How is your homeowners insurance? Are you covered? After this conversation with Galen Hair you might be calling your insurance agent. I know I am!

Galen M Hair, Owner at Insurance Claim HQ, is a property casualty attorney who has helped over 1200 families rebuild their homes and businesses. He has been rated a Super Lawyers Rising Star and voted one of the National Trial Lawyers Top 100. Click here to learn more about protecting your property from disaster: http://www.insuranceclaimhq.com

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[00:00:10] Galen Hair: , and this is a big mistake homeowner's made is someone misses a premium payment. You miss it, they miss it. Whoever you get some letter, hey, you know, bear in mind you're supposed to have insurance. If you don't get insurance, we'll buy insurance for you. And you think, oh, cool, awesome.

[00:00:44] Eric Goranson: have no right to go after getting more money.

[00:00:57] Eric Goranson: Welcome to The Round the House Show. This is [00:01:00] where we help you. It's your home through information, air education. We've got a great guest in the studio here that I'm looking forward to.

[00:01:19] Galen Hair: for having me, man.

[00:01:35] Eric Goranson: It seems insurance

[00:01:52] Galen Hair: you know, so we're gonna do inspections and here's what they're gonna look for. But, um, unfortunately, like there's just no [00:02:00] one set up. There's just no system set up for new or even old homeowners to kind of know what to do when they have something happen to their house. And, you know, it's just a nightmare.

[00:02:17] Eric Goranson: Man, it's crazy. It's, uh, I get so many questions in the show from time to time for people that are just, I have this disaster. And of course, the insurance company is always generally motivated to reduce that claim as much as they can, and the homeowner's trying to figure out how to

[00:02:37] Galen Hair: Yeah, so it's kind of interesting the way it works, right? If you get in a car accident, because it's the other person's insurance company, usually I think you. Or like, you at least have this like deep intuitive sense to use a mus schism. Um, that at the end of the day that insurance company's not really interested in treating you well.

[00:03:15] Galen Hair: You like them in small towns. You might see 'em at the grocery store, right? Uh, they're always nice guys, so you kind of have like the exact opposite. You have this deep intuitive sense that you're gonna call your carrier, they're gonna send someone out and they're gonna treat you fairly. And what's the problem with that is like twofold number.

[00:04:02] Galen Hair: And I'm under the impression, under the impression that I have no right to question that. . Right. You know, it's crazy, right? Like, if you and I make a business deal and you're gonna pay me some portion of like your profits from your business or something, right? I'm gonna ask you to like, show me the books.

[00:04:33] Eric Goranson: Oh yeah. Great example my little brother had, and this was a little bit more on, on the homeowners dealing with the contractor side, so it's not really homeowners, but he had a guy come out and paint some trim on his house and he decided to get up there, licensed upon uninsured, and the guy got paint all over his beautiful new roof.

[00:05:16] Eric Goranson: Not putting tarps out, but it's the same battle that you have

[00:05:33] Galen Hair: Unless you really do know these things and most homeowners don't. I mean, how can you, like, even if you know how much two by fours cost at lows or you know what the average price of a roof is today, you also don't know how to figure out what was harmed. You know, you get hail come through, that's cool.

[00:06:06] Galen Hair: You have to figure out what you need to do to fix your house.

[00:06:14] Galen Hair: Yeah. Um, there's so much of that right now, especially because the hurricanes have been hitting these like older, kind of more southern regions lately, where there's just a lot of houses that haven't really been touched in a couple of decades in terms of like natural disaster.

[00:06:49] Galen Hair: And you really should not do that.

[00:07:07] Galen Hair: Yeah, yeah. Um, in a ton of different ways, right?

[00:07:29] Galen Hair: And he goes, yeah, my house flooded. Uhhuh . I said, where did the water come from? He goes, well, You know? Yeah. You can tell. He is like, okay, so hydrogen and oxygen combined, and, and I'm like, no, I, I . Exactly. I was like, I was like, look, I mean, how did the water get in your house? Did it come up from the ground and come in through the door and stuff?

