Episode 8 -Homeowners Insurance with Brandon Ellis

Brandon Ellis with Ellis insurance joins us to discuss homeowners' insurance.  Homeowner's insurance is an important part of the mortgage process.  Getting your insurance agent involved in the process upfront can help you with your home buying decision.  We discuss what affects the cost of your premium, options that you may or may not need and when is a good time to shop for your coverage. 


Brandon Ellis, Agent Broker @ Ellis Insurance

www.linktr.ee/ellisinsured
www.ellisinsured.com
Phone: 336.701.0217
Email: Brandon@ellisinsured.com

Jeff Cunningham is a Realtor (license # 301547) with United Realty Group (Broker license C34827) serving the Triad NC area.

Jeff can be reached at

Email -  jeff.cunninghamrealtor@gmail.com,

website, jeffcunningham.mysalecore.com,

Facebook,- https://www.facebook.com/jeffcunninghambroker/

Gina Milloway is the Mortgage Loan originator NMLS #1676070 & CEO of Triad Mortgage LLC, NMLS # 2385260,   

Gina can be reached at,

Email:  gmilloway@traidmortgagellc.com

Web: https:  https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mortgageswithgina/

Office -336-290-1891

NMLS Consumer Access:  https://nmlsconsumeraccess.org/

Privacy Policy:  https://www.ginamillowayloans.com/privacy-policy

Triad Mortgage is an equal housing lender 

Transcript

0:01

Hey guys, and welcome to the podcast. Let's get moving with Jeff and Gina. I am Gina Millway, your host, and this is, Hey, I'm Jeff Cunningham. I'm your local real estate agent here in Greensboro, and, uh, working here in the tri outta North Carolina. Welcome. Hey everybody. What is another gorgeous state in the Carolinas in the fall? The trees are putting on a show this year. Like it is absolutely fabulous outside. The colors are amazing. Totally agree. I I, I, I don't know whether or not the hurricane had anything to do with that and, and our insurance guy coming in will tell us more about that, but, uh, but yeah, the colors this year have already been unbelievable. Um, just, just tons of orange and red and it's wild. It's, it is great. We didn't, it didn't seem like we got that much last year. Like it was pretty, pretty fast. Mm-hmm. pretty dull. Not, not as, Yeah, it was a, it was a, it was a covid fall. It was a covid fall. Oh my God. Well, let's talk Well, cool. Yeah. So we, um, today is exciting. We have a guest coming in today. So we have, uh, someone coming in who to talk to us about a very important subject in the home buying process. And this is something that, um, I may deal with a little bit more than you do because it's part of, uh, the closing process. You have to have homeowner's insurance or as we call it a hazard. And, um, so it, it's a big part of my side of it. And, um, I wanna bring on our guest, um, Brandon Ellis with Ellis Insurance. Welcome, Brandon. Hey, thanks so much, Gina and Jeff. Thanks for having me today. Welcome, Brandon. Thank you. All right. So yeah, and uh, Go ahead. No, go ahead, I just wanna say thank you again for having me and, uh, to Jeff as Jeff, introduce yourself. I'm Brandon with Ellis Insurance, looking at here in Winston-Salem and, uh, serving all of North Carolina for all your insurance needs. Fantastic, fantastic. And, uh, and, and, and, and, and real quick, uh, so, so Brandon, you are, you are a broker. Uh, and we talk a little bit more about that and we'll get more into that a little bit later, but, but brokers have, uh, more, um, more to choose from, I guess, uh, more so than just one line of product. Is that, Uh, that very much so. Yes, sir. I originally cut my teeth in insurance doing, uh, single line captive sales. So all my experience came from just learning those one particular product lines and really hammering down, and now I have the, the virtue of being able to shop you for a whole bunch of carriers. So all the benefit and none of the drawback really. That's, That's awesome. You know, we've, we've dealt with so much, uh, in flexibility here in the last couple of. You know, just the way the market's been, uh, again, being stuck inside, whatever, um, you know, it's, uh, it, it's it's refreshing to have a conversation with someone who has a little bit more to choose from other than just A, B, or C. It definitely helps. I mean, and as we all know, everyone's different. Everyone has different needs. Every home is different. Every home buyer is different, so it doesn't make sense to try and jam everyone in the same shoebox, right? So we gotta make sure we're, we're tailoring everything to your specific needs. And that's what I'm here for. I'm here to make sure. What you need is what you have. Excellent, excellent. Well, I don't think, you know, when people are out looking for a home and they're shopping and they don't really think about, insurance necessarily at that time. And I think maybe it might be a good idea that we, we introduce the insurance agent at the beginning of the process to have a conversation, find out their needs, but also to help in the process of buying a home. And in this area, you know, we don't get a lot of turbulent weather so much as some of the coastal planes, Florida. Or the mountains with the snow. But we do get some weather and we do get some, some things that happen to home. So, you know, maybe, um, you know, Brandon, is that something would you recommend if somebody's getting ready to put a contract on the house before, before they put a contract, maybe reach out to you and see what's going on with the house? What's happened to the house, it's history. Yeah, no, absolutely. Whenever you're shopping for houses, we