Homeowner's Insurance

Christian: [0:00] Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is Christian Awesome, of the Awesome Nossum Group at Wilson Realty Exchange, Inc. And today we are gonna answer a bunch of your insurance-type questions. We're gonna go over some natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, maybe we'll even go over volcanoes. We'll just see. Just gotta wait and see. We are joined by a very special guest, who happens to be an expert in all things insurance, Mr. Charles Lindberg of Goosehead Insurance. And Charles, thank you for joining us today.

Charles: [0:37] Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, guys. I appreciate you inviting me on.

Christian: [0:41] I'm also joined by my awesome co-host, and one of the agents here on the Awesome Nossum Group, Mr. Nicholas Towle. Hello. All right. So Charles, tell us a little bit about your background in insurance.

Charles: [0:56] Yeah, absolutely. Well, I am, uh, been in the insurance industry now for nine years total. I started out as a, what you would call a captive agent, which just means I worked for one company, uh, for five years, and then I kinda got tired of that for a few reasons. Sold that, started over again from zero as a broker. So all that means is I work with a bunch of different insurance companies. So I like having the, uh, the choices available for my clients. Uh, so that just means that for most people we can find an option, even if they have some unique situations or a really bad claims history or, you know, something else going on. And we just mostly focus on the personal lines of insurance, so that just means auto, home, all the fun stuff like boats, motorcycles, ATVs, RVs, and, uh, flood and earthquake.

Christian: [1:42] Perfect. You said the magic word, earthquakes. I did. That's the one that's the thing that's on pretty much everyone's mind when they are thinking about natural disasters in the, you know, Pacific Northwest. So does your normal homeowners insurance policy cover any damage from an earthquake?

Charles: [2:02] No. Um, so that, it, that's, couple things there. So i- in general, no. Some companies do let you have that as an add-on, so you can just add it on to your existing home policy. Um, if they don't have that as an option, you can get earthquake as a standalone separate policy through a company that will offer that product.

Christian: [2:22] Okay. So being in real estate, I've obviously heard, and I remember when that big article came out, I don't know, when was that? Five, six, seven years ago. Mm-hmm. Um, talking about how there's gonna be some crazy massive earthquake, and a tsunami, and all these things, and everyone seemed to be getting their house retrofitted for earthquakes at that time. Uh, I remember we even had reached out to someone that does it, and they were, like, three years out, they were so booked up. So- Wow … um, yeah. I don't think that's the case anymore, but the- I

Charles: [2:53] hope not, yeah.

Christian: [2:53] Yeah. Um, so the question is, do you have to get your house earthquake retrofitted prior to getting earthquake insurance?

Charles: [3:04] It's gonna depend on the carrier. In general, you don't. Um, some companies will say, "Hey, if your house is built before a certain date," like 1950, 1955, somewhere in there, maybe they'll require it then. Mm-hmm. Um, but in general, there's options out there that do not require that. However, it is just a good idea. I personally would, would do so.

Christian: [3:24] Yeah. I mean, we have earthquake policies for all, each of our homes. Um, we have rental houses and stuff, and it just seems to make sense to have it, knowing what's going on in our area. What about, like, certain specific fault lines or areas? Are there spots around the Seattle area that are more expensive to insure for earthquakes, or does that not really, does that not come into play where the actual fault lines are?

Charles: [3:49] Yeah, that's a good question. Every, so every company's gonna be a little different. Um, but I can tell you in general, it's, it's hard for me to find a, a pattern here just on the, in the Seattle area. But it's very obvious once you get east of the Cascades. So, uh, my understanding is that's all basalt bedrock over there. Mm-hmm. Uh, from classes I took years and years ago. But, um- … yeah, getting earthquake insurance on a place in Yakima or Spokane or Walla Walla is, like, a couple hundred dollars a year. Whereas over here for that same house, it might be, like, 900 or $1,000 a year. So it's insanely dirt cheap to get earthquake insurance on that side of the state. But also, you gotta weigh that against the, the likelihood of how much damage would an earthquake do. Mm-hmm. Um, I, I just don't know that much about the earthquake risk on the east side of the state, but it is much cheaper to get it over there.