[00:08:02] Galen Hair: I mean, in most states, yeah. The rule is like, what damage did the water cause? And if the water caused the mold, yeah, you probably are okay, but it's gonna depend on your policy and stuff. And then, um, in the last area, It gets crazy is like sewage backups, water overflows, things like that. Like the average homeowner cannot navigate that because your policy.

[00:08:43] Galen Hair: Here's what he's trying not to cover. And based on your situation, you either do have coverage or not. And he's always right. Um, but like, yeah, that stuff's complicated. Like. It's amazing how many homeowners and, and I was guilty of it too before I really started doing this. [00:09:00] You know, they, uh mm-hmm. , they like look at the policy, they kind of read it, they take the insurance company's word for it.

[00:09:19] Eric Goranson: Well, great example. My neighbor just had their waterline break. Going back to their house and they filed an insurance claim on it.

[00:09:45] Eric Goranson: It's weird that that even

[00:10:01] Galen Hair: And they like contradict each other through the whole thing, right? So you gotta figure out like which provision controls, but it's a con, like it's a contract. That's your agreement with them, even if you didn't really get to negotiate it. And uh, that language controls. And then of course, in like individual states, there's laws that say, well, here's how we interpret this or that.

[00:10:37] Galen Hair: But we like, we like that process of like, okay. Eric, here's your policy. Thank you. Like, tell me what happened. Now let me go into a room for, you know, a couple hours and read this entire policy and tell you, Hey, that sucks you don't have any coverage, or you really do, so let's go fight and try to get you what you need.

[00:10:58] Eric Goranson: Yeah, it's amazing [00:11:00] and, and it's one of those things that I think is even more now that homes have gone. up so far across the country, many places, like their value has gone by a third to half to even double in places. And I'm getting ready to deal with my insurance company on this now cuz I realize that, wow, my house has doubled in three years.

[00:11:22] Galen Hair: the value of the house is. Yeah. So it's the matchstick test is what I tell people. Um, again, there's just not enough information out there. Most people buy insurance for their. Based on a number of the agent arbitrarily. , the agents have some ways of getting those numbers, which usually has to do with whatever you've bought it for.

[00:12:00] Galen Hair: So even if your agent did it, unless you like told him, I am trusting you to figure out the number, and you bet. Like unless you can prove all that that's on you, not them. And um, yep. You know, and then the other thing that happens a lot, which is really unfortunate is there. It's, it's called co-insurance, and basically what it means is if you didn't purchase enough insurance, you actually get penalized a second time.

[00:12:37] Galen Hair: Oh, but your house is 500,000, right? And you only have 20,000 of damage. Yeah. You're like, I'm good. I got a hundred thousand in insurance. We're fine with the, they might come back and say, no, no, no co-insurance penalty. You had to be insured at full value, so you had to be insured at 500. So you were 20% insured.

[00:13:00] Eric Goranson: And Galen, this is why I have you on the show today, .

[00:13:16] Galen Hair: First off,

[00:13:23] Galen Hair: and I. In a van down by the river , and I wanted to burn this down . And then the next day I had buyer's remorse, right? I'm, I'm all about the van down by the river. But, uh, next day I get buyer's remorse, , and I wanna rebuild this house from the ground up. And I wanna replace all my stuff inside.

[00:14:02] Galen Hair: When you get the renewal paperwork from your agent. Go back outside and think about it. What is it really gonna cost?

[00:14:24] Eric Goranson: If you jump on Zillow, it says it's worth on the acre, $800,000. I'm gonna guess it's 1.6

[00:14:46] Galen Hair: And at first you just look at that house and you're like, eh, it's look, a $300,000 house. And then you find out that roof. Is that a production? They don't make it anymore. It's not a cheap architectural shingle. So you get one of the few [00:15:00] contractors in the country, they're like really, really certified to install from that manufacturer.

[00:15:22] Galen Hair: They're not a crook. Um, like, cuz I'll go get the same bid from five others. Right. Um, that roof is like worth just as much as that house. And maybe they're in a historical district, so maybe they can't even put something cheaper on. So you really have to think through it. I know you don't have the expertise to do it, but you can kind of figure it out.

