Suze: January 16, 2025. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money
Suze: podcast as well as everybody smart, smart, smart enough to listen.
Suze: What's today, KT?
KT: Ask KT and Susie, anything
Suze: and everything,
KT: anything. But today's also a really special day.
Suze: Why's that?
KT: Well, I'm just gonna kind of set the stage here
KT: for one of our listeners.
KT: So I get an email that says she is an
KT: amazing woman. I have had the pleasure of being her
KT: friend for 40 years and her husband for 32 of
KT: those 40 years. Now Suze, who do you think that's from?
Suze: I have no idea, right? So tell me, who's it from?
Suze: KT
KT: It's from Michael.
Suze: Yeah, what does Michael
Suze: want?
KT: No, Michael wants us to know that today is a
KT: really special
KT: day,
Suze: All right, and today, so KT just handed me his email, right? And,
Suze: and I'm reading this, and it's like, ah, Janet.
Suze: Janet, the queen of the day, because why it...
KT: Michael loves you.
Suze: Michael loves you. Michael loves you so
Suze: much that he got us to want to wish you
Suze: a happy fifty-fourth birthday.
KT: Suze's favorite number.
Suze: It is. It adds up to a 9, and this
Suze: is a 2025, so this is a 9 year.
Suze: And 9 in both Eastern and Western cultures is material
Suze: and spiritual abundance. So Janet, you're a 54, that's a 9.
Suze: This is a 9 year girlfriend. You're going to have
Suze: a great year with that husband of yours.
KT: Happy
KT: birthday, Janet.
Suze: Yeah, sweetheart, happy, happy birthday. All right.
KT: All right. So let's get started, Suze, because this is
KT: also a continuation of Sunday.
KT: We received so many emails from people listening to Sunday's
KT: podcast which really addressed insurance, the what ifs of life,
KT: everything that one needs to do to prepare for in
KT: the event that you were part of the LA fires or...
Suze: ...any catastrophe.
KT: Any kind of, you know, situation like that.
KT: So I'm going to start with Samantha. She said, Suze,
KT: on Sunday's emotional podcast, you asked us to look at
KT: our insurance policies, and I did. Now I have an
KT: appointment with my agent that truthfully I haven't spoken with
KT: in 7 years. Can you just briefly tell me what
KT: I'm looking for in the policy, Suze? I feel like
KT: I'm in grammar school all over again learning the alphabet.
KT: But I just want to be a little knowledgeable when
KT: I talk to him. So what can you tell her?
KT: What can you tell Samantha?
Suze: So KT, do you know why she feels like she's
Suze: learning the alphabet all over again?
KT: Yeah, because she doesn't know what's in her policy.
Suze: But why the alphabet? Why'd she call it the alphabet?
Suze: You don't know either, do you?
KT: ABC.
Suze: ABC. What's ABC?
KT: A B C D.
Suze: Don't fake it with me, Travis. Don't fake it with me.
Suze: I know when you don't know. And that was your quizzy. Anyway,
Suze: you should see her face. Everybody listen to me.
Suze: It's important that you know how to read your policies,
Suze: and they have different coverages, and they actually call those
Suze: coverages KT coverage A, coverage B, coverage C, coverage D,
Suze: coverage E, coverage F, and so forth. All right. The
Suze: most important of all your coverages, everybody, is coverage A.
Suze: And that's known as the dwelling coverage. How much is
Suze: your structure to your home worth, and that will include
Suze: everything the walls, the roofs, the foundations, the built-in appliances,
Suze: all of those things. And coverage A is what is
Suze: covering fire, windstorm, hail, and those types of perils, and
Suze: a peril is what's happening right now. The fire is a peril.
Suze: However, you have to know that many of the other
Suze: coverages everybody is based on what coverage A happens to be.
Suze: So if you have an amount of coverage A, then
Suze: possibly your other coverages will be a percentage of what
Suze: that amount happens to be. Also, just know.