Christian: [4:36] Yeah, and that's a good point. I mean, you brought up in the Seattle area it's gonna cost, you know, around 900 to $1,000 a year for that policy. I mean, I can speak for us, that's about what it is for us, give or take a little bit. Um, so it's… While it is, you know, an extra $1,000 a year, you break that down over monthly time period, it's really not that much to have that extra coverage. Um, it kinda makes sense. And like you said, you don't have to get your home retrofitted for an earthquake in order to get it with some specific carrier. Some of them you do, but others you don't. So keep that in mind. Let's talk about if there was a tsunami because of the earthquake, and the water is what actually damages the house. Is that covered under your earthquake policy?

Charles: [5:21] Uh, so it depends a little bit. Um, i- in general, the way you framed it here, no. So if there was a giant earthquake and, you know, if your home was in the Strait of Juan de Fuca or on the coast or- Mm-hmm … somewhere in the sound where it would be affected by a tsunami, if all that happened was the tsunami damage, then, then no, that's gonna be something that'll be excluded. But earthquake insurance, just like your home insurance, they have something called proximate cause, and all that means is if damage to your home was caused by something that would be covered, then all that resulting damage is gonna be covered. So trying to think of a good example. Um, if, like, a tree falls on your house, you know, that tree damage is covered 'cause falling objects are covered. Mm. The tree punctures a hole in your roof, and then now rain gets in. Because that tree was covered, all that resulting water damage is also covered automatically as well. So-

Nicholas: [6:09] Got

Charles: [6:09] it … if i- it's, it's kind of a hard situation. If your home was also damaged by the earthquake itself, you know, maybe foundation damage and it got hit by a tsunami, my understanding is the way it's worded is because your home had the earthquake damage actually sustained to the home itself, the tsunami would also be covered as well.

Nicholas: [6:28] So long story short, if there's a tsunami and it affects your home, knock over a China hutch before you call the insurance guy, right?

Charles: [6:36] Yes. Uh, that, that… I can't endorse that, but that is, that is an option.

Christian: [6:43] That's funny.

Nicholas: [6:44] I got a trivia question for you guys, though. So here in Seattle we are due for two major earthquakes. One is gonna be between seven and eight on the Richter scale. The other is between 8.5 and 9.5. Which one is expected to cause a more devastating tsunami in Seattle?

Charles: [7:04] Uh, if it's the… I'm gonna guess the way you worded it, that's the lower one. Um, if that's the, uh, the Cascadia fault line you're talking about.

Nicholas: [7:13] Well, the Cascadia is, Otto and Christian, what do you, what's your guess?

Christian: [7:16] I'll go with the higher one, just because you would think a higher rated earthquake. The

Nicholas: [7:20] answer, yeah, the answer is the lower one. Mm. The Cascadia fault is supposed to, it's like the one, it's like the fault line in Japan. Mm-hmm. So it can create a pretty big tsunami, but it'll be off the coast.

Christian: [7:32] Mm-hmm.

Nicholas: [7:33] And, um, the Olympic Peninsula will kind of shield the Puget Sound from most of the, um, bigger waves from the tsunami. So y- the tsunami is likely to affect the Puget Sound a little bit, but the one that's supposed to cause a huge problem in the sound itself is the fault line that runs through Puget Sound, which is the Seattle fault, the one that's expected to generate, uh, between a seven and eight. Interesting. So that one, yeah. Plus the fact that it'll be right here, there's a lot less time, you know-

Christian: [8:03] To get out of the way … to,

Nicholas: [8:05] yeah. Yeah. Interesting. So there'll be a 30-foot wave that people can't prepare for, versus a five-foot wave that people know is coming. Yeah.

Christian: [8:12] For, you know, a long time.

Nicholas: [8:14] So yeah, tsunamis. That brings, uh, that brings up floods.

Charles: [8:18] Mm-hmm.

Nicholas: [8:18] How, how do you know if your house is on a floodplain, and what does that do to insurance costs?