[00:15:44] Eric Goranson: Well, and even on top of that, let's take it even one more level. They have to pull a building permit to put that new roof on and the permit department goes, Hey, that roof isn't framed to hold. It won't pass today's engineering stuff.

[00:16:04] Galen Hair: roof on it. Yeah. And uh, again, something a lot of people don't know is there's actually a provision for that and a lot of policies called law and Ordinance, which basically says, Hey, you know, if you're doing a lot of work, you're probably gonna have to upgrade, um, just to meet the codes, not because you're trying to get.

[00:16:39] Galen Hair: And like, I have seen crazy, crazy stuff where that would have helped a homeowner like save a hundred grand. And I'm like, how much did you get a discount on to get rid of that? Like, that's a. Issue to me. And what happened? 10 bucks less. Like less, right? Because they're just checking off all these boxes to get their premium down by 50 bucks and they're waiving like [00:17:00] 17 different types of coverage.

[00:17:23] Galen Hair: But, but literally to save $32, our client agreed not to hire a public adjuster to help them figure out what they're owed, just to accept whatever number the carrier said. Well, you tell me when cuz they know what the policy says when they come out. You tell me what they're gonna do when they get out there.

[00:17:43] Eric Goranson: Exactly. It's crazy at what level? I wanna get your opinion on this, cuz I always say if you've got anything over just a small claim that you could almost pay out of pocket versus claiming on your, on your homeowners, at what point do you recommend getting [00:18:00] that public adjuster or somebody in to help you with that claim because it is so hard to

[00:18:04] Galen Hair: Yeah, so I think those are two things there and they're both really important. Um, and I'm not the typical lawyer that's. No, hire a lawyer for everything. Um, because it doesn't always make sense. Yeah. So the first thing is you do have to kind of get a rough idea of the magnitude of the damage, right? So if you're talking to some contractor, your deductible's like two grand and you're talking to some contractor and he's like, I can fix that for like 700 bucks.

[00:18:47] Galen Hair: Like, it's just one more thing they're gonna look at in a, in a later claim. They're gonna wanna see if you fix that. Right. Like it's just not worth. It. It's not worth the hassle. If it's cheap, it's easy. However, do not just take that contractor's [00:19:00] word for it, like be investigative, be inquisitive, look around.

[00:19:21] Galen Hair: Um, you know, yeah. Ask a contractor. Not a handy. Handyman's looking for the quick fix they can charge the for. Right. And I don't mind that. Like I love doing stuff around the house myself. I'll help people like, I mean, I actually love your podcast because it's got so much great info. Right. But contractor is going to have an eye towards spotting everything, right?

[00:20:04] Galen Hair: Just tell them what happened. Do don't even point them to the areas that are affected. Like you can say, Hey, the leak came in the kitchen, but do not say, only check the. Ask them to check everything, right? Like you want them working on actually paying the claim, not creating a file that makes you sound like you told them what to do, um, and exactly.

[00:20:46] Galen Hair: You know, it's terrible, right? Um, instead what I suggest is do this. It's called the offensive check. If you get that check and you're holding it and you feel offended, By what is in that check. If you feel like it's close but not quite there, maybe try to work [00:21:00] on it with your adjuster a little bit. But if you were offended by that check, hire a public adjuster or hire a property casualty lawyer.

[00:21:10] Eric Goranson: That makes sense. I. and that's different advice I've given. So you see, I'm even learning something here. So that's, that's great. Let them get through the process and, and it's almost like when you're going to traffic court right now, you don't, you don't wanna say too much when you're in traffic court.

[00:21:28] Galen Hair: look, all my colleagues and competitors will tell you, even people within my office. Get someone immediately. And that's not bad advice. It's just like not the most, no prudent, frugal economic advice. Right? Like we get brought in all the time on what we call large losses.

