Navigating Insurance Amid Wildfires: Donald Marquez on Coverage Essentials and Rebuilding Challenges

Wesley Knight 0:00
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Donald Marquez 0:25
Good morning. This is your insurance connection. I'm your host. Donald Marquez, on your insurance connection, we talk about saving money on auto insurance, homeowners insurance, yes, and we talk about life insurance. Welcome to the show you.

Good morning. Thank you for tuning in. My name is Don Marquez. This is your insurance connection. Broadcasting. KU env, 91.5 jazz and more. Early Sunday morning, from 8am to 830 Welcome to my show. I'm a licensed insurance broker right here in the state of Nevada, California for life insurance and all over 48 states in our beautiful country for home and auto insurance. Right now we have a moratorium. As you can understand, in the state of California, cannot write homeowners or auto insurance in the state of California. Now we can offer you life insurance in California. Let's talk about California a little bit. People are concerned, and my heart, my prayers go out, and my heart is just really broken to see the devastation. I love California. I just do it's a neighboring state, and it's only with 45 minutes across the state line, getting into the San Bernardino County, you're only talking about three hours away from Vegas. It's just like we're a suburb, but California, because a lot of Californians have relocated here in Southern Nevada. However, with the fires, with the fires, if you know someone, or you listening to the program and you have lost your home with your insurance policy, and they have what we call a loss of use coverage. In your homeowners insurance policy, there is a clause called loss of use, not only a homeowner, but also a renter. If you're a renter, you can use your loss of use. Now, what does that mean? Loss of use means, means that if you are displaced in this situation because of a fire and you need to relocate, they'll pay your additional living expenses up to 12 months. The insurance company will pay your additional living expenses up to 12 months. Now let's say if your loss of use is $100,000 they will not give you the money all at once. They'll, they'll stretch it out for, probably for the next 12 months, or maybe even 24 months. Now that we have this, I don't know if they're categorizing this as a natural disaster or a catastrophic disaster. It concerns me when it's a catastrophic disaster, because, you know, policies could be, you know, maybe not honored for coverage. Some people have fire policies for their homeowners insurance in the state of California. Now, what a fire policy does only pays for the to rebuild the building. It does not take care of any of the personal assets that you may have on a fire policy only keep that in mind, fire policy is only to restore the building of the house, not restore your personal property. Now again, my hearts go out to the people that are first of all, the people lost their lives in this tragic fire, and also people that you know lost their property. And if you can't go home to your property because, you know, they're probably taking precautions because of the toxic fumes. You know, people are very devastated. They're really upset. You know, keep in mind, when you lose a home like this and a devastating fire with all these with all the losses, it's going to take the family members that lost their homes quite some time before they get their house rebuilt. Yes, keep in mind, because we're talking about a lot of devastations here in a short period of time, and the construction crews have to assemble together. They have to be plans drawn up for for the home to be rebuilt, submitted to the submitted the plan submitted. I mean, it's just a lot building materials. There is a lot going on right now, and the people that lost their homes probably won't if they plan to rebuild, because the insurance companies have identified them to rebuild. It's going to take some years. It's going to take years, you know, and I don't think in Las Vegas we realize the devastation. We see a lot on television. We see a lot on television. But, you know, I just cannot imagine knowing my home is gonna, you know, possible burn down because there's a roaring fire right around the corner from my house. My neighbors are losing their home. You know, we can only watch on television, and we can, you know, the people that. Are affected, our prayers go out to an organization that do help the people that are impacted by this. You know, fire devastation again, the loss of use will help right now to give you funds to relocate and perhaps rent an apartment or a home so your family will have shelter until you can go back to your house. It's going to be a long time. It's going to be a few years before your house is fully rebuilt, if they rebuild it, because, to my understanding, most people over there didn't have homeowners insurance because it wasn't offered. And people probably pay cash for their house. And as well, you know, I pay