always encourage customers to give us a shot, even if it's a couple homes. I have no problem with running quotes on multiple properties, and it's very quick and easy to do that. But it's good to know what may have previously happened in the home, because as you know, in the, in the field of insurance, I'm sorry, in the field of real estate, you have the disclosure pages, but those aren't always fully filled out. They're not always the best, uh, indicator of what's going on in that. And sometimes people, let's just be honest, can be shady and try to hide stuff. Uh, so knowing if there's something there may give you as the buyer and if you're working with a, a home inspector, a chance to really look into those particular things. But another thing, if you're a new home buyer, and if you've never owned a home before, maybe you've only lived with your parents or you've only ever rented before. There could be some sticker shock that goes along with the price of homeowners insurance. Mm-hmm. typically you're looking at about a hundred bucks a month. Just a ballpark figure. Right. And that being said, it, it can go way up from there maybe down a little bit, but things that impact that are replacement cost on homes and as, uh, real estate agents and lenders, you guys are worried about what the home is worth as far as to resell it for you to. as an insurance company, we're more concerned about how much is it gonna cost to rebuild that house. Mm-hmm. and those numbers can be drastically different. I mean, you take a shed and put it in the middle of pod up, nowhere it's worth 50 bucks, but you put that shed in Charlotte downtown, and now it's worth, you know, half a million dollars. Mm-hmm. So it's, it's all relative. But that being said, it only takes the same 50 bucks to rebuild that shed. So I'm more concerned about how much it's gonna take to fix this home back to where it was. And we call that rep. So we have different cost. And to the point of having the covid fall, you can definitely look at the cost of building supplies, the cost of, you know, labor for building it. It's all gone up exponentially. So you may get a steal on a house and then still be looking at a huge replacement cost bill on your homeowner's policy. So something to, something to consider. And so I think having that information before you submit your offer, before you commit to it, knowing what all of your true financial commitment is gonna be, I think that's super helpful. Yeah. And you mention. You mentioned a good point about the home inspection. You know, if a house has had a claim on it in the past, and we can uncover that, then you, when you go out to do your home inspection, you can always ask your inspector, Hey, I know this has happened. You know, there was a water leak for instance, can we, you know, maybe really pay attention to the plumbing in the house? Or, um, there was a fire, Well, we all know if there's a fire in the house that it, the smoke can literally destroy everything inside the house. So, um, I think knowing that up front would really. Beneficial. Yeah. Because like I said, any, any home inspector that's gonna go in there, he's gonna just kind of give it the, the general once over and they're not gonna know to look for those like quote unquote hotspots. So yeah, knowing where they are is gonna give you a lot of power as the home buyer. Cause the last thing you want is to, to buy a home and miss something huge. And now that's gonna be explained for you or that's gonna be a problem for you to fix. So, As much transparency as you can get, I think is great in that process. Yeah, it's a, it's a great point. I, I didn't, I was, I was walking through an inspection yesterday, uh, and Gina, to your point, um, uh, these folks had, it looked like some previous damage at some point. Um, and, and you know, my inspector had mentioned that, and, and, and granted we have not gotten to the point yet. They are homeowners now. So, uh, they do have a policy in place, uh, for themselves. But again, uh, I, I, I, I do not believe that they actually went out and asked for their homeowner to, I'm sorry, their. Policy holders, uh, insurance company to take a look at the new property. Um, which again, it's a, it's a big step up for these guys. It's a, it's a beautiful house. Uh, nothing really structurally or anything really wrong with it, but yes, be for, for, for, for the point to be able to, again, maybe negotiate. Uh, a little bit of a better purchase price, um, or, you know, again, uh, working on some replacement and or repair cost. Again, the discount may be in the purchase price, um, you know, for the buyers, uh, that, that's great information. as well as, um, speaking with these individuals before we go in. And, and, and speaking a little bit about, uh, bundling and, and, and doing multiple policies, uh, home life and, uh, car insurance for, for that matter. Um, Because all of us have a card in our pocket for somebody we ran into that has, you know, a, an insurance guy, a realtor, whatever. Um, but I, I would assume Brandon, and, and, and I know we talked a little bit about this, but it's gotta be beneficial, um, to try to work a little bit of bundling, um, you know, to go ahead and, and make your, make your monthly cost a little bit easier. Yeah, no, absolutely. And that that is absolutely one of the greatest discounts most insurance companies offer is the bundling of home and auto together. So if you currently have a carrier for your auto, I always recommend checking with them first. It's great to see what kind of discounts you'll get on your existing policy. If your auto