[00:21:59] Galen Hair: Like, okay, [00:22:00] you don't have a 40 page homeowners State Farm policy. You have a 1000 page Lloyds of London policy. It's gonna take us three weeks just to understand what it says. And you have all these duties. Like right after a loss. All these things you have to do. Mm-hmm. . So before you just go hiring random people to start closing things and you know, preventing the carrier from like actually adjusting the claim, we can kind of interface with that insurance adjuster, help move things smoothly.

[00:22:39] Eric Goranson: it. So it's smart to bring in when the Home Depot burns to the ground, but maybe not when you have the small kitchen

[00:22:45] Galen Hair: Yeah. The more complicated, like the more complicated the structure is, the more complicated the damage is, the more likely you want to bring someone in early. But on an average situation, Like you, you have a good gut, right? So you want to trust your insurance company. But when [00:23:00] you, when you get that check, if you're like, you know, they actually did pretty good.

[00:23:15] Eric Goranson: Right. Yeah. Okay. I, I'm following you. That makes sense. So what happens, like down in the south, kind of where you're at, hurricane season, right?

[00:23:37] Galen Hair: that? Because it's a big deal. Yeah. So there's kind of, there's a few things happening at once.

[00:24:05] Galen Hair: Right. Okay. Man, a bunch of big hurricanes in a row really mess up that table and make that table a little inaccurate. So some carriers are having problems because, you know, they get their own insurance. They actually purchase their own insurance. So if they ever have to pay you, they have an insurance company to pay them.

[00:24:45] Galen Hair: So we kind of reached this really nasty place a couple of years ago where most of these smaller carriers, like the big, big carriers, they weren't in that position, but the smaller carriers didn't have enough insurance to cover their prospective losses. And they didn't keep [00:25:00] cash reserves to really pay what they needed to pay.

[00:25:24] Galen Hair: Um, there are some penalties and consequences of that, but nevertheless, you'll probably be okay. But you know, the sad part of this story and it's starting to come out, um, is bonuses paid to these people right before they went under, um, subsidiaries being created to funnel money out of the company. So there's been a number of these small carriers that have gone under.

[00:26:03] Galen Hair: Like when you hear about insurance companies going under, you just need to take a deep breath. This happens anytime there's a bunch of big events like go back, look at Katrina years, this. It just does. Yeah. And Mother Nature is not getting better. Not gonna get political about why, but it's not, you know?

[00:26:39] Galen Hair: not pointing the finger at them unfairly. industry pays lobbyists to get things passed that help them . And one of the things that insurance companies do not like is the ability of private citizens to really sue them on underpaid claims. and cuz it doesn't make economic sense True if, so, one of the things they really want to [00:27:00] do is pass laws that keep the public adjusters and the attorneys away, um, from being able to help.

[00:27:23] Galen Hair: Sure. Um, an attorney will still take your case and they'll still take your case because if they can prove the carrier was inappropriate, um, depending on the standard, they can get all their attorney fees paid so they can go get you your 15 grand. And even if the carrier makes them fight for six years.

[00:27:53] Eric Goranson: that makes sense because they, you have a $15,000 claim, but you got $150,000 in insurance.[00:28:00]

[00:28:04] Galen Hair: It's really simple, simple match, but the highest profit margin is really in screwing over those small claims. If you're in a state where there's no attorneys, no public adjusters, that'll get involved because those people won't hire an attorney on an hourly basis to fight you because they can't afford it.

[00:28:44] Galen Hair: So like Florida's great example, Florida just eliminated almost every single consumer protection out there for homeowner. , um, going forward, like there's no bad faith, there's no attorney fees. It was cute the way they did it cuz they added all these [00:29:00] requirements for insurance companies to behave better, but they took away the ability for the private citizens to enforce it.

[00:29:26] Galen Hair: Because, yeah, because they know I will, I'll hold 'em all accountable. Right. Um, I I don't think I'd ever be able to, you, you know, the tricks to Yeah. I mean, well they just, they know that I won't be on their side. I'm, I, I won't be against them. Mm-hmm. , but if I see consumers getting screwed over, I'm going to enforce the laws.