cash from my house. I live in the hills, and, you know, I I can't get insurance because it's expensive, or I won't pay for it because it's too expensive. So there's going to be some some vacant land for a while because, you know, people just didn't buy the homeowners insurance, or they felt like, you know, this is this won't happen to me. Nothing's going to happen. I've been around for a long time. No one lives in this perfect bubble. This is why you have insurance. This is why it's very important to have insurance. Because, you know, buying a home is probably one of the most expensive assets you'll ever own. You know, other than owning the business and but a home, this is where you live now. You have to protect your property by having homeowners insurance right now in the state of California, again, I cannot write a homeowners insurance policy or renters insurance policy or landlords policy, because all the insurance companies that I do represent, they have a moratorium against California right now that we cannot write policies for home or auto, but I can write life insurance in the state of California, of course, Nevada. Now, a lot of people probably will relocate to Nevada, and especially southern Nevada. I just hope landlords don't take advantage of this situation and say, You know what, instead of getting $1,500 a month rent. Maybe I can get $2,000 a month rent with a new tenant. And, you know, someone is devastated by the fire, had to relocate to Nevada, you know. And I can see property going up and in the state of California, especially southern California, you know, because I think people, it's supply and demand, that's what it comes down to, and it's unfortunate, but I really feel bad for the people in Southern California, especially the ones you know on television we see, you know, the, you know, the really nice estates burning up. Unfortunately, that's unfortunate too. But a lot of those people live in those multi million dollar homes. They have, you know, means to rebuild. They have the funds to do it a lot, probably a lot quicker. But I'm not thinking about the people that, you know, own a three bedroom house to, you know, they have a family to two car garage, you know, they pay, you know, whatever they pay for the house, or they've been there for a very long time that families passed it down, and they don't have the money to rebuild right away, they have to wait on the insurance companies making their decisions. My name is Don Marquez. I'm very concerned about, you know, the people in California, what they're going through. And my heart goes out to them, and my prayers go out to them, but we can help them by donating funds to, you know, there's different charities out there, that out there to help the people that's been devastated by the fires. However, the insurance companies, you know, this is why it's important to have an insurance review. I talk about that many, many times on this program, insurance reviews, it tells you exactly what your policy will cover. It tells you exactly now, in those and these fires, people have lost everything, clothes, furniture. Now, with a homeowners policy, it should take care of your personal property if you don't have a fire policy. Now, if you're a landlord and you have a landlord's policy, that's called a fire policy, you're not you're not protecting your, your your tenants personal items, so your your tenant is responsible to have renters insurance to take care of their personal items. And as a renter, you can file a claim. If you have a renter's insurance policy, you can file a claim for loss of use that that gives you extra money to relocate to another property. Now this is a limited coverage you know, you have to contact your insurance company to see what your coverages are. My name is Don Marquez. This is your insurance connection. I'm a licensed insurance agent in the state of Nevada, California and the 40 other 48 states, but in California, right now, I cannot ride any home auto insurance. I can write life insurance. I can help you with the life insurance policies. Just giving you a heads up, this is ongoing. I'm receiving calls, people asking me questions about, what can I do? What's the first thing I need to do? Yeah, well, the first thing you need to do is call your insurance company and file for the loss of use claim to have additional money to relocate. Now, I think it's going to be influx of people coming here to Southern Nevada, because where they're going to live, if they have no homes in California, everything's, you know, everybody's occupying their home. They probably come here to Southern Nevada. You know, we're probably gonna see a lot of people coming to Southern Nevada, and that could cause an influx in our property values going up, because people gonna look for a place to live. People need a place to live. They realize, okay, it's gonna take how many years to get my house rebuilt? Oh, it's gonna least three to four years before we can get to you, because the construction crews are going to be stretched thin.