Suze: That the limits for coverage, they're really based on the
Suze: rebuild of your home, not what the market value happens
Suze: to be, just so you know. Next,
Suze: Coverage B is other structures and coverages, which means all right,
Suze: let's say you have something that's not attached to your home,
KT: Like a garage.
Suze: Like a garage possibly, but it has to be a
Suze: detached garage. Maybe it's a fence or a shed or
Suze: your gazebo or things like that and usually everybody coverage
Suze: B is limited to 10% of the dwelling coverage amount.
Suze: So I want everybody to understand this KT. So if
Suze: coverage A, just let's say, is a million dollars, just
Suze: let's say that's true, then the other structures on your
Suze: property might be limited to 10% of coverage A, which
Suze: would be just $100,000.
Suze: So you need to take all of that into consideration, Samantha,
Suze: when you are looking at your policies. The other most
Suze: important one really, KT is coverage C, which is personal
Suze: property coverage.
Suze: That's what covers your loss of your clothes, your furniture,
Suze: your electronics, all those kinds of things, even appliances in
Suze: certain circumstances...
KT: Artwork, things like that.
Suze: Well, no, not artwork, right, but personal property. Now you
Suze: could have other things that would cover your artwork, but
Suze: usually in personal property coverage it's not artwork.
Suze: However, though high value items such as art KT for
Suze: instance that you just said or your jewelry or collect
Suze: or or collect...
KT: Collectibles
Suze: Or thank you KT, say it again for me.
KT: Collectibles.
Suze: Oh, see why I need her, everybody may have sub-limits
Suze: just so you know, maybe have less where they're they're
Suze: not insured as much unless they're scheduled separately.
KT: All right, so wait, wait, wait, so let me just
KT: ask one.
KT: So if...
Suze: Now there's one more that's really important. There really is
Suze: that everybody really does need to know, and there's actually
Suze: 3 or 4 more, but the next one, the fourth one.
Suze: And this is what's going to come into play for
Suze: most people right now, KT is loss of use or
Suze: additional living expenses, and that's known really as coverage D.
Suze: And what that covers, which is what all of you
Suze: need to make sure that you have in your policy.
Suze: Is the expenses that you're going to incur when you
Suze: can't live in your home anymore due to the coverage
Suze: damage such as this fire that's happening, so it will
Suze: cover things for you such as your hotel bills, your meals,
Suze: your transportation, but you have to know that it's limited
Suze: to 20 to 30% of the dwelling coverage again. So
Suze: do you understand everybody how it always goes back to
Suze: coverage A?
Suze: If you are listed as a million dollars for your home,
Suze: then the most you're going to get in additional living
Suze: expenses coverage D will be 200 to $300,000 which is
Suze: 20 to 30% of coverage A. Just briefly, everybody, and
Suze: you need to have your Suze notebooks out for this. KT,
Suze: I wasn't expecting such a detailed question to begin this
Suze: whole thing, but you just, you just set me up
Suze: didn't you?
KT: I didn't know either. No, I'm clueless as well.
Suze: All right, so besides coverage D, just briefly, there's coverage E,
Suze: which is personal liability coverage. So if somebody's injured on
Suze: your property, coverage F is medical payments to others. But
Suze: here's what's important for everybody, especially right now in LA,
Suze: or that when they suffer a loss like this.
Suze: Part of your policy, everybody has endorsements, and there's one
Suze: for debris removal, very, very important. Are you seeing all
Suze: of those videos and TV coverage of all the debris?
Suze: It's going to take them 9 months to clean up
Suze: all of the debris that the fire left. So you
Suze: have to know that you have debris removal. You have,
Suze: let me think what else there would be. You'd need
Suze: tree and shrub
Suze: damage is it going to cover your policy, the damage
Suze: for your trees and your shrubs, and what about building
Suze: code upgrades? Remember these people now KT in LA, they're
Suze: probably gonna have to rebuild, but when they rebuild, the
Suze: ordinances are gonna be, you have to be even more strict.
