Category: Insurance

Hurricane season is June 1st through November 30th. NOAA forecasters are predicting a 65% above-normal hurricane season this year. Learn more about hurricane preparedness and what to do in the event of a flood/natural disaster.

Hurricane Preparedness

A hurricane can be a devastating force of nature whether you live inland or on a coast. Being prepared can potentially help save you, your family, and your home from permanent damage. Read on to see what steps you can take to prepare for this hurricane season.

Evaluate Your Risk

Living on the coast is a higher probability to being hit by a hurricane, but inland residents are also at risk. Heavy rains, winds, and storm surges can cause wind damage and flooding. Once you evaluate your location and review historical hurricane information, you can decide whats best for you to prepare.

Preparing Your Family

You and your family’s safety is essential. Follow this guide to ensure you have a plan in place in the event of a hurricane

• Develop an evacuation plan.
• Prepare for power outages. Flashlights, electric lanterns, and gas-powered generators are a great place to start.
• Build an emergency kit. Click here to find a list of basic emergency supplies to have on hand.
• Be sure to secure important documents in a fire/water proof safe.

Preparing Your Home

While preparing your family and their safety is most important, it is good to start preparing your house before hurricane season starts. Here are some tips for preparing the exterior of your home.

• Check window and door seals. It’s important that these are in good condition to prevent water damage inside your home.
• Install storm shutters (if you’re in a high-risk area) or have boards available to put over your windows.
• Trim tree branches around your roof. High winds can cause trees and branches to damage your home.
• Clean your gutters to help water flow and prevent roof damage.
• Make sure you garage door(s) are secure.
• Have sandbags available to divert water from your home if you are in a high-risk area.

Now that your home and your family are prepared, be sure to check with your insurance agent to review your home policy. Most homeowners insurance will cover wind damage, but not flood damage as flood insurance is a separate policy. Be sure to ask what the best steps will be in the event that you need to file a claim after a hurricane. You can track current hurricanes and tropical storms by visiting the NOAA tracking site. Stay prepared and safe!

What is Escrow?

Escrow is money, property or a written document delivered or held by a third party pending the fulfillment of an agreement. Banks and lenders use escrow accounts to make sure borrowers have homeowners insurance and the means to pay for it.

How does it work with my insurance?

Your bank or lender creates the escrow account at the time that you sign your mortgage agreement and manages the account thereafter.

You pay a lump sum each month to the escrow account and your mortgage lender puts the money toward your mortgage payment and pays your insurance premiums directly to your insurer. The components of this payment are mortgage principal, interest, property taxes and insurance.

The data to determine your total payment usually comes from the tax authority in your state, your homeowners insurance company and the bank itself through the mortgage it provides. This way, the banks and lenders know the premium is paid and that the home is insured. Since rates change, at the end of the year, if you paid too much toward any amount owed, your bank or lender will refund your money.*

If you have any questions about following this video, please reach out to us at 210.979.9000 or www.ellisinsure.com

*information derived from valuepenguin.com

If you’re here, then you know that the San Antonio Real Estate market has been crazy!

We were curious ourselves, so we asked our friend, business partner, and client, Tadd Chapman, to provide some analytics on the current Real Estate market in San Antonio. Please watch the 2-minute video below for some updates and the latest statistics below:

Keep in mind that increasing home market values, often times DOES NOT equal the rebuild value of the home. For more on that, please contact us at EIA. We’ll be happy to educate you on the difference between the market value and rebuild value… and how that could impact your homeowners insurance.

If you would like to reach out to Tadd directly, here is his information below:

Momentum Group I Keller Williams Heritage
o: 210-920-0447 I c: 210-823-5568
7701 Broadway, Ste 104 I San Antonio, TX 78209
Tadd@MomentumGrouptx.com I www.MomentumGrouptx.com

Thank you, Tadd, for this incredible information!

We wanted to take this moment to catch you up on what’s been happening around EIA since we launched our new website. We want to make sure you’ve checked out the Client Center and our new Live Chat feature. We have a couple of new team members, so be sure to introduce yourself by checking out their bios. We are wrapping up our latest community fundraiser for CISSA’s Stuff the Bus and are blown away by your support. Keep reading on for more!

New Website

How are you enjoying the new website? Have you checked it out yet? We are very excited about the Client Center. You can view your insurance policies, print your insurance ID cards, update your information, and download documents. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please click HERE to login and find all of your information.

We just launched our Live Chat feature that will be available for a few hours a day every week. When the chat is offline, you can still submit your question(s) for a quick response! You can find that feature located on the bottom right corner of our website on every page.

New Faces

We are happy to welcome Michael McGruder and Pam Guillen to the EIA Family. Please take a moment to get to know them by clicking on their picture.

Stuff the Bus

Thank you to everyone who helped support our Stuff the Bus Fundraiser. We exceeded our goal by over $250! There is still time to donate. The fundraiser closes on August 31, 2021. CISSA’s goal was to raise $225,000 this year and we are so happy to help that happen. Click on the image below to still donate today!

Referral Winners – May/June

Don’t forget: For every referral you send to us, your name is entered in to win a $100 Amazon Gift Card for that month! You can catch up on our last 2 winners below! Thank you for trusting Ellis Insurance Agency – We love our clients! Stay tuned for July’s winner!

Labor Day Hours

We will be closed on Monday, September 6th in observance of Labor Day. We will reopen on Tuesday, September 7th at 9 a.m. We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you for choosing Ellis Insurance Agency – We love our clients!

When it comes to your roof, age matters at claim time.

Over the past several years, with increasing hail and wind storms, insurance companies have begun to automatically assign a Roof Schedule for roofs that are 15 years and older with Actual Cash Value (ACV) coverage instead of the recommended Replacement Cost Value (RCV) coverage.  In many instances, a lower premium may result, but you could get caught without sufficient financial resources when it comes to loss.

What’s the difference between ACV and RCV?

ACV: Your insurance company will pay the actual cash value of your roof at the time of a covered loss. This means the actual cash value minus your deductible amount minus the depreciation cost according to the age of your roof. Generally, the older your roof, the higher the amount depreciate or not covered under your policy.

RCV: Your insurance company will pay the replacement cost value of your roof at the time of a covered loss. This means the replacement cost value minus your deductible. There is no deduction for depreciation under the RCV valuation method.

In conclusion, the older the roof, the more deducted for depreciation. Do you know how old your roof is? If you know that your roof is 15 years or older, please let us know, we can tell you if your roof is covered at Actual Cash Value or Replacement Cost Value.  If you have updated your roof, please let us know so we can add that to your policy.  This could be the difference in saving thousands of dollars in the case of wind or hail damage.

Please watch the video below for more information!