You know, it takes about anywhere from six to nine months to build a home with construction crews. That's a lot of work, that's a lot of building materials, that's a lot we probably see an increase and in our homeowners insurance policies, because we all share the risk. Unfortunately, that's the way it is. So if you, if you understand the way I understand insurance, and I've been doing this almost 30 years, everybody you know is is sharing the risk, and we may see rates increase within our homeowners policies right here in Southern Nevada. My name is Don Marquez. For more information, you can contact me at 702236, 702-236-2624, 702-236-2624, I want to keep it positive. I don't understand why they don't contain the fires as soon as they happen. You know, get a fleet of water trucks with the sprayer on top and just just spray everywhere that would that's, to me, that's a common sense solution to a very serious problem with the fires in California. They're right next to the ocean. You know, I would irrigate, to irrigate the whole entire state. Irrigation is very important to have irrigation. I don't get it. I really don't. I mean, maybe someone can explain to me, how do these fires get that out of control? I know the winds have a factor in all of this, when the wind shift, but here in Southern Nevada, we don't see the smoke, so I don't know what direction the wind is blowing. So we don't see the smoke. It is a lot of smoke in California right now, especially Southern Cal but I don't know. It's just, it's just really bad and, and my heart goes out, I can't express it enough, the coverages on your homeowners insurance policy, loss of use, I covered that a little bit any liability protection. You may even have suffered liabilities, uh, again, go over your to go over your coverages with your company. I know they get a lot of calls, uh, five people filing claims. They want to know what's happening, what happened next. But the very, very first thing you can do is file a claim for the loss of use so you have additional money coming in every month to relocate, to find your home you can rent while your home is being rebuilt. It's going to take a while. Now, the loss of use is not going to cover your mortgage, because you want to keep that in mind, it's going to pay you enough to for for additional living expenses, but it will not cover your mortgage. Now, depending on what your mortgage company, I see this is a lot of moving parts with this. Do you still continue to pay your mortgage because your house is no longer there? I don't know. This is really bad, you know? I don't or if you own your home with no renters and with no homeowners insurance, well, you know, you, you, you're a total 100% responsible to rebuild your home. My name is Don Marquez. I'm a licensed insurance broker. My Location is on the corner Sahara Rancho in the US bank center located on the eighth floor, 702236262470223

620, 626, 24 let's sit down and have a insurance review. Let's review all your insurance coverages. Let's make sure your homeowners insurance policy has a right to coverages. When people call around for insurance to get different quotes, and you're looking for the least cost to insurance possible to insure your property, your auto, you get what you pay for. Folks, you really get what you pay for. So if you searching around for that low cost coverage, you know, as an insurance professional, we can't adjust the rates. Only thing we can do is just eliminate certain coverages that you feel like you don't want to pay for. Now, because you're looking for the lowest cost possible. But you know, a lot of you going to quickly find out. You're going to find out when you buy the low cost insurance, you're probably eliminating valuable coverages that you really do need, especially right now, and the state of California, Southern California, that probably. Experiencing as well as, okay, no problem. We you know, everything's covered. Don't worry about it, Mr. Mrs. Insured. We got you covered. Or you may call your insurance company said, Well, you know, you you eliminated certain coverages, and you reduce certain coverages, and this is what you get now. It may not be enough to rebuild your home. You know, I've had people call me in my many years in this business. I remember one time I received a phone call a lady just paid. How much you should pay close to $375,000 for a townhouse. She told me. She said I paid cash for my townhouse. I only want to insure it for $6,000 I couldn't believe she told me that. She said, I only want $6,000 coverage on my home. That's it. I said, Why $6,000 that's an odd number. She said, Well, that's all I need. Is $6,000 on my home. I said, you paid cash for your home. I'm not going to insure your home for $6,000 you need to find an agent that will do that for you. I'm not the agent. I do have integrity, and I like to sleep at night, but I don't want to receive a phone call and all of a sudden you have a loss or a partial loss or a total loss, and you only have $6,000 of property damage on your home. Or you know, that's not going to work for me. I don't operate that way. But there are some agents out there that don't mind writing that policy to get to get the business. But you know, it does have to clear underwriting because that's a problem. When you write a policy as an agent, it does have to go through underwriting approval. But you know, some of these people, they know how to, you know, twist and twist and eliminate certain coverages, and all of a sudden, you find out now, well, it wasn't worth it just to save $50 for the year, or, you know, used to maybe save $150 for the year. It just wasn't worth it. It's important to have an insurance review, to review all your insurances, your home, your auto and, yes, your life insurance, so make sure you are properly covered. And, you know, it's one of these things, you know, if you have it, great if you don't have it, well, you know, you're