Charles: [8:24] Yeah, so, um, I mean, typically most people are going to encounter that, uh, during the home buying process. So one of the things their lender has to do if they have a mortgage on a property is, one of the checklist items is they gotta check the flood, uh, zone as well. And so if the lender sees that, they're gonna say, "Hey, Mr. Home Buyer, great. You gotta go get your home insurance. Oh, and hey, by the way, we're also gonna require that you get flood insurance." So that's typically most people's first encounter with it. Um, you can go online now to FEMA's website and look up your flood zone. However, just a word of caution, I tried doing that myself and their website is a nightmare, so. Um, the easiest thing probably is honestly just contact your insurance agent, whoever that is. They can look up your actual flood zone rather quickly. Like, when I do it, my interface is very user friendly and it takes me literally a minute. I can do it with someone on the phone. I can say, "Yeah, you're in a X flood zone, or an AE flood zone, or a C or, or whatever." And that's probably the easiest way. Just contact your insurance person. And then it's just the, the flood policy is its own separate thing that's separate from your home insurance, and it's gonna have a, a premium associated with it depending on the, the risk and the location. Um, I've seen flood insurance on homes as low as, you know, $500 a year, and I've seen them as expensive as $3,000 a year. Just depends on- Wow … the location and, um, the, the flood zone and, you know, relation to the, the height of the house and all sorts of stuff. Mm-hmm. So it can really, really big variance.

Christian: [9:48] I assume for the $3,000 a year, that's like, yeah, it's gonna flood all the time and your home is not built at all for it.

Charles: [9:56] It, it was, it was a nicer house and it was right next to a river. So that, that was kind of a, not a, not a common example I would say is representative of, of homes here in the, you know, King, Pierce and Homish area.

Christian: [10:08] Mm-hmm.

Charles: [10:08] Um, those are gonna be more to the 500 to 1,200 a, a year range.

Christian: [10:12] Got it. Makes sense.

Nicholas: [10:13] And what does flood insurance really cover? Does it cover parts of the home that are below ground, like basements?

Charles: [10:20] Uh, yeah, so the, the flood insurance is, just gives you two coverage. Coverage for the house and coverage for your stuff that's in the house. Okay. Uh, in general, something to be aware of though is if you do have a basement, as a just kind of a standard policy with no, no, you know, modifications or anything like that, your stuff that's in your basement will not be covered unless you specifically request that it be covered. And of course, that's gonna cost you a little bit extra. Um, so typically if people have their washer and dryer or a, you know, like a freezer, or if they finish their basement and they have, you know, a TV and all that stuff down there as well, um, they'll want to either get some coverage on their flood policy to add in those items or, um- Yeah. Geez, I don't know. Maybe if they see water coming in, start quickly getting stuff out of there. That… You really don't have a lot of options on that. But, uh, yeah, it covers your house and it covers your stuff.

Nicholas: [11:08] And, uh, when the street drain backs up and it floods your house, is that covered?

Charles: [11:13] Uh, so it, it depends. It can be. Flood insurance, the thing that has to trigger it is there has to be at least two properties that are damaged by that same event, or that event has to cover at least two acres. So if it's just you and just your house and that happens to you, unfortunately your flood insurance cannot be used in that instance, and so you're kinda out of luck there. Uh, but if, if something happens like that and just maybe because of the local geography of your, your neighborhood where you live, it hits you and your neighbor as well, then that, that might be an instance where you could use it.

Nicholas: [11:44] Cool. And, um, will they cover floods in a basement from slightly heavier than normal Seattle rain, or does it have to be some kind of unique weather event?

Charles: [11:53] Yeah, it, it could be, yeah, if we just have a really bad heavy rain and, again, kind of like the same scenario I just mentioned with the, the street, like if it… As long as it hits you and, and a neighbor, uh, by that same event, then your flood insurance could be used. But if it's just your house because the drainage just around your house is not that great, um, you're kind of at the bottom of a hill or, or a valley or something like that, then yeah, unfortunately it wouldn't be able to be used.

Christian: [12:17] Interesting. 'Cause I know I had someone actually ask me that recently where they were, you know, they have a house, they were gonna finish off the basement, and they were curious if, you know, if water got into the basement from heavy rains, does flood insurance cover that, and it sounds like it does not unless it's also getting your neighbor at the same time. Is that right? Is that how that works?

Charles: [12:39] Cor- cor- correct. Now, now that being said, if you do have water damage intrusion into your basement, depending on the cause, it's possible that your, your home insurance policy might cover it. Uh, with water, since there's a, a billion different things that can go on, it depends on the cause and the specifics of the, um, of the loss. But, uh, yeah, in some instances your, your home policy may cover it if it was determined to be more of a, perhaps like a wind event or, or something like that where your, your normal home insurance would apply.