[00:30:04] Galen Hair: They even want to add bills that say if you lose against your insurance company, you owe them money. Um Oh. Which has never been like that. And once Louisiana and a couple other southern states pick it up, I think you'll see national legislation packages just in every state. Um, so that's the current thing that consumers are dealing with, that they don't really.

[00:30:26] Eric Goranson: So everybody out there pay attention to what's going on in your local legislature because, uh, if you have a claim, they could be pulling some serious money outta your pocket that you would legitimately be owed and tie your hands behind your back where you couldn't fight for it.

[00:30:40] Galen Hair: and it doesn't have to be us versus them. Like, I'm not telling you, you should love, love trial lawyers. Lots of people hate lawyers. Um, that's not a big deal to me. It doesn't hurt my feelings. Um, but you know, I will say just general advice. If you see a bill come up, ask yourself what it's about.

[00:31:11] Galen Hair: Right. Um, figure that out. There you go. Call. Email them. You'll be amazed at how much more responsive they are than the feds. Like way more responsive. Um, they'll actually write, you, call you, thank you, have a real conversation with you. And if you see something about insurance, just be like, Hey, you know, my number one fear is that I pay for insurance.

[00:31:50] Galen Hair: Right? They tell me. My constituents don't care about that. They've never once come to me about that. And I'm like, well, crap. Now I gotta go knock on doors and see if I can get

[00:32:09] Eric Goranson: Dealing with your local legislature than you can, you know, with your state than you can federal, because that one person has usually way more power in change than you calling up

[00:32:26] Galen Hair: Mm-hmm. Like mm-hmm. . Especially at the state level, they're not getting paid, like they're not making bank. So they're working a full-time job. Yeah. They might live down the street from you. You might not like 'em, you might hate 'em. You might have a personal issue with them, but generally speaking, they're just like us.

[00:32:43] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And they want to, they, and they wanna do something because they're, they're, like you said, not making banks. So they're there to do change and to make things better. So you handing them something to run with is not a bad thing. Yeah, for

[00:32:54] Galen Hair: Um, and you never know, and it doesn't just apply to this stuff. Like, you see a problem. I'm not saying become the [00:33:00] annoying neighbor, like harassing your, your representatives. So they have to take out a restraining order. Right. But like, it's amazing what gets accomplished just by shooting an email or making a phone.

[00:33:22] Galen Hair: Yeah. So I mean, they haven't really pulled back much yet, but I think that's coming.

[00:33:45] Galen Hair: But like all of a sudden volcanoes are becoming active, earthquakes are happening. Like that doesn't mean the world's gonna end tomorrow, but like the world change. It always has. Right. At one point in time we were like one big continent, you know? [00:34:00] So, so the world is moving and changing and like we seem to be in

[00:34:05] Galen Hair: and all that stuff.

[00:34:22] Galen Hair: I don't know. But bottom line, like things are changing and the carriers are gonna keep an eye out for that. Yeah. Because that hurts. That's not because they're bad. Honestly. No one runs a business for free. You know what I mean? If I have a pizza shop Yeah. And all of a sudden dough goes up, five x don't get mad at me that I raise the price of mys.

[00:34:42] Eric Goranson: Yeah. That's the one thing you gotta remember is these guys are not a state run public service place. This is an actual business that has shareholders, and this is one big corporation that is sitting there trying to navigate the, the profitability spectrum to helping

[00:35:03] Galen Hair: Right? Because citizens like the government run in your. , but most citizens organizations are organized, like people don't know this. Number one, in some states you have to prove that you tried to get other insurance and couldn't. And they try to keep their rates about equal to the commercial market because carriers are not gonna come to a state if the government is literally underbidding them on every single policy.

[00:35:32] Eric Goranson: sense. , and I'll be honest, I don't wanna deal with the government to get my insurance claim in. No,

[00:35:40] Eric Goranson: It's hard enough to get my license renewed to go to the D M V.

