Disclaimer – This is a sponsored post by Liberty Mutual. All opinions are 100% my own.
I know that today’s topic isn’t the most glamorous or gossip worthy….but I am hoping that maybe sharing this can help JUST ONE person out there that might be on the fence. Today I wanna talk about homeowners insurance. ***the crowd goes wild!!!***
So let me just say that first and foremost, I worked in the insurance industry for many years and it was something that I knew was very important. Catastrophic events happen ALL the time and insurance is the only way to protect yourself. I know that it’s coming out of your budget and getting new shoes or going to Target might be a little more fun….but literally it saved our Monroe House project and I can’t imagine the stress of that situation if we were actually LIVING there.
Allow me to tell you the story of why I think it’s so important and why I am talking to you today about it. First – it should be known by now that when we bought the Monroe House, we didn’t really know why we felt led to purchase another home. We just were very drawn to this property and felt like over time, we could make some wise financial decisions with it and it end up being a blessing to someone, somehow. As I explained before, our budget with the property is all-cash. We have had it three years now and so far, we have paid for new brickwork, a new roof, an architect to draw up plans and to have trees removed at the property as well as paying it off and buying the land behind it. At times, it feels like a slow crawl….paying cash….it’s definitely testing our patience and will power. But the one thing that we always felt was ABSOLUTELY necessary was to have homeowners insurance on the property.
Well, within the first year, we put a new roof on it. It was a VERY pricey roof as we had many layers of shingles and even the original shake to remove. It was a whole year’s budget done in one big job. Now fast forward to last year when we were experiencing an enormous amount of rain. It was unusual for our area but we were doing small changes at our house to account for the number of storms on their way (like when we installed a french drain, rerouted downspouts and trimmed the branches off the trees). We had paid for an arborist to clean up our trees around our house but then also to remove a couple large branches and a tree from the Monroe House property as well. In general, we felt like the new roof was worth protecting and we didn’t want a branch to bust a hole in it.
Then in September of last year Irma hit. We felt as prepared as we could have been. We watched the news and texted with family who was in Tampa….worried that they should be in a shelter. The overwhelming concern was how we could help others since we had done so much to prepare ourselves for storms. Then we received news that Irma was going to be affecting us as a Tropical Storm – the very first Tropical Storm that would ever hit our area. It was surreal to be googling what could happen and what to expect. We cleared off everything from our deck, charged all our batteries and did our best to prepare in little ways.
It came through our area and we were impressed with the wind and the rain but overall, we tried to just turn it into a fun adventure for the kids. We had a generator so that when the power went out, we could still run our fridge and we had dinner by candle light and movie on a cell phone.
It was super helpful to have so many battery operated lights! #diywin
Our house was spared and we only had a few downed branches. We were so grateful!
The second day is when we got the call. A buddy who lives nearby told us that a tree fell over at the Monroe House. We were kind of in shock. On the one hand, we were just overwhelmed with gratitude. Nobody lived there. It was empty. Nobody was hurt. And especially in contrast to the devastation that happened in the hurricane – it felt almost like we didn’t have the right to be concerned. On the other hand – I was slightly freaking out. I had felt like we prepared for this – we had trees removed and branches trimmed…..what the heck fell and did it damage the house, pushing back our progress?! Also – did I mention I was nine months pregnant and super hormonal? Yeah…I had ALL the crazy thoughts!
Jeremy and a friend drove out to see what happened. It wasn’t just one tree….it was TWO really old and really big trees that fell on the house. They were in the neighbors yard and the really strong wind blew them directly into the Monroe house….breaking not one but TWO ridge beams and creating a massive hole in the roof.
We quickly learned that if they had blown in the opposite direction (onto the neighbors house), it would have been the very space where the neighbors were bunkered down waiting out the storm. Can you even imagine?! I actually thanked God in that moment that it didn’t do that. They told us that they could hear the cracking of the wood and felt the impact of the trunk as it collided with the roof. I still tear up a little at the relief that nobody was hurt.
We immediately called our roofer and the insurance company to get things sorted out. The very fact that we had homeowners insurance was HUGE. The insurance paid for the repairs but more importantly, it was peace of mind. I literally could not have more added stress to my plate at the time – especially with a baby on the way!
Long story short, our roof was fixed by our amazing roofing company (I’ll tell you all about them soon!) and we now have a very sunny left side of the Monroe House, and got our new notification of coverage from Liberty Mutual. Having the trees fall was not the most fun situation but honestly it wasn’t such a nightmare since we had homeowners insurance. Otherwise, we would have had to pay for the trees to be removed off our house, hauled off, all the repairs and it would have really ruined our budget for the upcoming year. PLUS, the added stress of sitting there with a broken roof and broken chimneys after years of saving and making that progress – it would have probably been the final straw for us. But now it is just the motivation that we needed to keep on trucking.
So if you are one of the people out there that hasn’t revisited your homeowners insurance (and yes, SO many people are underinsured!!! Like literally, what if something happened? Do you know if you are covered?) now is a really good time to talk to someone about it.
As someone who worked in insurance, unfortunately these crazy losses happen A LOT. We all have different needs and customizing your coverage is a great way to save money while making sure you are ready for damaging event!
I knew that our policy was enough to cover our situation but not everyone out there has job experience in insurance, so it’s a good idea to talk to someone that does! I always say that our home is our safe space….but it’s also our biggest investment. So if it’s not protected and a catastrophic event happens, you stand to lose much more than drywall and hardwoods….you can lose that sense of safety.
I don’t want that to happen to anyone out there so I encourage you to call an agent or quote online today to make sure you are fully covered. With Liberty Mutual, you can even personalize your coverage so you aren’t paying for something you don’t need. We have our home and car insurance with the same company and it gets a big ole discount for bundling. (Most people save an average of $782 when they switched to home and car with Liberty Mutual!) And just so that I’m being completely upfront and honest, Liberty Mutual is our carrier and had a much lower quote than competitors – and those quotes happened WAY before we ever partnered with them on this post. All that to say – call today or check online for peace of mind. It’s free and you’ll probably sleep better at night.
That’s being said – it’s a very crazy part of this journey but one I wanted to share with you and I can’t wait to share more nitty gritty details with you soon!
p.s. Here is the LINK for how to get a free quote.….go see how much you can save with Liberty Mutual!