Christian: [13:06] Hmm, interesting. Okay. All right, now we're gonna move on to a slightly odd weather event that doesn't happen very often in the, in the northwest, but it has happened, and that's tornadoes. Very odd that we're even asking about that. But in Port Orchard, back in 2018, I believe, there was a tornado, and it did c- cause some damage. There were no fatalities, thankfully, but I believe it took over or it blew down a few houses, and there was some damage. So does normal insurance cover tornado damage? I assume it doesn't, right?

Charles: [13:39] Uh, it actually does. Uh- Oh, interesting … so yeah, I remember when that happened. I was, I was surprised, as anyone else. Like, it touched down for a little bit and hit a couple houses. Yeah. And it was actually, yeah, very surp- I didn't know it was possible here, but I guess- I didn't either

Christian: [13:51] it was. And I'm born and raised here, and I had no clue that still happens here. Oh, yeah. So.

Nicholas: [13:55] They happen a lot more often than you might think. There was one a year before that one in, uh, Monroe. There was another tornado wa- or tornado warning issued about a year ago in Poulsbo, and-

Charles: [14:07] Oh, wow … Nicholas: there was one that hit, uh, Bill Gates' childhood home. It happens here. People don't know about it. And everybody used to tell me that I was crazy when I told them they happened here, and then that one hit Port Orchard. I was like, "See?" There you go. Your vindication, yeah. Uh, but yeah, I, I mean, the, your normal home policy has coverage for windstorm or wind damage built in, and a tornado is just a really bad, really fast windstorm. So- Mm-hmm … yeah, all that's gonna be covered on your home.

Christian: [14:34] Well, that's good to know. Uh, in that same vein, if you have to, like, evacuate for a potential natural disba- disaster, like a tornado or a wildfire, does your insurance cover your living expenses or relocation expenses?

Charles: [14:49] Um, so that's a really great question, and I, that's probably something a lot of people hopefully never have to worry about. Um- Mm-hmm … that being said, I know with the wildfires we've had during the summers here in the middle and the eastern part of our state- Yeah … people had to prematurely leave their home, and obviously that's not great, not knowing how your, if your home's gonna survive that event. In general, every home policy is gonna give you coverage for additional living expenses following a covered loss. So if nothing happens to your house and you had to book it out of town for a week, you know, they're, they're not gonna pay for that 'cause there was no, no underlying damage to your home. That was just you being smart and getting out of there. But yeah, if something happens to your property, uh, whether your own or whether you're renting, even renters policies give you this coverage as well, and you get displaced because of a covered loss, those additional living costs, like your Airbnb, your hotel, or your, uh, relocation costs, um, you know, uh, having things moved, restaurant costs, all that stuff can add up and, uh, should be covered by your insurance, uh, when the claim's all finished.

Christian: [15:49] Hmm, interesting.

Nicholas: [15:50] All right, so let's talk about fires. So all homeowners insurance covers house fires, but do those policies also cover wildfires?

Charles: [16:00] Uh, yeah, they will. So the insurance company isn't really worried if it's, you know, a wildfire situation or, um, something crazy happens at your house and the, the house catches fire, or you have, like, a kitchen fire with, like, a, some sort of, you know, cooking in- uh, incident, uh, they'll treat them all the same

Nicholas: [16:17] All right, and, uh, what should we look for in our policy to make sure that our rebuilding costs are sufficient with changing construction costs?

Charles: [16:25] Yeah, this is a big one, uh, especially recently. So- Mm-hmm … one of the things we always do, whether, you know, it's someone buying a new house or they want me to check out what they have right now, uh, part of the process for the home piece is we have to run what's called the rebuild estimator. So, uh, there's companies out there, uh, Marshall & Swift's a, a very common well-known one. They just provide the software where you basically plug in all the data about the house and it spits out a number that says, "Hey, this is what we think the rebuild cost is gonna be based on location and everything you just told us about the property." So, um, yeah, when talking to people, I mean, now with inflation and, uh, just the cost of having that work done with materials and labor, those have definitely been increasing. So I've been running those estimates and then manually giving the client some extra buffer on top of that and, you know, discussing the whole process with them. Some people are like, "Ah, it's… Just leave it the base coverage amount. Whatever the estimator says is fine." Other people want me to add on sometimes a couple hundred thousand in additional construction costs. And, yeah, it's… That's just kinda the way things are going. And something I, I do wanna mention that is good to know about this as well is a lot of home policies will have something called extended replacement cost built into the policy. That is just a additional percentage, usually 25 or 50%, of your rebuild cost that's added on top of itself. So if you do have cost overruns when rebuilding your home, great example is if there's a, a regional or local event, everyone's using contractors, prices of everything goes up. This is specifically on policies to counteract that just in case you get caught in a situation where there's a lot of people needing to build at the same time.