policy, you should get a discount on that by adding on the home portion, so some savings there. Plus you'll get a better rate. I know some companies, uh, mentioned State Farm previously. For them to qualify for certain deductible levels, you have to have the bundled products. So sometimes there's incentivizes and, and things like that to look at. But that being said, it's not always the cheapest route. I know I do have certain customers that have specific needs with their home that don't qualify for the company that's with their auto insurance, and we're still able to find them great coverage. But the nice thing about it is, as a broker, I. Eight companies that I work with on a regular basis that do a home and auto bundle. So with One Call to me, I can check them all for. See what your best option is. And let's say you do buy a policy with me. You know we mentioned those renewal bills. Great time to shop around. If you get a renewal bill and you're one of my customers and it has gone up, I'm gonna get a notice. And you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna call you and say, Hey Jeff, I saw that renewals coming around. It's going up. I'm gonna go ahead and shop you around, see if I can find you a better rate. I'm gonna jump on that for you, save you the headache and keep you in the best rates and the best. As long as I possibly keep, That's a really nice benefit. Awesome. You shouldn't have to think about it. You just, Yeah. And you're not to say that I'm always gonna have the best rate. I'm gonna be honest. I mean the, It's a horse race. They companies are gonna go up, they're gonna go down, and you as an individual may have individual things that are gonna cause your rates to go up and down. But I'm always gonna try and like I said, having that stable of, of options for you. So much better than if you have just the one option. If I, if I have one homeowner's policy and you no longer fit. Well, Jeff, I don't have a homeowner's policy for you anymore and I may have to just hope you send me some friends. Well treat, treat us right, Brandon, Then you'll get your friends. I promise. I'm trying. I'm right. Well, let's, let's talk about the policy on what, you know, some things that maybe they can make the policy go up or down and in reference to somebody shopping for a home. Um, yeah. One thing that I've noticed on my side that changes is the property type. And, and I'm talking specifically between manufactured housing. And maybe even modular. I'm not sure on your world modular falls into single family on my side, but it may be different on the insurance side. But I do know that manufactured housing is tricky when it comes to insurance, and we're seeing a rise in the popularity of those right now. So what about the property type? What are some things that we need to look out on the property type? Yeah, sure. And to that point, uh, there are so many different property types as you're probably both aware. You've got condos, townhouses, you have the mobile homes, you have the modular homes, you have the traditional stick built homes. And then within those, you have, is it frame built? Is it masonry built? Is it a pre 19 hundreds built? So there's all kinds of different categories you could fall into with it. And every one of those has its own little nuances. But big things we do differentiate between modular homes and mobile homes. A lot of companies, um, it, the modular homes are gonna be treated more like a stick-built home, but it's gonna have different, I guess, levels of coverage and they're gonna treat it differently when they look at the, We run what's called an estimated replacement cost tool. Mm-hmm. of course, that's evaluated. It's gonna look at things like how that property depreciates versus a versus a traditional family home. But to that point, whatever you have, there is a specific package for that and a specific type of coverage. Things that can make you go up or down, I mentioned. So let's say you have a home that's a hundred thousand dollars. That's what it costs to rebuild it. So we're gonna ensure it a hundred thousand dollars, but five years from now, it may not be a hundred thousand dollars to replace because of cost of goods going up and things like that. So does your policy have inflation guard? Is your policy regularly increasing your coverage a amount to make sure that as prices go up, you have enough to cover you there? Um, If you have a lot of detached buildings or structures, so let's say you've got some garages or a stable, things like that, by default, most policies have coverage for your detached structures, but it's usually 10 to 20% of your total property value, like your home price. So a hundred thousand be 10 to 20,000. So you may need to endorse those. So anything like that that you add on endorsement, Increasing, increasing in coverage are typically gonna raise the premium up annually, but it's, it's things you need to be sure you're looking at because if you don't have it and you have an have an incident, a fire, a theft, flood, anything like that, you could be out a lot of money because those things aren't covered properly. Um, but as far as the other things that can go onto a policy that you would look at big things that really need to be added on there that a lot of companies don't talk enough about or water back. Um, as I'm sure you both know, water claims probably one of the most common ones. And whenever it comes to a claim situation with water, it's always a question of how did the water come to be? Is it a slow leak? Is it a sudden burst? You know, if it's, if it's. Maintenance