Bay Area Sweet Digs

January 7, 2008

The Joys of Home Ownership: Follow-up

The Joys of Home Ownership: Follow upThis is a follow-up to the post I barely wrote last Friday. Barely meaning that it was more of an apology than a post because my elderly neighbor’s tree had fallen onto our house and my son and I were busy doing emergency tree surgery. So the good news is that: (1) I was home when the tree fell; (2) my son wasn’t working on Friday and able to round up people to help; and (3) I have nice neighbors who don’t mind standing out in the pouring rain for 2 hours trying to delicately extract a tree from a fence so that no further damage is done to either house or car. The dilemma we had was that the tree was dangerously close to our neighbor’s kitchen window, that the fence was being pushed down onto my car which I could not The Joys of Home Ownership: Follow up move as it was blocked, and that the gutter system on our porch was slowly being ripped off. If we had waited for a tree service, the fence would have fallen onto my car, the gutter system on the porch would be on the ground, and there may have been more damage to our neighbor’s home. So we did the sensible thing. When I say sensible, in hindsight it is about as sensible as talking to the cops when you may or may not have done something wrong—you shouldn’t do it without a professional (i.e. lawyer) at your side. And that may prove very true in our case. Why, you ask? Well, it remains to be seen, but from what our insurance agent has told us thus far is that although it is the neighbor’s tree, anything it damaged on our side is our responsibility, and we have a $500 deductible. So, if we had waited for a professional, it probably would have cost the insurance company a lot of money—for a huge section of fence, the damage to my car and resulting rental car, a new gutter system for the porch, and the tree removal itself. Yes, I still would have had a $500 deductible, but I wouldn’t have looked like a soaked rat and be blowing my nose this morning. Instead, it looks like we will have to cut up and dispose of my neighbor’s dead tree (which ended up on my lawn), and pay to repair both the gutter system and the fence. We will have to do most of this work ourselves, because we have to pay for it, not the insurance (or the owner of the tree itself!). We saved both insurance companies thousands of dollars by being proactive, and in return we get to work even harder to spend the same $500 deductible. Now I realize we got off lucky. Some homeowners had trees cut their homes in half or fall onto their cars, but it just doesn’t seem fair.

What are your insurance horror stories?

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Posted by susan.brady on January 7, 2008 9:14 AM | del.icio.us | Digg

  • Yep, still tapping my foot waiting for the claims adjuster from my insurance company to call. Yes, the neighbors company, Allstate, was quick in handling this issue. Calling within 24 hours, sending a letter within 24 hours, sending out an arborist the next business day. I called on friday and my agent called back on Saturday. Then on Tuesday, while dealing with insurance for a new car, I asked about the claim, and had to fill out a form over the phone to get in the queue for an adjuster to call. The tree is now damaging my lawn, so additional cost is being incurred, the longer this drags on. Such fun.
  • jg
    First off, thanks for sharing this experience. I'm sure it's frustrating to experience this and insurance companies should readily write you a check to cover your expenses. Unfortunately, they often are slow to pay and will haggle you during claims process. Get your money, consider canceling your policy and switching to your neighbor's company (they seem to have gotten in touch quickly?)

    All best! Keep up the great posts. :)
  • JG - I am still waiting to resolve this mess. Any way you look at it, we will be on the hook for $500. That is our deductible. But if we had done nothing until professionals and adjusters came out, there would have been more damage and the insurance company would have been paying out a chunk themselves. And my insurance agent tells me that even tho it is the neighbors tree, any damage on my property is my responsibility. No coverage was waived as yet. An adjuster from my own company has yet to even contact me. I've only talked to the neighbors company and the arborist they sent out. I'm guessing this will be a long saga.
  • jg
    If I read your post correctly, it seems you're saying that you saved money by not taking action and waiting for the tree service to come. Ie. the costs for the fence, damage to your car, rental car costs, replace the gutter system and the tree removal was waived by your insurance company simply because you worked on the site? This doesn't sound right and it would seem your policy may not cover such events. Additionally, ownership of the fence, if not clearly outlined previous documents, will be codified when you replace it. You may want to negotiate with your neighbor to share those costs (a reasonable request, IMO).

    Please confirm whether you're insurance company waived your coverage due to your pro-active nature. Thanks!
  • Susan Brady
    Interesting you should say that SC. While the tree that fell was apparently healthy and we kept it trimmed, we have a large tree in the back yard which suffers from a disease. About 7 years ago we had a tree company come out to give us a quote to remove the tree. The tree shaded almost the whole back yard, got leaf curl, dropped leaves constantly, and was a bit of an eyesore. We were told that it is a heritage tree due to its trunk size and we would have to get a permit from the city. After applying, the result was we had to keep the tree as it was part of the neighborhood tree line. We couldn't even remove and replace it with a healthy tree. We were told we should treat the disease. We appealed as treating the tree would have taken several years and cost significantly more than removing it, as it would also need regular trimming. No luck. Offending tree is still in the back yard--a pain in my behind.
  • sc
    This isnt going to sound very PC to the tree huggers, but the trees in Nor Cal have more rights than people or homeowners here. Many trees here are so old and withered, they should be pruned extensively or choppped down. They are too old and weak to survive. I have seen more damage to property due to old trees up here since I started looking to buy a house. Roots

    I really feel for your situation. Maybe this storm will teach people that pruning trees or removing dangerous ones is a good idea.
  • pop
    Wow, that looks like no fun at all. I'd have assumed you'd done exactly the right thing. What a lousy outcome. Thanks for sharing your story, and your good sense of perspective about it all! I'm sure you've helped many of us avoid the same fate, and costs.
  • In the scheme of things we were lucky. But lessons are learned from such events. Now to deal with two insurance companies, an arborist, etc. The fun never ends.
  • holy moly. I hope everything is okay with your house. the storm was crazy last Friday and the electricity was out for the entire day.
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