To buy or not to buy ? flood insurance - wcexaminer.com

ROBIN EMMERICH

BY VIRGINIA CODY

Wyoming County Press Examiner

It might be a matter of closing the barn door after the horse is let out, but some people think now might be a good time to buy flood insurance.

?It?s not as expensive as people think,? said Robin Emmerich, co-owner of Hawk Insurance in Nicholson.

That?s especially the case if you own property that?s not in a flood plain, she explained.

?If you don?t live in a flood zone, it?ll be only a couple of hundred dollars,? she said.

And even if a property is in a flood zone, she said, the price is still not as outrageous as some might believe.

Emmerich gave one example of a home valued at $63,000 with contents valued at $25,000.

The price of insurance for that property, she said, would only be $1,000 for an entire year?s worth of coverage.

Emmerich said that flood insurance is backed by the federal government which means that, if an area is hit by flooding and virtually all homes in that area are impacted, the insurance company won?t end up going out of business trying to pay all the claims.

Emmerich also said that as part of the federal government?s involvement with flood insurance, the price of that insurance doesn?t vary from insurance company to insurance company.

?It?s the same price everywhere,? she said.

The best part of having flood insurance, she said, is that when an area is hit with a flood like the one the area recently experienced, homeowners who suffer damage don?t have to stand in line waiting for the Federal Emergency Management Agency or its state counterpart to come through with funding.

?And there?s a very big difference in the amount of paperwork you have to fill out,? she said.? ?The insurance companies hire their own adjusters.? So you?re going to get a better response.?

Emmerich said that as of Friday, she was getting a healthy number of calls from people who needed to file claims for damages caused by this past week?s flood.? But, she said, she wasn?t getting as many calls as she had expected.

Emmerich said there are some false assumptions about flood insurance out there that need to be corrected.

For instance, she said, people who have to get flood insurance aren?t required to do that because of the federal government.

?It?s the mortgage companies and the banks that force it on people,? she said.? ?They?re trying to protect their investments.?

Another thing people should realize is that flood insurance is for more than just rising waters, she said.? Flood insurance also covers homeowners who might be threatened by mudslides.

And one thing Emmerich said she wanted people in the area to understand about flood insurance had to do with automobiles that might have been destroyed or damaged by flood waters.

?If you have comprehensive (insurance) on your car, that covers flood,? she said.

Source: http://wcexaminer.com/index.php/archives/news/25203

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