where you've got a pipe leak and you didn't catch it and it slowly deteriorated your wall and created all this mold that's on you, that falls under maintenance. Now, they may pay to remove all the hazardous material and clean up, but they're not gonna pay the replace, replace or fix your wall or any of that stuff. So making sure you have the right endorsements, because if you have the proper coverage in place, it can cover those things. Um, and what is, real quick, you said water backup. What does that mean? So, If, if you have a home with a sump pump, if you have a home that, uh, has a, well, if that water comes back into your home, traditionally speaking, that's not covered under your homeowner's policy. So if you have the endorsement though, you can get levels of coverage from like 5,010 all the way up to 25 and 50,000. So that way you. Have it on there, but again, by default it's not a covered peril, so you have to look at that. Earthquakes rarely here of earthquakes, North Carolina, but as you recall, a couple years ago, we had a few we did that's not covered on the policy, so that's an endorsement. So if you don't have it on there and earthquake messes up your foundation, knocks off some roofing that's on you unfortunately, because it's not a covered peril in a lot of. Wow. Interesting. Now, has that changed somewhat. Uh, you know, I I we, we hear the, you know, I've got air quotes again, the act of God. Um, Sure. What, what does, what, does anything fall under that anymore, I should say? Is anything insured in that by default? Or is that something that's now you have to go ahead and select? Well, it depends on what type of act they got. They're very selective. So if a lightning hit your house covered, right, If there is a. A tree that snaps because of a windstorm in Lands House. That stuff's covered right? As long as a tree was healthy. If it's a dead tree, then that falls under a different category because that's maintenance It's all about are you keeping your stuff up? If everyth ideal condition and something happens, then you're a lot better off insurance covering it. But water, while you would think water, like if it floods, that's an act of gut, right? You can't stop the rain. Sure. Flooding isn't, isn't covered. Right. That's, that's something that's excluded on a lot of policies and to the point of doing your homework beforehand. If it's not disclosed in your buyer's agreements or your paperwork with your realtors, it may, your home may be in a flood zone, and if it is your lender, Gina Canes. May require to carry flood insurance. Mm-hmm. that's policy written through fema. So that's something you need to know up front too, or are you gonna have to carry this additional coverage? Cause that's a separate policy above and beyond the home policy and for, and those have to be paid up front and everything else. And for the lender, for, for most loan times, it's, it's a matter of. Are any structures in the flood zone? Cuz you could have a property and only like the corner piece of, of the lot being a flood zone. Correct. So there are no structures in the flood zone for us then that's not a big deal. But if any piece of the structure falls in a flood zone, then yes, then that's a big deal. And, but you know, you may be out of the woodworks as far as the mortgage company is concerned, like, so maybe the flood zone starts like five feet from your front door. But as a consumer, as the person living in that house, I might be like, that's all for close to my front door and maybe even the mortgage company doesn't, Maybe I think I need it, you know, so, There's, there's also a little bit of what do you need? Not cuz I mean, as the mortgage company, as the realtor you're gonna give them, you know, kind of the broad spectrum. Here's what you need generally speaking. But as an individual, you, it's good to talk to the insurance broker because they're gonna know that's their bread and butter, that's their nuanced thing. So I'm gonna know, hey, well yes, you're covered from the mortgage standpoint. You don't have to have that flood insurance. Something you may want to consider. You know, your front door is five feet away from Right the next two weeks. And we are changing, you know, weather patterns are, are, are changing a little more rapidly, I think, than they used to be. So, you know, you just never know. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that's, Yes, the agent I used to work for, she was famous for always talking about chances versus consequences, and that's what it all is, right? It's. Chances are it's not gonna happen. But if it does, what are the consequences if you're not prepared? Right? So it's always about making sure you're covered for, And don't get me wrong, even as an insurance person, I, you could have too much insurance, right? Like, I mean, you don't have to cover everything to the nth degree. But at the same time, under insuring things happens all the time and that's a much, much bigger problem. So yes, that's my biggest, making sure you have enough to keep you safe. See the point of things always changing. I mean, if you bought a house five years ago and insured it with a company and haven't touched your policy, that replacement cost might not be good in this market, right? Mm-hmm. and if you've not shopped, it, don't have anything on there to account for inflation. You may not realize it, but you may be setting yourself up for a big failure or you know, a big exposure as. Yes, Yes, yes. Well, uh, let, let's get back to a little bit more then, uh, uh, speaking a little bit about, um, the, the upfront