Moore Mortgage Solutions

    The first part of this series I talked about was having three emergency types of funds.

    An important aspect to remember is that your home is not a savings account. If your home should be lost in a fire or a flood and you have used your home as your savings/retirement account, your savings/retirement account just went up in smoke or was washed away in a flood.

    Another interesting note...when I was in Florida this past week, I was talking to a man whose home was blown away by Hurricane Charlie four years ago. He told me that he is still waiting on FEMA to pay him back for the allowable reimbursed expenses he incurred.

    Please do start putting together those emergency funds. And even if you don’t have to use them for an emergency, you will always have the peace of mine that you can survive a disaster.

    The second part of this series is about your homeowners’ insurance policy.

    This is another area we tend to overlook. We either don’t review it annually or sometimes we skimp on what we want to insure. Only 25% of insurance agents are pro-active on doing a yearly review with their clients so is up to you.

    Though most policies have an inflation addendum for building costs it may not always be enough for your area. My insurance policy clearly states it is my responsibility to make sure my home is insured against significant losses.

    We also tend to forget to tell our insurance companies what we’ve done to our homes. Don’t let all that money and hard work you’ve done on a re-model go up in smoke or be washed away by a flood.

    And as we live longer and make more money, our discretionary income increases. We tend to buy more expensive items such as art work, sculptures, and we inherit from our families.

    Though the money can’t really replace personal items in our hearts such as your great grandmother’s wedding china, the toy wooden truck that your grandfather made for you, or your favorite stuffed animal when you were growing up, we may be able to find a piece or two on EBay.

    It is always better to be safe than sorry. So please go around your home, photograph those most precious items, get them appraised and insured. You’ll be glad you did it.

    The third part of this three part series will be on how to protect your most valuable documents and will be posted within the week.

    In the meantime, if you wish to talk to me about how to set up the emergency funds through the equity of your home and how better to protect yourself, please feel free to call or email me.

Until then, make every day an inspired day!

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

betsy@mooremortgagesolutions.com