Christian: [18:06] Yeah, I've seen that on one of my policies, and I was grateful it was there.

Charles: [18:09] Yeah. Yeah. Just, yeah, just in case. You never know.

Nicholas: [18:12] And, um, yeah, a lot of people associate the recent uptick in wildfire activity to climate change. Another effect of climate change that's affecting our summers is larger and more frequent and more severe heat waves. I- in Seattle, we're the least air conditioned major city in the country, behind San Francisco and Portland, and heat is the deadliest weather phenomenon in our world today. Is there anything that people can get from their insurance if they don't have AC and the heat wave affects them, maybe something like relocation coverage for during the heat wave?

Charles: [18:50] Uh, with regards to your home insurance or your renter's insurance, just, you know, relocation because of that, yeah, unfortunately no. The, the way any sort of relocation or additional living expenses would apply is if there was a underlying covered loss. So, uh, if there was a fire because of the heat wave or, or something else that happened there, and then you're, you were displaced, then, then yeah, that would just be a- A, uh, relocation concept would be covered. But yeah, just, uh, not having AC and having to go stay in a hotel for a week or, or two weeks at this time, there's no sort of coverage for that. However, if that becomes a recurring problem, let's just say that happened routinely every single year, I'm sure some company somewhere would get innovative and say, "Hey, maybe we can offer this to people." So that, that would be my, my best guess is, yeah, if there's a demand for it and it's repeatable, there might be an option in the future. But at this time, just, just by itself, no, unfortunately you'll, uh, you'll need to be first so you can get the hotel room locked down and plan ahead.

Christian: [19:47] You'll have to suffer.

Charles: [19:48] Yeah, you'll have to suffer.

Christian: [19:50] Like the rest of us. Yeah.

Charles: [19:51] Exactly.

Christian: [19:53] Okay, let's talk about umbrella policies. I'm sure people have heard the term umbrella policy, but I don't know if most people even know what that is. So what is an umbrella policy?

Charles: [20:01] Yeah, so it might be initially a little difficult to explain, but I'll, I'll do my best here. So I would really equate umbrellas to, like, getting cancer insurance. You know, cancer is something that, let's say you're 25 years old, it should be extremely unlikely to happen, it should be pretty darn inexpensive, and it should kinda cover you for, like, a catastrophic event. So umbrellas kinda do that, but they are gonna be involved in situations where you've hurt someone or something, and now you owe that other party a bunch of money for all that damage you just caused them. So obvious example is gonna be, like, a car accident. So we're all cruising around in these giant heavy, heavy hunks of metal and plastic. They go really fast, and if they hit people, they can cause a lot of damage, potentially millions of dollars worth of damage. And so without insurance, if you owed someone else millions of dollars, that's kind of a financially, you know, crippling amount of money. I mean, most people just can't really fork out even 50 grand if they had to right now. So umbrella policies, what they do is they sit on top of all of your underlying policies. So if you think about most people have a car and a home, some people might have things like boats or motorcycles or ATVs, those are all can be covered as well. But an umbrella essentially is like your reserve fuel tank of insurance. So if you have a bad car accident where you hurt other people and your car policy runs out of coverage and your insurance company says, "Hey, we met our contractual limit, we're done paying," normally, without an umbrella, you would be responsible for anything past those numbers of coverage. Um, the umbrella would step in and start paying where your auto policy or your underlying policy left off. So the idea is if your … You know, most, most auto policies in Washington, they'll cap out at half a million dollars in coverage. So the question is, well, if I'm just because of my net worth or my income, I'm the kind of person that needs more coverage than that because I could be sued for more than that, then you'll definitely wanna get an umbrella policy.