expenses. Um, so, uh, we, we, we've talked a couple of weeks ago, uh, about staying prepared, uh, and, and being prepared for purchasing your home. Um, which of course we were talking a lot of credit information. We're talking a lot of expenses, savings and all that kind of stuff. Um, in the last, say few years, Uh, where has the insurance industry gone along with, um, say, credit research, uh, you know, reviewing the individual, not so much just the property. How's, how's that been coming along? Sure. Uh, so I feel like as far as home goes, Home has always been, uh, a credit review when it comes to those quotes. Now that being said, uh, as of, I think it was last year, North Carolina has made a push to all the auto insurance. Underwritten through credit checks as well. So that's a change, but they kind of go hand in hand, especially if you're looking to do a quote on home and auto bundle together. Now they are soft inquiries, so hopefully getting a quote or check on your insurance would not impact anything if you're trying to keep your credit good for a pre-qualifying and things like that. But, um, to that point though, if you, if you are shopping early, looking around at those rates, you do have the ability to, excuse me, you do have the ability to. What kind of, um, coverage options you have, just because again, fitting the right coverage in place and getting everything. Sorry, I apologize. got me there. Uh, getting everything set up, getting everything in place is gonna give you the option to just really review those coverage, get those, um, those finances dialed in. If you're worried about having enough money up front to cover closing costs, you know, all your transitional costs, things. There's not really a lot of cost when it comes to setting up the homeowner's insurance policy. If you're paying for it outta your pockets, let's say you bought the house cash money, there's no escrow situation you would need to be willing to pay for either the monthly premium, so either the first month's premium, if you're gonna do it monthly, or the entirety of the annual premium if you're gonna set up that way. So, Those typically, one of those two payments is typically needed to buy in the policy. Mm-hmm. even if it's not gonna be effective until a future date. Um, but if you do have an escrow, if you are gonna have a mortgage, a lot of times what is, what happens is we'll set it up and that is bill directly to the mortgage company. So I don't need a, a dime from you, I just need to know where to send that bill off to. We'll get that input into the system and when the homeowner's company issues the policy, like I said, they'll send a bill out for the premium. The mortgage company sends the, the check over to them. Everything is hands off for me and the insured, and then that policy goes into effect. And then every year they just pay the renewal bills. And of course, You don't see it directly, but of course it's part of your, your mortgage and escrow and everything else. Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. Well, um, you know, in the last couple years, uh, most especially with the pandemic and everything else that's been going on, North Carolina has seen an influx of folks coming into, uh, the state. We don't see a lot of people moving out of the state. We see a ton coming in, um, and we see a lot of cash buyers. So, um, what is the Now you can, we can all, I guess, express the importance of having insurance, but, um, but you know, a lot of, a lot of cash buyers that actually own the home outright don't necessarily need as a mortgage. You know, they don't need it as part of their mortgage cause of course they don't have a mortgage, so. Sure. What do you recommend for, for folks that have come in and bought a 15 year old? Um, for$400,000 cash, um, what's their best bet as far as getting insurance? Or is there any benefit to that? Sure. Well, there's absolutely benefit to it because even if you aren't obligated to a bank or a mortgage company to pay that money back, it is still your money. That is still an investment. And if, you know, you bought it today and tomorrow something came along, uh, act of God, uh, angry postal worker destroyed that home and property and now it, it no longer. You still own that land? Sure. Mm-hmm. But you want a$400 piece of half acre land, right? Yes. With insurance, Now that that's happened, I'm so sorry, but here, here's a check or here is, uh, someone to help you get that back to where it was. So having insurance again, chances versus consequences. But if you are a cash buyer, you know, maybe you're buying properties for the intent of Airbnb them or rentals, things like that. So now you still need coverage, but you need a different kind. So instead of a homeowner's policy, you'd look at like a rental dwelling policy, something like that. I have a family member that owns several properties and that's all she does. And those prop, those policies rather. Far more affordable because all you're really covering is liability exposure in case someone's, someone wants to be hurt by your property or on your property. Mm-hmm. and the, the structure itself, but you cut out things like the personal property contents, you cut out things like identity theft, you know, knickknack, things like that because all you're worried about is the building. You don't care about anything that's in it or anything else. You just wanna make sure if God forbid, that building comes down, somebody's there to put it back up. Yes. So it just depends on your needs. But unless you are 100% okay with the investment, and that's how I'm gonna