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I was sitting at the Orange County Realtors annual meeting this week and speaking with a Realtor I know. She was worried about her mom's home insurance getting cancelled and one of her friend's auto insurance just cancelled too (for no good reason). After chatting a little bit more, I tried to reassure her that her Mom's home insurance policy, if it were to be cancelled, the insurance company has to provide plenty of notice. The technical answer for "plenty," according to the department of insurance, is a minimum of 75 days. If an insurance company wants to cancel your home insurance for any reason at renewal, they are required to provide a minimum of 75-day notice. While it is no consolation if you do get cancelled, at least you have 2 months to try to find a replacement policy. If your auto policy gets cancelled at renewal, it is typically due to non-payment (as there are many consumer protection laws that require your auto insurance to be renewed even if you have a shaky driving history). When you do not pay for your renewal before the expiration date, the insurance companies do not provide additional notice. It is just cancelled. Some insurance companies may provide a small grace period after your renewal date to make a payment. However, there is not a lot of grace these days. If you miss paying by just one day or if your credit card was stolen and you forgot to update your automatic payment details, your policy will cancel and there is not a lot you can do to get it reinstated. Our advice is to double check everything, making sure all your insurance is paid promptly, to help you avoid any headaches. It is challenging and it seems like it is getting harder. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. It just may be a couple years away. We will get there...

I was speaking with a friend about a month ago. We had not seen each other for several weeks over the holidays. We were catching up about what we did over Christmas/New Years, etc. She said that she had a pretty bad car accident right before Christmas. She had hit a car that was disabled in a turning lane pretty hard. Her car was totaled. My thoughts went to the worst scenarios in that moment. I asked if her kids were in the car, as I know she has three children. She informed me that everyone, all three kids, were in the car. She said everyone walked away just fine. Thank goodness! After finding that out, I thought about her car and how it protected everyone in it. The car did its job. It prevented her and her kids from getting hurt. I remember watching a Formula 1 show about how race cars are designed with a strong frame around the driver. The design allows the entire car to absorb the impact and keep the cockpit intact, giving the driver a better chance at surviving in the event of a bad crash. When I heard about my friend’s accident, I thought, this is how our everyday cars are designed. They are designed to keep us safe. They are designed to cut down on injuries to us and our loved ones. They are designed to implode, while keeping the cockpit area in one piece. As owners of vehicles, I don't think we think of our cars as a piece of safety equipment. They get us from point A to point B. They may be fast or slow. They can be fun to drive and full of memories. In reality, they are designed to keep us safe. For the majority of us, we will not be in a major accident in our lives (at least I hope not). For those of us that have been in a bad accident, it's awful; dealing with insurance, the repairs, the PTSD or the injuries. As I get older, I am beginning to look at things from a different perspective. I like to feel safe. I like to know my family will be protected in the event of an accident. Please stay safe while driving out there. And remember, God forbid you have an accident, hopefully, your car does its job really well. To keep you safe.

Do you remember the first time you saw the movie "Big"? How incredible that a boy could make a wish and it actually came true. As I started thinking about the year ahead of us, I am wishing for many things (and I am sure I will miss many in my short list below). I think we can all agree on wishing for good health, peace, prosperity, more vacation time, better communication skills, more friends, more time in the day to do them all and to be able to eat our favorite cake and ice cream every day without gaining weight. Now, this is how I want to spend my 2024 and beyond! If only I had a Zoltar machine and all of my dreams could come true. In my world of insurance, I am wishing for rates to not increase, for insurance companies to be profitable, and for us to have more reasonable options for our clients. As we look ahead in 2024, what I think will happen with insurance is this: Rate increases will be approved in a slow, but steady way by the Department of Insurance. Once enough rate increases are approved, the insurance companies will start to open back up for new business. We will then start to have more options again. I believe this will happen closer to the end of 2024. It is a good goal to have, which will make 2025 even better.  That is what we want...each year to be better than the last. As you reflect on your dreams and wishes for the future, what are you hoping for? Is there anything we can do to help you achieve your goals? I believe that if we can help you achieve your goals, then we will be achieving ours (even if I do not get to eat cake and ice cream every day). We thank you for working with us, and if there is anything we can do to help you, please let us know.