Suze: You have to build with special materials and things like that,
Suze: and that may bring up the cost of their current
Suze: building during those repairs. So does your policy cover that
Suze: food spoilage, identity theft protection, and all of those things
Suze: you really have to know, however, what
Suze: your policy excludes, and most policies exclude flooding, earthquakes, mold,
Suze: and neglect things like that. So those are just a
Suze: few things that answer this
Suze: question.
KT: So Suze, what's the one thing Samantha should be looking for?
Suze: Well...
KT: The just one thing in her policy before she speaks
KT: to the agent.
Suze: So Samantha, now that we did the entire podcast just
Suze: on your question, maybe we'll go longer today, but I
Suze: wanted to be thorough that all of you knew how
Suze: your policies are created for you and what you should
Suze: know about them is that KT, there are two ways
Suze: for coverage A her dwelling coverage.
Suze: And is it going to be replacement value or an
Suze: accrued cash value policy?
KT: Who gets to choose?
Suze: She does. A replacement value means that they are going
Suze: to replace it for whatever it costs for her to
Suze: rebuild it.
Suze: The actual cash value is they're not going to pay
Suze: you for what it costs you to rebuild it. They're
Suze: going to take whatever your value was, depreciate it. Let's
Suze: say it was a million dollar home that you bought
Suze: years ago, maybe now the actual cash value, they're only
Suze: going to give you a $600,000. Remember, everybody, they're not
Suze: going to pay you the market value of your home,
Suze: what it was worth.
Suze: Usually your insurance policy is based on what it would
Suze: cost to rebuild, and if you only have actual cash value,
Suze: you're only going to get that amount minus depreciation of
Suze: what you, how long you owned it.
KT: It's not very fair, is it?
Suze: It's fair because you can get replacement value. It's just
Suze: gonna cost you more. So the most important thing, Samantha,
Suze: I would be looking at if I were you.
Suze: I would have a replacement value policy number one and
Suze: I would make sure that I had building code upgrades
Suze: that go along with it.
Suze: Because if you need to rebuild, you're in the fire
Suze: and the upgrades are more expensive, you need to know
Suze: that your insurance company will pay for
Suze: it.
KT: All right, so this next one confused me a little
KT: because I never heard of it before. It's from Josh.
KT: He said, Suze, I live in San Diego. I tried
KT: everywhere to get insurance and no one will
KT: insure me. My mortgage company told me to apply for
KT: FAIR Insurance, FAIR, so I was just curious, is that
KT: a company or is it a kind of insurance?
Suze: It's a,
Suze: it's a,
KT: it said, can you tell me what is the max
KT: FAIR will insure my home for if it's worth $2 million.
Suze: So great question. First of all, fair, I can't say it.
KT: Say fair.
Suze: Fair.
KT: Yeah, that's it.
Suze: Not - don't say "fear" say "fair"
KT: Fair,
Suze: Fair,
KT: fair. OK, good. So she has a speech impediment, everyone,
KT: and when she says fair, it comes out fear.
Suze: Yeah, I don't want to be fear now. I want
Suze: to be fair, yes, fair, fair. OK, so FAIR stands
Suze: for California FAIR plan.
Suze: It's the California's plan, and many states have this, by
Suze: the way, KT.
KT: All called FAIR?
Suze: Yes, but...
Suze: Oh, here we go. Here she goes.
KT: It's not funny.
Suze: So why are you laughing?
Suze: Because
KT: you
KT: can't
KT: say it. It's not funny. OK, so many
KT: states have FAIR.
Suze: Yeah, but I can't say it, but I sure know
Suze: what it is.
Suze: And would I rather know what it is than be
Suze: able to say it?
KT: Tell us what does it mean.