Christian: [21:56] Got it. And does that also come into play for, like, if you have rental policies and someone gets injured on your property? Is it the same scenario basically?

Charles: [22:07] Exactly, yeah. And anyone that has, um, a rental 100% should absolutely have an umbrella as well. If something happens with your tenant and they wanna try and say, "Hey, this was the landlord's fault. He never fixed this. They never did that. My kid got hurt," anything like that, and they try to sue you, you're definitely gonna wanna have an umbrella to kinda match your, your total amount of net worth. Because in a lawsuit situation, I know there's things with LLCs you can do to mitigate what's available in a lawsuit situation, but even given that, your assets are up for grabs essentially if you don't have enough liquid cash on hand to just pay the judgment against you.

Christian: [22:42] Mm-hmm. So that sounds like something that- A lot of people probably should have. Are they cost prohibitive? Are they pretty inexpensive? Like, what's a average cost for an umbrella policy?

Charles: [22:52] I would say for, for most people, if they have, let's say, a car and a house, or maybe two cars and a house, most people it's gonna be about 200 to maybe 250 a year for an extra million dollars in coverage.

Christian: [23:03] Oh, that's nothing. That's absolutely nothing for what you get for that. So that's-

Charles: [23:06] Yeah … yeah. For, for a million dollars in coverage, it's, you know, 20-ish bucks a month, maybe a little bit less. In terms of, like, bang for buck, it's … Yeah, it's, it's the best thing you can get for bang for buck.

Christian: [23:16] Yeah. Yeah, and if you have any rental properties, you should probably have more than a million, and it's probably not that much more.

Charles: [23:21] Yes. Yeah. No, n- it's really not. I mean, you might spend a … I think I had someone get a $5 million umbrella recently, and that was, like, 800 bucks a year. So you can kind of probably get an idea that a couple million is, you know, maybe three, four, 500 a year.

Christian: [23:35] Yeah.

Nicholas: [23:35] So we just went over all of these natural disasters, so I wanna give you guys a short list of the items that you should keep at your house in case of an emergency or a natural disaster. First off, keep your items in a spot where you can easily access them. For instance, in the front corner of your garage is a great spot because even if the structure is compromised, you can probably still get it out Keep it all in a waterproof bin in case of a flood. Or-

Christian: [24:02] Or a fire and-

Nicholas: [24:03] Or- … Speaker: they have to use water to put out the fire and your- Mm-hmm that corner doesn't get, you know, heat that- Mm. Yeah. It, it's, it's very important. Or if you live in an apartment, uh, I'd suggest keeping it, uh, probably in the sturdiest part of your home, especially closer to the, the center of the building in case of an earthquake. I could be wrong about that one. That's what, what I've always done though when I've lived in apartments and condos, is try to keep my, my stuff where I can, you know, where if parts of the building start collapsing and I'm tr- stuck inside, it's, it's still accessible to me, uh, in the safest part of the building. So here's some items that you should have on hand. Water. You can fill your bathtub or you can use, uh, a hot water tank, your, your hot water tank if needed. And have a LifeStraw or some other drinking water container. Y- you can get bins like that on Amazon too.

Christian: [24:57] Yeah, those LifeStraws are like 25 bucks I think, or 20 bucks, something like that, and you can literally put it in… Some of them you can put it, like, right in a river and drink that water and be fine. But water is the biggest one, and it's, yeah, oh so critical to have some on hand. And if you have a water tank, a hot water tank, that's, that's probably one of the first places that you would want to, you know, start using your water in an emergency. 'Cause you got, you know, 30, 40 gallons of water just sitting there that's clean still, um, that you can, you can utilize.

Nicholas: [25:30] Yeah. I don't, I don't remember who it was on the team who said, uh, that, like, they have a LifeStraw or something and as soon as the earthquake happens, they're gonna be sprinting to Green Lake to, to race everybody else- to, to the water before Green Lake is drained.

Christian: [25:44] Yep.

Nicholas: [25:46] But, uh, yeah. So yeah. So water. Uh, cash. If the internet's down- You're gonna wanna have cash.

Christian: [25:53] Mm-hmm.