[00:35:44] Galen Hair: make it worse. Yeah, it's like the height of efficiency when you combine government and insurance. Trust me. It's a, it, it's a crazy, crazy, scary world

[00:36:03] Eric Goranson: So you looked at your insurance once and set it and forget it and until you refinance your house, you might not look at it again. What would you advise that new homeowner to do? Yeah, a couple

[00:36:19] Galen Hair: Do whatever you gotta do. E do it again after you move your stuff in. Just save those, do that once a year. It's a really good idea to do. Make it part of your spring cleaning. Nice. Um, because everyone on this podcast is literally on this podcast because crap keeps breaking, right? So you want to kind of document what keeps breaking.

[00:36:53] Galen Hair: Look at my insurance, right? Um, reason you want to do that is twofold, like we talked about earlier, you wanna make sure you got the [00:37:00] numbers right. You want to just see who else is in the market, who's competitive. The other thing you wanna keep an eye on, and this is a big mistake, homeowners. Is someone misses a premium payment, you miss it.

[00:37:32] Galen Hair: Yeah. They're buying insurance for them, not for you. And most states you can't even recover. , they will keep the money and you, and if they underpay, you have no right to go after getting more money. I have had so many conversations with like crying men and women who have lost everything and the carrier won't pay anything and they call me and say, can you help me?

[00:38:11] Galen Hair: This is all for your mortgage company. They're just gonna go cut a deal that they feel like cutting. You still may even owe on the mortgage by the time they're done, but you have to build this house out of your own pocket from the ground up. Good luck. And I'm sorry you lost. , that is a terrible

[00:38:26] Eric Goranson: And you're still gonna be paying that mortgage payment cuz you're still on

[00:38:41] Galen Hair: You know, Eric owes 200 on this house, so we need at least 200 so we can wipe out his mortgage. They couldn't care less. Oh.

[00:38:51] Galen Hair: They, they already made a commission. They'll take whatever the carrier gives 'em and you know, they'll just keep booking Eric every month for his mortgage payment.

[00:39:00] Eric Goranson: that is sad

[00:39:12] Eric Goranson: Great advice. You need that on a coffee mug. . Yeah. I mean

[00:39:26] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that makes good sense. And and like we were saying earlier, I mean, I know my house right now, I gotta, I'm literally having it on my to-do list for tomorrow is to go back and review cuz it's been 18 months since I looked at it and I know it's way. Yeah, and

[00:39:50] Eric Goranson: problem that I have, and this is what happens to homeowners out there as well, is I've been putting in really nice stuff in my home because I do it for tv.

[00:40:15] Galen Hair: No. And that's the other advantage to doing the video and everything is, uh, once a year is it just really, really helps because let's say you go hire someone later, like me or a public adjuster, we also have not mm-hmm.

[00:40:37] Eric Goranson: that makes sense because yeah, that's a whole different realm. You could take a a $400,000 house and just change things on the inside, and that's now an $800,000 house pretty quick.

[00:40:48] Galen Hair: And for insurance, the value of the house is really what it's gonna cost to fix it, not what you could sell it for. Yeah. And that number is usually higher. Yeah. Zillow has nothing to do with this. Oh yeah. 100%. Right. Zillow might think, ah, in [00:41:00] this neighborhood, that's a $400,000 house. But if you wanted to rebuild that house from the ground up, it'd be a.

[00:41:22] Galen Hair: Yeah. So it's like I have a love hate, so I love historic homes. Love historic buildings. Yeah. Love historic architecture. It's like, A hobby and passion of mine. I live in New Orleans. That's one of the reasons I live in New Orleans. Right. Um, with that said, I hate historical societies and historic land commissions because, um Oh, like H os.

[00:42:03] Galen Hair: But I will say this is one of the areas, of course, where you have to make sure you have the right insurance, and that's that lawn and ordinance coverage. Mm-hmm. I was talking about because they'll say, yep. Well, hold on. All it's gonna really cost to fix it is this, but you've got some pseudo-government agency or HOA telling you, Nope, you better fix it this way and it's gonna cost more.

[00:42:26] Eric Goranson: Yeah, that makes sense. Like in my area here, I have protected trees. I've got 300 year old trees on my property, half acre. and it would be really tough to reconstruct this house because some of the trees are so close that you can't have, you couldn't put a house within 10 feet of those trees.