Suze: It means fair access to insurance requirements. Now what's interesting
Suze: is that many of the insurance companies, and you all
Suze: know this, have actually left California.
Suze: They're not insuring you anymore, especially if you live in
Suze: a wildfire area or whatever it may be. In Florida
Suze: they have pulled out of Florida if you live near
Suze: a flood zone or if you're in a hurricane area
Suze: like KT and myself. Again, I use this as an example.
Suze: We have a 2100 square foot condo on the ocean
Suze: that's not that big, everybody.
Suze: Our insurance is $28,000 because we're on the second floor.
Suze: $28,000 a year. Are you kidding me?
KT: What What if we were on the first floor?
Suze: It would be probably $35,000 a year, uh huh, crazy, crazy, right?
Suze: Absolutely nuts anyway. So this happened many, many years ago
Suze: as insurance companies started to pull out.
Suze: Where the states all got together and this fair plan
Suze: serves as the state's insurer what they call of last resort.
Suze: Providing basic property insurance to homeowners, so providing that you
Suze: cannot get insurance to your home through any other insurance company,
Suze: you know this was established KT all the way back
Suze: in 1968 if I'm not wrong, and it's a pool
Suze: of insurers that get together.
Suze: And then they're allowed to resell it. It's this whole thing.
Suze: But anyway, when you cannot get an insurance policy through
Suze: any legitimate insurance company, if there is such a thing,
Suze: I'm sorry to say, but if you can't.
Suze: Then you have to go to the FAIR group and
Suze: then you're in a pool of all insurers. What was
Suze: his question about the $2 million his house is worth?
Suze: How much?
KT: It said, can you tell me what is the max FAIR
KT: will insure my home for if it's worth 2 million
KT: dollars?
Suze: They will insure you, right, but the maximum they will
Suze: insure is for $3 million. Now you all have to
Suze: remember with this kind of insurance, the
Suze: premiums are extremely expensive. The insurance is not that good.
Suze: Remember just a little bit ago I talked about additional
Suze: living expenses. Normally this insurance does not cover additional living expenses.
Suze: I think some of the policies depending on the state
Suze: will allow you to purchase additional living expenses, but it
Suze: doesn't automatically come with
Suze: it.
KT: So you're almost forced to...
KT: You know, abide by their rules and regulations. FAIR is
KT: your last resort.
Suze: Which is
Suze: why it's kind of funny that that's what it's called FAIR,
Suze: I know, but you need to know, listen, at the
Suze: beginning of this year.
Suze: In 2025, the FAIR insurance in California had already insured
Suze: $6 billion of exposure in the Pacific Palisades alone, and
Suze: so it may be possible that their potential losses there
Suze: can be as high as $24 billion so.
Suze: It's just kind of interesting, but if it's all you
Suze: can get, you need to get it, you know, I
Suze: was listening the other day to the TV and Governor Newsom,
Suze: his dad had to get insurance with FAIR and even
Suze: he said on the air.
Suze: It's expensive and not that good, but it's the insurance
Suze: of last resort. All right.
KT: It's your only chance.
Suze: I just have to then add one thing to the
Suze: FAIR question. If they won't automatically give you ALE, which
Suze: is additional living expenses, which you need, then on your own, everybody,
Suze: you can purchase what's called a DIC policy.
Suze: Make my head explode. All right, KT, which is a
Suze: difference in conditions policy which will include ALE coverage.
KT: Where do you get that?
Suze: Well, you would get that through a regular insurance company,
Suze: and there you go.
KT: All right, it's so confusing. All right, let's go to Maxine.
KT: My mom, who is in her early 90s, lost her
KT: home in the fire. She bought it about 50 years
KT: ago and is the only home she's known.
KT: So she said she has listened to you for years
KT: and learned from the Suze Orman show to properly insure
KT: her home, and she followed your advice to the T.
