't have a wreck, my deductible is lowered, down to $500. Pretty good stuff, I thought. I guess it's apparent that I'm impressed with "being in good hands".
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