I cannot believe it. The year is over. 2024 is at our doorstep and 2023 is in our rearview mirror. As I was thinking about what to write, I could not help but reflect on the year we are wrapping up. Here are some of the lessons learned and headlines from my previous newsletters (not in chronological order).  I re-learned how to change a flat tire. It had been more than 20 years since I last changed a flat tire. Wow, have things changed. My home insurance coverage increased and the rate increased too. The CA insurance market is on life support. Unfortunately, it is still on life support. Our elected officials are not moving with a sense of urgency to make the necessary changes to fix the insurance system. Wind driven rain should be covered by your home insurance while ground water is not. Please expect a questionnaire or a re-inspection from your home insurance companies, as they are trying to reduce the number of policies they have. They are looking for any reason to get rid of customers, especially if you pay your bills late. I am happy we have weathered the "insurance storm" in 2023 and hopefully, 2024 will be a better year for all of us. We wish you and your family a joyous holiday season and a fun New Year's celebration. Thank you for the privilege of serving you.

The past couple weeks, I had the opportunity to spend more time with family and friends. As I reflect on this time, I am feeling very thankful for the family and the friendships I have. There seem to be many polarizing things going on in the world with too much of a negative narrative. If we can stop for a moment and remember, we all have our own thoughts and feelings and that is ok. When you disagree with someone, wouldn't it be nice if you or the other person could let them know, you still like and respect them, even though you may not be on the same page. My wife, Elizabeth, has taught me many things over the years. One, of which, is there are many different ways of accomplishing the same thing. Your way is not the only way. While this was difficult to hear at first, because my way is, of course, the best way, she is so right. As we head into Thanksgiving, I hope you find yourself surrounded with love from your family and friends. I am thankful for you being part of my life. Wishing you and your family a wonderful Thanksgiving.

This past Sunday, after my son's soccer game, I was at home, working around the house and went to take a late afternoon shower. When I turned the shower on, the water never got warm. I thought, well this is odd. So I went downstairs, into the garage and looked at my tankless hot water heater. It looked the same as it always had. My son had some friends over for a couple hours earlier in the day. Was it possible a ball hit the hot water heater or did they do something to it? That answer, fortunately and unfortunately, was no. They did not do anything to it. I decided to remove the face plate from the hot water heater and have a look around. I really had no idea what I was doing, but maybe, I could figure it out. I asked my wife Elizabeth if she knew anything and she mentioned she smelled gas a little while earlier. She has a much better nose than I do and if she smelled gas, there was definitely gas. This made me worry, but the smell of gas was not really present now. I asked her to turn on a faucet to see if the hot water heater would kick on. I listened and it did not make the usual sound when the hot water starts flowing. With that, I called a family friend who has helped us with plumbing issues in the past. I informed him what was happening with our tankless hot water heater. He said he does not work on repairing tankless hot water heaters and could refer me to someone else. I let him know our tankless hot water heater was manufactured in 2007. I asked him, if he were me, would you repair it or replace it? He said, "replace it." As I reflected on the age of my hot water heater, I have heard from many professionals over the years and insurance companies that hot water heaters typically last 10-12 years. The fact that I was at a 16-year life span made me feel lucky and very fortunate that it did not explode, leak or cause any damage to my home, which could have resulted in an insurance claim. I am glad my wife told me about the gas she smelled. After realizing the hot water was not working, I turned the gas line handle off, which was feeding the hot water heater. This would help us avoid a gas leak or accumulation of gas in our garage, which could turn into a potential disaster. I am proud to say, we now have a brand new tankless hot water heater in our house. When you have a chance, take a look at your manufactured date on your hot water heater. If it is more than 10 years old, be prepared for it to malfunction at some point in the next several years. If it is a normal tank, please be sure to have a drip pan under it to help avoid a water damage problem, in the event it starts leaking or breaks. If it is tankless, keep your senses clear as that little smell of gas may be your sign that it is time for a new hot water heater.