KT: So we are covered there. However, she asked me to
KT: ask you if she rebuilds her home, will she still
KT: be under Prop 13? I thought this was a great question, everybody,
KT: let me, let me finish.
KT: She said she saw on TV how one person lost
KT: their home in the neighborhood and said that all the
KT: property taxes and insurance will be going up after the rebuild.
KT: So now she's so upset that she may lose her
KT: Prop 13 advantages, and that's why she was able to
KT: stay in the house. What can she do, Suze? You're
KT: the only one she'll listen to. Oh.
KT: 90s. She's in her 90s. So first, tell everyone what
KT: is Prop 13. Just briefly, they never heard of it.
Suze: How do you know I know? I know because my
Suze: house is covered in 1975 to be exact, because I
Suze: owned a home in California at the time. Proposition 13
Suze: was passed which stated.
Suze: That you would only have to pay 1% of the
Suze: value for property taxes, and it could never go up
Suze: more than 2% a year based on that figure. That's
Suze: what Prop 13 is. Maxine,
Suze: I have to tell you, I heard that same person
Suze: that you did say that and I was like taking
Suze: my hands and I was doing this with it. What
Suze: was this KT?
KT: She's she's holding her head shaking it.
Suze: I'm like, no, don't tell these people that they're going
Suze: to be worrying and obviously Maxine, you saw it as
Suze: well as I did.
KT: Her mom saw it.
Suze: Now first you have to know if you rebuild your home,
Suze: listen to me closely, Maxine. If you rebuild your home.
Suze: On the same property.
Suze: And due to the damage that happened by a natural disaster,
Suze: which it has, California law will allow you to retain
Suze: your original Prop 13 tax basis.
KT: So now her mom's gonna be really happy.
Suze: However, you cannot rebuild your property and make it substantially bigger.
Suze: It's got to be equivalent in size.
KT: Keep the footprint.
Suze: So keep your footprint. However, listen to me, Maxine, if
Suze: you decide not to rebuild on the same property because
Suze: everything has been destroyed around you and what are you
Suze: gonna do there? There are no utilities, there's nothing and
Suze: you decide not to rebuild there and you decide you
Suze: want to buy a replacement home elsewhere.
Suze: You can also transfer Prop 13 tax bases to your
Suze: new property under what's called Prop 18, but you must
Suze: build or replace your home within 2 years of the
Suze: loss of your original home.
Suze: So just remember I said that and your new home
Suze: must be of equal or lesser value just so you know.
KT: But it can be elsewhere, correct?
Suze: It can be elsewhere.
KT: All right, that's important,
Suze: But that's under Prop 19.
KT: All right...
Suze: Which replaced Prop 60 and 90 in 2021, but
Suze: you don't care about that, do you?
KT: No,
KT: no, no, but let me finish asking one more question
KT: about this. What about someone that had a huge home
KT: and they paid $100 or even $200,000 a year in
KT: property taxes and now their home's gone? What do they do?
KT: And do they get refunds on the what taxes they've
KT: already
KT: paid?
Suze: Yeah, remember.
KT: So what happens there?
Suze: Is that when your house has totally burnt down everybody.
Suze: You still have to pay property tax on the land.
Suze: Listen to me closely now. The house is no longer there.
Suze: So if this person was paying $200,000 a year in
Suze: property tax, which is absolutely possible in California, they no
Suze: longer have to pay it on the home because the
Suze: home isn't there.
Suze: So you should all apply to what's called the misfortune
Suze: or calamity program, and you have to look that up.
Suze: I think you can find it by the way, if
Suze: you go to the assessor's office at your LA what
Suze: would it be logically it would be assessor.lacounty.gov. That's probably
Suze: where it's at.
Suze: And you could apply there for your property taxes to
Suze: be deferred without any penalty or interest number one and
Suze: just know that there will be an adjustment. Now you
Suze: have to understand that you're going to have some adjustment
Suze: the value of the land
Suze: may be worth something, so you might have to pay
Suze: property taxes just on that, but if you do what
Suze: I just told you, it is probable that they will
Suze: defer all of your taxes until everything settles down.