call it, the investment you've made in that house, that property, Being reduced to rubble and no one coming along to help you out, then that's, that's okay. You don't need insurance. But for a few hundred dollars a year, I think it's worth it to protect. Yeah. Often if you're talking about a house, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yes. And, and, and, and. Yeah, again, where we are today, uh, we're at the end of October nine, uh, 19, 19 22. We're at the end of October in 2022. Um, so inflation is, you know, again, something that we're all worried about. Uh, or I should say it's, it's touching us all every day. Um, but at the same time eating us up every day. Yeah, it's pretty aggressive right now. Yes. So, So again, uh, insurance, I would have to say would, in my opinion anyways, is really just something that's, Um, again, we don't know what the supply chains are gonna hap or what's gonna happen to the supply chains tomorrow as far as building materials, um, or something like that. Um, but yeah, totally agree. And I mean, it's highly recommended of course, that any property, uh, paid off or not, uh, maintain your insurance. Uh, because again, it's, it is important to have something behind. God forbid if, if, again, active God fire or whatever was to happen on your property, um, you know, paying a portion and getting it whole again, um, would be again, something I'd recommend. And I, I think I'm hearing you say the same, Brandon. Well, absolutely. Insurance is all about transferring the risk. My goal in life is for me to take as much risk off of you as possible to put it over with a company that is able to take care of that. And God forbid you have a need for it. So that's all I, I live to do is. Serve people and get their needs met with the companies that can take care of'em. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, and I would say, um, I would add to that, you know, having from the mortgage side of it, again, I deal with the homeowner's insurance and the policy, and it's part of the underwriting process, like it's part of the mortgage process. So I need to be able to talk to the agent. I need to be able to get the documents that I need from the agent. So those of you who are out there shopping for the cheapest insurance possible, and you're buying a house, don't do. Please don't do that because online agents are the worst. When you go to, you know, I want insurance.com or 1-800-INSURANCE, and you call them and you speak to agent number 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, great. It is a nightmare trying to get those documents typical. If anything needs to be changed. Mm-hmm. sometimes it takes weeks. I mean, I've, I've had it Really? Yes. Well, I've had to call the bar and say, Look, we can't use these people. You've got to find somebody that I can communicate with, or you're not closing on this home, because I have to have those documents and they have to be set up in a certain manner. And so if you're using someone where you don't have that personal relationship, it can make it really, really difficult in the process. And. A, a lot of times I see a lot of insurance policies and a lot of times they're not cheaper. I, I see ones that come off because these people get paid on. They're pay, they're paid on a commission. So if they can sell you, you know, the higher policy, and you say, Okay, sounds good. Why wouldn't they? Right. So I see that. I see that a lot where people try to go and I'm like, No, that's, We need to find a local agent. Yeah. I think that's really, really important in this process. The mortgage process for me anyway, is having a local agent. They can reach out, I can talk to'em, you can physically talk to'em and, and get the information you need. Total. Well, it's good to have someone that knows someone that's actually a person, right? Like not to say that people in call centers aren't people. They are. Right. But at the same time, when you have someone that's working with these customers directly, someone that. Knows what their needs are. It does make a big difference. And you know, to your point about trying to get documentation and stuff, when you're trying to close in a home, you're trying to get things done, trying to get to that closing table. Everything is a race. And every little hiccup and every little setback can be very detrimental. I mean, you could push your closing, it can cause more. Mm-hmm. fees on the back end. So time is of the essence. And it doesn't happen very often, but I've had an insurance policy waiting for the. You know, the owner picked their insurance agent, you know, this is who we're gonna use. And it delay, It actually delayed closing because they wouldn't gimme the materials that were needed and they, you know, this one was a local one, so they went on my naughty list of So, you know, somebody comes back and says, We're using this agency. I'm like, Mm. Well, let me tell you a little story about Yeah, that's a red flag, guys. That's a red flag. Um, so yeah, well, we're big advocates of going local anyways, uh, and, and, and that's what we want to again, uh, if we can keep our business here in North Carolina, especially in the triad, then of course we're gonna, we would advocate to do that. Um, and, and again, Brandon, you are right here in the heart of the triad here in, uh, Midway, North Carolina. Mm-hmm. um, which is, uh, I think it's pretty much dead center in our. Um, it's pretty much dead center, right? At least vertically in the state. It's pretty dead center. Yes. So that's pretty and pretty much hard. Well too, Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so in instances where, again, we have, you know, a scenario like that where, where Gina is having a difficult time and the borrower, uh, buyer is having a difficult time. Um, and let's just say that, uh, there's a situation where the individual had been dropped in the past, or let's just say that that individual is dropped right now because. I don't know, rental insurance or whatever. Um, what can they do and who would they contact again to again, get that coverage or get coverage replaced? Sure. Well, let's start by calling me that that's your best stop. Or if you can't get ahold of me, any insurance broker is probably a good place to start because then that you're gonna have the ability to. Compare a lot of rates cuz it can be very monotonous to call one company to get one quote to turn around, call one more company to get one. You know, that could take a lot of time. Uh, and not that there's not merit in that and some companies you can only get by calling'em that way. But with me or any other broker for that matter, you're typically gonna get the option of seeing multiple quotes all at one time. And again, while. To Gina's point, you know, why would anyone sell you the least expensive thing? Because they do get paid commission. And I do get paid commission, but at the same time, I have so many options and so many carriers. My goal is always value as well as coverage. So, It's, it's always my thought too. Cause again, I'm frugal. I am a person that minds that. But I'm gonna present you with the a I'm gonna show you the Roll Royce. It might not be in your budget, it might not be what you want or need, but I'm say, Hey, this is an option. If, if you want it, there it is. Here's what I think's your best fit. Here's what's gonna be within your budget. I always try and take that into a consideration because like I said, inflation is rough. Uh, buying a home in general is expensive. So every little bit you can help a person. I think that adds value. I think that is important, but. At the end of the day, the most important thing is getting the right coverage, right? And so my goal is to find that happy medium between the two and taking care of your customer. If you take care of people, they'll take care of you. That's always been my motto. Absolutely. Um, and, and yes, uh, again, brokers, we, we, we mentioned brokers. Uh, you know, again, Jayna is a broker here with, with Triad, um, and you of course are, are with Ellis insured. Um, so. Brokers do have the ability to shop a little bit for you, or at least provide you different products. Um, where you'd mentioned earlier, uh, you know, again, it's uh, you call one specific agency. You might just get one specific option. Um, So, of course, uh, we wanna make sure that we are not underinsured, uh, to Gina's point. Uh, but at the same point, we wanna make sure that we are adequately insured. And, and I know that that's something that you do, Brandon, um, for your clients. Now, again, even if you're providing a quote for the Rolls Royce, um, but at least they're gonna have something that's gonna get'em again, the insurance that they need on a daily basis. I'm pretty sure everybody at Drives Road Royce once, once upon a time, drove a Honda Civic. So it's all fun, Absolutely, Absolutely. You know, Carl, before you walk, I'm here for whatever stage you're in and you know, that's, that's, that's my goal is just to, um, be whatever you need me to be. Right. Okay. Was there anything else? Fantastic. Anything else, Brandon, that you think people should know when they're, they're getting ready to buy a home and looking for, for homeowner's, insurance, Anything we didn't cover? I think we did a really good job of covering everything. Um, some things I would just keep in mind, you know, one of the most common claims in America, there's over a thousand house fires a day. Wow. Be mindful of you know, what you're doing in your home. Be mindful of how you're protecting yourself, because at the end of the day, whether you're covered under insurance or not, being safe in your home, taking care of your home, keeping it up, that's, that's an important thing to. And when you're working with your realtor and working with your lender, make sure that the house you're buying has been kept up and, and all be. Cause the last thing you wanna do is move into a lot of problems. But if you get in there and you have issues, make sure you've got the coverage in place. Make sure you've talked to that insurance agent. Make sure you've got all these endorsements that you need, because like I said, the worst thing you want to do is jump in and then now you've got this huge mess because you didn't do all the homework on the front end. So if someone's unsure about their coverage, can they reach out to you and maybe do a policy review and. Uh, I can absolutely do a policy review. Now that being said, it would require you to have access to your policy as, I can't pull it from, there's no reserve or database with that information, so like the deck page, but that being, Yeah. Now, but if you didn't have that information, it still wanted to quote for me, All I need is your basic information. You know, where you live, the address of the property we're insuring date of birth, that kind of. And I can give you a quote on that property. I'm gonna base it solely off of what the replacement cost is, what my, you know, recommendations of coverages are, those kind of things. But if you do have, like, if it's an existing property and you have a declaration page from your current company, then I can compare things to