Nicholas: [25:53] Yeah. Anything that you can barter for things, but you don't wanna have to barter away all your food and supplies. You wanna have cash to get more food and supplies. Um-

Christian: [26:03] Yeah, 'cause if cell phone coverage is down, and Internet's down, and power is out, like, you can't be using your credit cards or your debit machine or anything like that, or an ATM machine. You're gonna need to have cash on hand ready to go.

Nicholas: [26:14] Yeah.

Food: [26:15] longer shelf life, dehydrated foods, uh, or canned foods, uh, that can last years. That's, that's what you're gonna wanna, um, you're gonna wanna pack that in with your emergency stuff. Uh, I like the idea of, like, canned soups and stuff that you don't have to… Like, if you use dehydrated foods, you'll have to use some of your water supply- Mm-hmm … uh, to get that, um, ready to eat. But if you keep, like, canned soups and stuff, you can just open that up and just consume it as is.

Christian: [26:46] And they have a lot of these, like, emergency preparedness containers with ready-to-go food like that at Costco. They have them on Amazon. They have them at REI, all that stuff. Uh, but yeah, if you look online you'll find places that sell these.

Nicholas: [27:01] Yep. And, uh, don't forget about your pet. You should keep some dog food or cat food or, uh, snake food would if it was your, some rats on hand. And don't forget a first aid kit, including masks for air contamination, prescription medication, and anything that you might need for the type of disaster that it is. Maybe keep some, some wipes or something you can use that, you know, like wet wipes. Also, flashlights, whistles, matches in a waterproof case, space blankets- Crank radios because you probably won't be able to plug it into a power source. Power bank to charge your phones and, well, non-crank radios- Mm-hmm … that you happen to have. And did I, did I miss anything?

Christian: [27:49] I think that's it. I mean, power banks are a big one, especially with phones and stuff like that. And you can get those, you know, you can get a really sizable one on Amazon for 100, 200 bucks, something like that, that will last you a lot of charges, as opposed to those little tiny rinky-dink ones that kind of charge your phone on the go, those portable ones. They have some bigger ones. Charles, you got any other things?

Charles: [28:11] Um, I would actually, yeah. The only thing I would say is it's just good advice for everybody. Get your phone on video mode and just take a video of all your stuff. So- Mm … uh, if you do have a, a loss or a disaster to your property, uh, you know, just the way our brains work, it's really hard to remember all the stuff we have. We're gonna forget a lot of things. And then especially anything that has a serial number, like your TVs, laptops. While you're doing your video, just zoom in on those real quick and grab those. And of course, just keep your video stored in the cloud somewhere. And yeah, that's just gonna … It's more for you to remember what it was. Your insurance company's not really gonna require any proof of things so much, depending on what they are. It's just a good memory tool for, for you in case something does happen.

Christian: [28:50] Yeah. That's a really good tip. Really, really good tip. Yeah, you should probably do a walkthrough of your entire house on video, uh, and keep it in the cloud. I don't know how often you should do it. Maybe every three or four years or something, just because, you know, we always get new technology or new furniture or whatever every once in a while, so. All right. Well, I think that is it. Charles, thank you so much for joining us today. Uh, I hope everyone learned a ton. I know I got a lot of really good tips from this. If people want to reach out to you and talk about insurance needs or want to get a quote for any coverage that they're wanting, like maybe an umbrella policy or if they don't have renter's insurance, good God, you need to get it. It's so inexpensive. If you are renting, you should definitely have it. It's very inexpensive and it can definitely help you out. How can they reach out to you, Charles? What's your contact info?

Charles: [29:41] Yeah. The easiest way is to text or give me a call. Uh, my number is gonna be 425-818-9542. Uh, text is a great option if you're just kind of going about your day, maybe you're at work, um, and you don't have a lot of time to chat. We can set up a time that works best for you. I'm flexible and happy to talk with people after work, so if it's at 5:00

or 6: [30:00] 00 and they want help or have questions, happy to talk with people then. So I, yeah, texting is probably the, the easiest way.

Christian: [30:07] Awesome. Well, for Nicholas Toll, I am Christian Nossum with the Nossum & Nossum group. Thank you so much for listening, everybody. And Charles, thanks again for all your time and your insights.

Charles: [30:17] Yeah. Thank you, guys. It was great. Yeah. Thanks so much.

Christian: [30:19] Awesome. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye.

Nicholas: [30:21] Bye.