First of all, does your property have hurricane insurance? Your property has insurance against third parties, accidents, etc.
Hurricane season officially begins June 1 and lasts until November 30. Before the season starts, it’s time to confirm that your insurance and your policies are current.
Here we suggest these important tips. Before the storms and before you have to run to buy water, food, wood to cover doors and windows, etc., we always suggest that the first thing is to make an inventory of your personal effects, furniture, personal vehicles, etc. before this season starts.
• Create an inventory of your property. It is important to have a complete record of the property. Of your furniture, personal effects, your vehicles, your current condition, etc. This can easily be done with a phone or video camera.
• In the event of power outages, it is important to have enough emergency supplies: food, water, and cleaning supplies to last at least 72 hours.
• Make sure you have flood coverage and see if it is covered by the association in a condominium. If it’s a single-family home, confirm whether or not you need flood insurance.
• You and your family members or your tenants needs to know which is the best evacuation route. It is important that everyone in the family knows the evacuation route and the location of emergency shelters in your area.
• Homeowner’s coverage: check the limit of your policy; Is it enough to rebuild your home?
• Remember that the real estate value of a house is not the same as the cost of rebuilding. Make sure you have enough coverage to completely rebuild your home in case it gets severely damaged or destroyed.
If your property is damaged during a storm or hurricane, immediately contact your association and your insurance company. We recommend that you call them, but at the same time that you document everything in writing, after your call, send them and email ratifying what you just spoke and the date, time and name of each call.
Important: check what is the deductible that you have to pay and get them to send you an estimate of the cost of damages. They will send an expert, certified person to give you the best damage assessment.
Important: if you have a mortgage on your house, call your bank and confirm with them how is the procedure is in case you receive a payment check for damages.