KT: But let me ask another question. I'm just curious if
KT: you already paid
KT: your taxes, your house burns down, and you still have
KT: taxes on the land, you get a refund.
Suze: So if you already prepaid your taxes, KT and I
Suze: prepay our taxes, and usually if you prepay your taxes
Suze: for the year, you get like a 10% or something discount.
Suze: If you have already paid your taxes, let's say $200,000
Suze: they will refund it to you even if you pay
Suze: it month by month.
Suze: If you paid it for January already, they will refund
Suze: your property taxes for you. But even if you still
Suze: owe what you will, property taxes on your land that's empty.
Suze: They will probably defer the property tax on that land
Suze: if you look for the misfortune or calamity program. Just
Suze: that simple. Next, KT.
KT: OK, this is from Gina. She said my twin brother
KT: was staying at an AirBnB. He had to evacuate and
KT: as he was driving his car was stuck in traffic
KT: while everyone was evacuating.
KT: And he had to abandon it. He had to leave
KT: that he's one of these guys who had to leave
KT: the car in the mess there. He got everything out
KT: and totally loaded his car with clothes, everything.
KT: He just found out it was lost to the fire,
KT: so the car is completely destroyed as well. He told
KT: me he only had liability insurance on his car, but
KT: it was a really old car. I told him not
KT: to worry. His insurance will take care of it. So
KT: now Gina is asking Suze, did I tell him correctly?
Suze: (Suze makes the wrong answer sound)
KT: She didn't.
Suze: Now listen, your car insurance for it to take care
Suze: of the car.
Suze: Would have to have comprehensive insurance on it, and that
Suze: would take care of the car and the contents, the contents,
Suze: KT usually are taken care of by your home insurance
Suze: or your renter's insurance. Now I'm not sure if he
Suze: has those things. He might not own a home. I
Suze: don't know, but his car itself,
Suze: it is not insured because liability is not comprehensive, so yeah,
Suze: it's comprehensive that will pay for damages that are caused
Suze: by non-collision events, KT such as fires, floods, thefts, or vandalism.
Suze: Now let's just say if any of you have a
Suze: car that was in your garage or near your home
Suze: and the fire caused damage to both the house and
Suze: the car, your homeowner's insurance would cover the house and
Suze: its contents, excluding the car while your auto would be
Suze: covered by your auto insurance if you have comprehensive. If
Suze: you have something inside the car, that's house insurance. All right, next.
KT: OK, it gets so confusing.
Suze: This is that's
Suze: why this is good. It's a podcast.
KT: So next is from, um, Lila. She said, Suze, who
KT: pays for all the debris removal that's covered by insurance?
Suze: So if it's covered by insurance, all right, if you
Suze: have removal of debris insurance, which I talked about briefly
Suze: with Samantha in our first question, then your insurance policy
Suze: will cover it. If you don't, then you're gonna have
Suze: to pay for it out of your own pocket.
Suze: All right, but you know, KT, I just want to
Suze: tell you something with debris removal is that be very careful, everybody,
Suze: I'll never forget during the Oakland fires when a lot
Suze: of my friend's house turned to ash.
Suze: And they'd be out there and somebody would come up
Suze: and say I can remove all of this debris. It
Suze: will be $1000 or whatever it was going to be
Suze: and if you just pay me directly and then give
Suze: this to the insurance company, they'll cover it and a
Suze: lot of people did that.
Suze: And it wasn't legit, so do not pay any contractor
Suze: or anybody who's offering to do anything unless it is
Suze: cleared by your insurance company. Do you hear me? OK,
Suze: go on KT.
KT: So this one, this one is just called Frustrated. No name,
KT: I just got frustrated. I heard your podcast last Sunday.