really taking a chance. You're rolling the dice. It's a risk that you're taking. You know, Richard Pryor said years ago, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and then not have it. I understood that, then I understand it. Now, insurance is one of these invisible coverages that you know you don't you only need it when, when there is losses that occur, and there's a lot of losses and loss of lives. Yeah, people have lost loved ones with these fires, and hopefully they had some type of insurance to cover these losses, not only physical losses with property, but you know, people lose their life and hopefully, hopefully they had life insurance to to put their loved ones to to rest. So as an insurance professional, I come on the air every Sunday morning right here and be 91.5 jazz and more, and talk to you about the importance of having homeowners, auto life insurance and have the right coverages. I know we all looking for that low cost insurance, but again, you get what you pay for. Not to say, my insurance is more expensive than others, I'm very competitive, but I want to make sure that when you when you do have a loss, you are covered. 702-236-2624, my name is Don Marquez. This is your insurance connection. Let's talk about some things that right. It's happening right here in Las Vegas, Nevada. Your real Nevada, Real ID. Now we have until May 7 of 2025, to get your REAL ID that's putting the star on your driver's license. So you need to make an appointment with the DMV to get that star on your driver's license. It's a star they put on your driver's license. So when you go to the airport, they'll just let you through. I don't, I don't understand it, but you do have to make an appointment to go to the department of motor vehicle. You have to have proof of identity. Now, this is, this is what's very important. You can have your Social Security or card with you, and proof of Nevada residents that so say, so they're going to ask for documents, proof of identification, and you just can't show them your driver's license. Here's my driver's license, you know, proof of social security number, and maybe two documents, proof of Nevada residents. And how do you prove that you're a Nevada residents? You can take in two utility bills along with your social security number a card and show them that you are who you are. This is what it takes when you so don't make the appointment at the department of motor vehicle without having proof of Nevada residents. And that's two documents. Maybe a power bill, water bill would do. Do It and and take your social security number in there. Now, women that have been married change your last names. I think it's unfair that what you go through because you have to show proof of name change with the department of motor vehicle. You know, to my understanding, people are getting married and they're keeping their maiden they're keeping their names every day. And I shouldn't say maiden name, but they're, you know, the wife. I'm gonna keep my name, and you keep your name, and it causes less confusion, especially if a woman's been married more than once. You know if you you know if you've been married more than once and you've changed your name, let's say a woman been married three times now she has to go to the DMV and show all that proof of, I who she really is. I think that's, you know, that we need to, we need to fix that. But it, you know, proof of name change is a real thing with the Department of Motor Vehicle getting the real ID. My name is Don Marquez. You need again, one more time, proof of name change, proof of social security number and proof of Nevada residents taking two documents, and maybe a cable bill, of phone bill, a utility bill, but you need two documents proving who you are to get to star on your driver's license by way of appointment. 702-236-2620 470, 47022362624, and many, many times I've talked in the show I offer auto insurance, homeowners, boat, motorcycle insurance, renters insurance, life insurance is something that we all need, we all must have. Too many times people lose a loved one and there's no money to bury your loved one. Very burial today is in the upper 15 to $20,000 for traditional burial to bury a loved one today. And when you go to the funeral home and you look at these different options they have, and they said, Okay, here's all the services that we're providing that is not including the cemetery fees that you have to pay for. That's a different fee. You have to go to the cemetery. Now you go to the cemetery. So, okay, how much is it to bury my love on what applied, that's separate from what the funeral services cost. Now you have to be prepared for this. If you're not financially prepared for this, how are you going to put your mother to rest? Your father to rest? Your grandparents to rest? If they don't have any life insurance, you're going to be caught off guard. We are all caught off guard and not ready for you know, coming out of pocket, almost $20,000 $20,000 today will get someone bare and the prices go up to my understanding, every six months. This is why it's important to have a life insurance policy. I have life insurance policy. I make it very easy to apply for we, you know, we can. You can select the due date between the first and the 28th of each month for the money to come out of your account, especially if you're really bad with saving money. If you're really bad with saving money, this is a tax free benefit, a life insurance policy. I have a whole life term and universal life now, the whole life product is up to $35,000 in coverage, but that's a final expense policy to cover a burial. Now keep in mind all three policies are tax free benefits, and if, when you receive a life insurance policy, regardless of a face amount, you don't pay any money on the taxes, make sure your primary beneficiary information is up to date. What? What do I mean by that your primary beneficiary is still living.