[00:43:02] Galen Hair: Um, , she could get for like 75 grand. She could get a new clayt tile roof installed on that roof. It's what we call in production, um, by the same mm-hmm. manufacturer, everything. problem is that historic commission doesn't want that. They want a recreation of that exact tile, that profile, that everything. Ah.

[00:43:42] Galen Hair: And I'm like, well, why is it hers? Um, you know, and she had, yeah, she had ordinance and law coverage, thankfully. And like, look, I don't want to be, I don't want anyone to hand pour a bunch of tiles for this house. Seems silly to me. But has anyone ever tried to change a historic commission's mind that is crazier than just about anything you can [00:44:00] do?

[00:44:05] Eric Goranson: Now I've watched plenty of TV shows and I've heard my friends over at this old house have uh, told me some stories over there as well of just happened to deal with those things of you can't put white curtains, they have to be cream, you know? Oh

[00:44:19] Galen Hair: And I was like, which color is that? The color it was 70 years ago, or the old color? You tell me you want it looking old in age now, or you want it looking how it did when it was installed, because I don't even understand what you mean by it needs to color.

[00:44:39] Eric Goranson: I know there's, we're not gonna talk brands here cause I know there's some brands that I've worked with in, in homeowner's insurance that I've went, oh, that was a nightmare. But what are some of the warning signs you'd give for somebody out there shopping that they should

[00:44:55] Galen Hair: The way it works is as any of you that have bought it, but for those of you that might be about to purchase your first [00:45:00] house, get ready cuz it's crazy. You talk to an agent, they basically tell you what kind of coverage they'll offer you. Usually they just speak flat numbers. Um, you buy it. Mm-hmm. , you pay them and then you get this thick policy in the mail that's like, here's everything you've agreed to.

[00:45:29] Galen Hair: I would do that. Um, I'd work with your agent. Find an agent you actually like. I. . So many people in my industry are like hate agents. I love agents. I just think some of them are lazy. Just like, yeah, some of everyone is lazy. They're lazy lawyers, lazy doctors. Amen. You know? So find a good agent who's gonna actually sit down with you, spend the time with you, explain the coverages to you.

[00:46:06] Galen Hair: This carrier's been writing really aggressively and dropping their costs lately. This one, it keeps trending up and I keep hearing horror stories about the claims, like, so a really good agent will kind of walk you through all that and. Look, if you get in and it's just like the hustle, sign, sign, sign, walk away and find another one.

[00:46:42] Galen Hair: They'll do that for you because they want you to be their customer for life because they get residuals forever. Mm-hmm. on the insurance you purchase and then eventually when they wanna retire, they can sell their entire business and that includes you. Um, so they will work with me. Got it. But you have to have the guts to demand quality service, [00:47:00]

[00:47:02] Eric Goranson: And. Filling out the form and getting the stuff in

[00:47:17] Eric Goranson: Amen. Amen. Gaylin, thanks for coming on today.

[00:47:22] Galen Hair: should be talking about? No, I think we hit it. You know, I know, especially when you're dealing with kind of fixing things, renovating, remodeling, um, just make sure that you keep an eye out for these types of things you like. You will find damage, you'll find old things and, uh, you know, make sure you're fixing things, documenting, repairing, documenting, all that stuff.

[00:47:47] Eric Goranson: Nice man. Where is the best place for people to track you down if they go, oh my gosh, I just had a big, huge event and I need help. Yeah,

[00:47:54] Galen Hair: Insurance claim hq, so that's like insurance claim headquarters insurance claim [00:48:00] hq.com. Um, and then you also can call 8 4 4 claim eight four, uh, like twenty four seven. We'll answer that phone. And then we're on all the, you know, all the cool kids social media these days, but, uh, , but we actually respond.

[00:48:18] Eric Goranson: Even better. Well, brother, thanks for coming on today and we'll bring you back in later. And this is just the beginning of these topics because there's a lot.

[00:48:28] Eric Goranson: right guys. And you've been listening too, around the house