KT: And the question I have is, why does the mortgage
KT: company receive my insurance payout? That just isn't right, Suze.
KT: I live in Sonoma, which is an area that has fire,
KT: so how can I make it so that if my
KT: house does burn down, the insurance company pays me?
Suze: Own your house outright. That's the only way. That is
Suze: the only way.
Suze: Because listen to me frustrated, your mortgage company has an
Suze: interest in your property. You're able to own that property
Suze: because they lent you the money to do so, so
Suze: they are one of the first pays on that policy
Suze: because they have a stake in it. It's collateral for
Suze: the loan.
Suze: So to protect their interest, they are required to have
Suze: their name as a loss payee like I just said
Suze: on the insurance policy. Now the lender, the reason it
Suze: goes to them.
Suze: Is that they want to ensure that the insurance money
Suze: is used to either repair or rebuild your property or
Suze: pay down the mortgage balance. So that's why and that's
Suze: how it works.
KT: All right, all right, this next one from Pablo, I
KT: think you already answered, but let's just go through it
KT: one more time for those of us that forgot.
KT: Pablo said, Suze, my aunt has FAIR insurance plan and
KT: lost her home. Does she have to rebuild on the
KT: same lot, same footprint, right?
Suze: No, under the California Fair plan, you're not required to
Suze: rebuild on the same lot if your home is destroyed. However,
Suze: make sure your aunt checks her policy because it's really
Suze: dependent on what she signed up for and what she
Suze: is covered for.
Suze: And what restrictions may be imposed by her mortgage lender.
Suze: All right, next, KT.
KT: All right,
KT: so Suze, so JJ wants to know, do we have
KT: to continue to pay our insurance policy premiums and utilities
KT: even if our house is destroyed or gone?
KT: I also have outstanding bills I owe for cable, internet, etc.
KT: Any advice on if I have to pay them, like
KT: what does he do?
Suze: Yeah, so the very first thing you all need to
Suze: understand is that you have to keep paying your insurance policy.
Suze: And the reason that is, is that they're the ones
Suze: who are covering you for this loss. If you stop
Suze: paying them, then your coverage will no longer be in place.
Suze: It won't be active, and you have just lost everything.
Suze: So to receive a payout from your insurance company for
Suze: the damage, your policy must remain active. So that's what
Suze: you need to know, number one.
Suze: Also, your mortgage lender is going to require you to
Suze: maintain your insurance on this property even if it is destroyed,
Suze: and that's what insures the lender's financial interest in your property.
Suze: What you should do, however, is you can contact your insurer,
Suze: make sure you notify them immediately about what happened, and
Suze: they will guide you through the claims process and everything. So, JJ,
Suze: you know what costs are covered and what are not.
Suze: Now what's interesting is that you also need to know
Suze: they cannot drop you.
KT: So that's my next question.
Suze: You have a question like that?
KT: Yeah, let me, let me read it to you. This
KT: is from Rosita. Wait, can my insurance company cancel me
KT: during our rebuild? And if our insurance company is giving
KT: us trouble, what do I do? So there you go.
KT: Rosita has that exact question. Can they cancel her?
Suze: So before I answer her, can we for a second,
Suze: can we go back to JJ because he wanted to
Suze: know what should he do. So.
Suze: JJ, you are to contact immediately your electrical company, your
Suze: gas company, your water company. Call all your utility companies
Suze: and report the destruction of your home, obviously, and do
Suze: what's called a service disconnection, and this will stop future billing.
Suze: For cable and internet, contact your provider to cancel or
Suze: suspend that service as well so because you're no longer
Suze: able to use it. Now it is possible that many
Suze: of these companies have what's called a disaster relief program
Suze: which they will make it that you don't have to
Suze: really pay even a back bill or something like that
Suze: just check with your company and find.
Suze: Out also for many of you who may be moving
Suze: let's say you move somewhere, they also may be able
Suze: to relocate your service KT to your new address so
Suze: you don't have to go through all the additional cost
Suze: and everything of setting it up all over again. All right,
Suze: who was it who asked her the other question?