Or if you don't have a primary beneficiary, and you don't have a contingent beneficiary, because your primary beneficiary either passed or maybe even got a divorce, and you took, you've taken your primary beneficiary off as a spouse, you need to add on a new primary beneficiary, because you don't want without any beneficiaries, your policy could go on a probate to the next account. And who know? Who knows how long that will take before the insurance company said, Okay, well, we'll pay now. That's more time spent. If you need to change the beneficiary, just contact your life insurance company and ask for a change of beneficiary form. A change of beneficiary form, well, you write who you want your primary to be, or contingent beneficiary. Now, contingent beneficiary is a person that's in place, and just in case, the primary beneficiary passes before the insured individual passes, they are automatically move up the contingent beneficiary moves up in the primary position. Now, if you want to have more than one primary beneficiaries, you can divide that up, maybe 6040, 20% each. However you want to do it, that's up to you. And if you want to leave money to a travel terrible organization like your. Research. Perhaps you can do that too as well. Now some people, I've seen this too. When they fill out the beneficiary, they fill out a beneficiary as a funeral of mortuary. They say, Okay, I want to get at least 40% to the mortuary on a smaller policy. So on a smaller policy that you know, let's say a $20,000 policy, you can fill out the information this so the funeral home can receive whatever it takes to bury you on a percentage. That's the best way I can say that. So if it costs $15,000 to bury you have a $20,000 policy that's 75% going to the funeral home that you want to make sure they get the money, because your beneficiary has full control of what they want to do with the money. Now, when a person passes, your first step is to take the life insurance policy into the funeral home and start, you know, the process of getting a funeral paid, the funeral home would take their proceeds out first, you know, they they Okay, we got this cost, this cost that all down the line, the limos, the casket, the container. I mean, it's just a lot, and then whatever, what's left, the primary beneficiary, or the primary beneficiaries, will contact the life insurance company along with the death benefit to receive the balance of the funds. It's a lot, and I know if I talk too fast, you can always contact me for more information at 702-236-2624, 702-236-2624, just trying to get it all in. In the short period of time, we have here at KU and V 91.5, jazz or more, if you would like to add a child rider on your policy, as long as your child is 17 years or younger, you can add them on your policy without a physical. Now, when they turn 25 they will spin off on the life insurance policy, and they will be offered their own life insurance policy. Hopefully they'll pay for it. You know, person that's that young is not really thinking about life insurance. They're really not as parents, we probably have to take care of that for a while before they start start seeing the value of having life insurance. I've been licensed in the state of Nevada, California for a very long time. I've seen a lot of different scenarios when people come in and they don't have any life insurance, they just lost a loved one, they paid for very expensive funeral, and they don't want to go through it again. They said, Oh, we can't do go through this again. We need life insurance. And if you are diabetic, lupus, a history of cancer, don't, don't, don't think you cannot get life insurance. I've helped, I've helped many people over the many years, being in service with with people with diabetes, with lupus, history of cancer, multiple sclerosis. You know COPD, you know, even if you have AIDS or HIV, and you're over 40 years young, I can get your life insurance policy. My name is Donald Marquez, or you can call me Don Marquez. My office located on the corner of Sahara Rancho in the US bank center or work bar appointments, only, 702-236-2624, 702-236-2624. I All right, hey, we'll we'll do this again next week. Until then, just keep it crispy. Thank you for listening. Bye.

Navigating Insurance Amid Wildfires: Donald Marquez on Coverage Essentials and Rebuilding Challenges
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