On Thursday last week, Gavin Newsom signed an executive order urging Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to take quick action with the insurance markets to fix the problems. Ricardo Lara quickly responded with his multi-step strategy to improve the state's market conditions for consumers. The announcements seemed well orchestrated and was most likely in the works for several weeks, as there were many closed door meetings with multiple parties involved from within the insurance world. It seemed as if this day was still a long way off. But, we were fortunate enough that there were quite a few headlines to draw attention to the problems consumers and insurance companies alike were facing. Consumers have less options and insurance companies did not want new customers. For the next 6 months to 2 years, we will have to wait and see what unfolds. What new regulations will the department of insurance allow? Will the insurance companies be forced to accept more home owners' policies, which would allow the CA Fair plan to shrink (resulting in having less risk on their books)? Who knew insurance could be so much fun? Maybe just me... :) On a personal note, I am working as hard as I can to try to find ways to help reduce the cost of home insurance. I have had the opportunity to meet with several members of our State's Assembly. My goal is to bring ideas to the table from outside the box, that in a roundabout way, could reduce insurance rates in time. One way, we could potentially reduce the cost of insurance, is having an automatic water-shutoff valve in every home. I first wrote about this one year ago, when I met with my first Assemblywoman. In addition, I took some time to reflect on the Workers Comp Reform of 1993. No, I was not in insurance at that time, but I wanted to look back at other moments in insurance history to see if we could learn anything and if it was applicable to today. Lo and behold, there was a lot of fraud back then, which is what caused the system to break. There were kick backs and financial incentives, which helped fuel dishonest people to take advantage of the system. As it relates to today's home insurance market, there are always some bad actors out there when it comes to claims. And it could be the people helping you remediate your home. (*Please note, not all remediation companies are bad. We work with several whom we trust and do the right thing for you.*) I have heard of some remediation companies who pay plumbers $500 cash, just for a referral. That money has to come from somewhere and it gets baked into your claim, which means the insurance companies (and you) are paying more than they should be. And if a remediation company is paying a referral fee, what else could they be doing? I am hopeful there can be some future guidance/reform that will not allow these types of transactions to occur, which means the people who are working on your house are being honest, transparent and looking out for your best interests. As always, we are knee deep in this with you and on the front lines of trying to make a positive change for everyone.

I received an email from a client last week. He informed me his rate increased on his home insurance by 17%. He also informed me that his coverage increased by 16%. It made me feel really good that he looked at everything and not just the increase in cost. All things considered that is pretty good. Technically speaking, it was a 1% increase in cost. But as consumers, we are not expecting these big coverage increases, which are ultimately increasing the cost of insurance. I, too, had an increase in both my coverage and cost this year on my homeowners insurance. A 14% increase in coverage and an increase of 8.7% in cost. And that is on top of the 20% rate increase last year and the 20% rate increase the year before (with not that much of an increase in coverage). At homeowners insurance renewal time, this is the once-per-year adjustment in coverage on your policy. While the cost to rebuild fluctuates throughout the year, the only time the insurance companies can adjust anything is at your renewal time. Some insurance companies have a cap of 6% per year increase in coverage. Others, do not have a cap and some do not change anything. You would have to request an increase in coverage (if you would like). While it sounds like this is the worst thing that could happen, it really is not. The insurance companies want to insure you to 100% of the replacement value of your home (according to their systems). The cost to rebuild has gone up quite a bit in the last few years due to inflation. Depending on where you live, the cost to rebuild used to be $300/sq. ft. at a minimum. Now, it could be as little as $500/sq. ft. (location dependent). GULP! That may sound like a lot, but I would rather have enough insurance than not enough in the event of a loss. Keep in mind, most insurance companies automatically increase your coverage each year (even if you do not want them to). The replacement cost calculator tool, each insurance company uses, are all a little different. They can calculate different values, and in my opinion, they are not always accurate for most of California (they are usually a little low). It is always a good idea to double check with your insurance agent, if you are unsure about your coverage. The goal is to make sure you are properly insured.