KT: Rosita
Suze: And so here's what you need to know is that
Suze: your insurance company.
Suze: Must continue to reinsure you during the rebuilding process for
Suze: at least 2 years, KT, after the disaster, and they
Suze: are likely to insure the rebuild home as long as
Suze: you are meeting their requirements. So if it's taking longer
Suze: to rebuild, they'll continue to insure you.
Suze: But what's important for you to know is that if
Suze: insurance problems arise and this happened a lot KT during
Suze: the Oakland fires, then there is legal recourse. All of you,
Suze: you don't have to be powerless in these situations, and
Suze: that's through the Department of Insurance. So if you contact
Suze: the Department of Insurance, they will help you now if
Suze: for whatever reason
Suze: your insurance company decides not to renew you after the
Suze: two-year period, that's when you go to the California FAIR
Suze: plan if nobody else will do so.
Suze: All right.
KT: All right,
KT: my last question is from Donna.
KT: She said, Suze, how long do I have to rebuild?
KT: It's so hard when I haven't been able to even
KT: get in touch with my agent. This is a big
KT: problem going on right now, Suze, she said. His voice
KT: mail is full. I can't even leave a message. Should
KT: I even think about rebuilding and just take the money
KT: and run and just become a lifelong renter?
Suze: No, no, no, cause if you just take the money
Suze: and run.
Suze: And you don't rebuild. Then, Donna, all you're going to get,
Suze: even if you have been paying for replacement value is
Suze: the actual cash value. That is it, and you're out
Suze: of there. You still then do own the property, however,
Suze: and you could sell that as well, but
Suze: You know how I just said a few seconds ago
Suze: that they have to insure you for 2 years, KT
Suze: and things like that. The reason I said that is
Suze: that most insurance companies do give you anywhere from 12
Suze: to 24 months to rebuild or repair your home. In
Suze: this particular situation, they'll probably give you longer than that,
Suze: but remember.
Suze: Everything takes time, so you have permits you have environmental
Suze: so just make sure you stay in touch, Donna, with
Suze: your insurance company to understand your deadlines and requirements and just,
Suze: just stay in touch with them and do what they
Suze: ask you and.
Suze: You could rebuild, sell, and then become a renter if
Suze: you want.
KT: Suze, what do you think's going to happen to the
KT: real estate value like just in Pacific Palisades?
Suze: So listen, we're already way over our 30 minutes. I'll
Suze: do a thing on real estate on Sunday, everybody, and
Suze: what I really think's happening in the United States, do
Suze: you remember a long time ago I said to all
Suze: of you when
Suze: I was on CNN and they wanted to do a
Suze: thing with me. What is your greatest nightmare? And my
Suze: greatest nightmare was what was happening with insurance and real estate.
Suze: So for all of you who always have wanted to
Suze: invest in real estate, you think real estate is the
Suze: only way to invest, and you're just stuck on that.
Suze: Just remember what just happened. So KT, everybody is loving
Suze: that we changed the theme song. You didn't want me to,
Suze: did you?
KT: I just love um what Sia created, but I think
KT: what you're playing right now is more... is more appropriate.
Suze: Yeah, our theme song really for this year, I'm going
Suze: to keep it as KT Together we will rise because
Suze: this is going to be a problem that I know
Suze: just happened in LA, but it's going to come up
Suze: in other places again whether it's a hurricane or a
Suze: tornado or anything, right? And even though our overall theme.
Suze: This year is make your money, make more money. And
Suze: hopefully by listening to this podcast, we are helping you
Suze: making your money, make more money.
Suze: The truth of the matter is the strongest thing we
Suze: can do, the best thing we can do is stick
Suze: together because together what will happen, KT, we will rise.
Suze: See you Sunday, everybody. Bye bye.