apples. To apples. Do they have this endorsement? Do I have this endorsement? And then it's a truer quote. It, it lets you see. Okay. Apples to apples, what everything is right. Can I save you money? Can I add more value to you? What can I do? Right? And I think that's important to make sure that you're comparing the actual coverage you have versus to the coverages being quoted to you. Because there are a lot of different ways to go about it and making sure it's the same, because if it's not the same, then well, it's not the same. It's not apples to apples. So, And especially, like I said, if you're buying a new property, inherently that quote may be different, right? It's a whole nother location. But if it's the same property, if it's your home of 20 years and you're just trying to find a better rate, I absolutely recommend blank. Gina said having that original page from your current company so that way you can make sure, Cause if I'm getting you a, a much, much cheaper rate, like insanely cheaper rate, you should probably ask questions. Right? Right, Sure. Cause there's very few, I mean, most companies are pretty, I mean, we're gonna. Best case near a couple hundred dollars a year. But if we're saving lots and lots of money, you might wanna ask questions cuz there's a chance that something's changed. On that quote, you know, they've reduced the coverage amount on the home or they've raised the uh, the. the deductible amount. So now your premium's lower, which, you know, there's definitely ways to get that cost down, but just make sure you understand that because the last thing you want to do is get into a claim situation and find out you've had all these changes that are now way nodding your favor. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Absolutely. It's all about being smart and doing the homework. Yes. Yes. Find someone who's gonna help you. Right. Someone that already knows, but look. Well, that's perfect. And, and you know, again, that's, that's something we've been talking about a lot here. Again, we, we, we seem to be shift. Um, from the seller's market, um, into more of a buyer's market. And, and, and the buyers, I, I, I will say aren't, uh, in the, um, it's, it's right in the middle. The pendulum is shifted or is swinging a little bit. So buyers have a little more room to negotiate. Now, we're not in a buyer's market yet, but um, but I think, you know, soon enough we will be. Um, and in doing so again, just having the preparation, being prepared by your, or I should say with your agents and having that information up front is. Is great. And um, and again, we, we would encourage folks to reach out to their insurance agents and let them know, Hey, we are in the market for buying a new home now. And again, just updating their information, not necessarily the policy in the house so that they may be leaving, but again, updating their information with use so that again, they'll be prepared when. We do find that house for'em. And, and, and boom, you get, you're ready to go and you provide them that quote in 10 or 15 minutes, right? Oh yeah. Even less if's already had the information on file, so Right. Switch shopping early is key. And like you said, and I, I wanna reiterate this to Jeff, you mentioned, especially as we, we are gradually shifting back towards that buyer's market. You know, if we discover things on the claims history, if we can help the. The inspectors find these little hot spots as they were mm-hmm. that's gonna give you your buyers more negotiation power and everything's negotiable in real estate. Right. So yeah, absolutely. The more you can show that. It's gonna inconvenience or be a problem or something you're gonna have to deal with, it's gonna give you more leverage. Making that transit more, more leverage, and feel more confident going into that house and, and buying it and purchasing, especially if it's never had a claim, that'll make you feel, you know, a little more confident about making that strong offer on that home as well too. So, All right. Well, I think that peace of mind is huge. Peace of mind. Yes. Peace of mind preparedness. So I think that about cover. Today. Um, so Brandon, you offer Perfect. We talked about home today, but you also offer auto as well, right? I do do home auto and small business insurance. So workers' comp, uh, general liability, all those things. Perfect. Fantastic. All right, so we will put your information and contact into the, the buy on the link below. Do you wanna give anybody a quick way to contact you, uh, a phone number or email address? Sure you can find me. Uh, my local phone number is(336) 701-0217. Uh, if you're on anything social media, I am at Ellis. And of course, if you want to find me, uh, the website is www.ellisinsured.com. And yeah, that's it. If you, if you need me, you can find me. I'm, I'm out there. I'm trying to put my face everywhere. So reach out to me. I'm happy to give you a quote. Uh, go over your coverages or answer any questions, even if you're not ready to make a, a transaction today or change of coverage. If you have a question, I, I hope to be. I resource to you, so gimme a call and let me help you out. Absolutely. I, I 100% agree, Brandon is fantastic. So you guys reach out to me if you have any questions about your, your insurance needs. So thank, thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank Nina so much for coming. Appreciate Yeah, no, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. All right, so we, that is all for today and we'll see you guys on the next podcast. See you guys next time. Take care everybody.