Rebuilding Your Home After a Disaster
By: Ronda Kaysen, NY Times, September 2017
Catastrophe can arrive at your doorstep in any number of ways: A century-old tree could hit the roof, faulty wiring could spark a fire or a storm like Hurricane Harvey could unleash its fury and yours could be one of countless homes in its path.
Tragedy’s hand might be unpredictable, but the road to recovery is forged in the language of your homeowner insurance policy, words that will determine how — and if — you will be made whole again.
The disorienting months following disaster are often marked by endless Saturdays spent wandering the aisles of Home Depot; afternoons wasted on the phone arguing with your insurance company about the value of an Ikea crib; and critical decisions made at your most vulnerable hour. And all of this often happens while you are living in temporary housing, wondering if your life will ever return to something like normal.
For Ta-Kuang Chang, a 62-year-old lawyer from Pelham, N.Y., life came undone during a windstorm on a Sunday morning in January 2016. He was lying in bed texting his daughter when a 125-year-old tree from his yard crashed through his roof, landing just inches away. Trapped in his room, he waited for the fire department to free him.
Twenty months later, Mr. Chang is still waiting, mired in a protracted dispute with his insurance carrier over repair costs. The disagreement, partly of Mr. Chang’s own making, could leave him on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars and illustrates some challenges homeowners face in the wake of disaster. “I am so worried that I will, in the end, be screwed,” he said.
In 2015, 5.9 percent of insured homeowners filed a claim, with an average loss of $11,402, according to the Insurance Information Institute. How many claims come with headaches? A 2014 Consumer Reports survey found that of the six percent of respondents who filed claims for $30,000 or more, 41 percent reported complaints about things like disagreements over damages or coverage, delays or slow payouts.
“The bigger the claim, the more likely you’re going to run into more resistance from the company,” said Jeff Blyskal, a senior editor at Consumer Reports.
For homeowners facing what is often the biggest crisis of their lives, navigating a complex and sometimes resistant bureaucracy can be bewildering and exhausting.
Navigating the Aftermath
In hindsight, the smell of burning toast should have tipped off Suzanne Kaufman. But September 27, 2010, was a busy morning in the Kaufman home, a 100-year-old bungalow in Glen Rock, N.J. Ms. Kaufman, a medical social worker who is now 43, rushed out the door to take her 3-year-old to preschool while the babysitter fed the 18-month-old baby. “Looking back on it, there was nothing toasting,” she said.
In the few minutes it took to dash from her car to the classroom, Ms. Kaufman missed five calls from the babysitter. The baby was O.K. The house was on fire. Ms. Kaufman heard sirens in the distance and knew they were for her.
She returned home to watch the house that she and her husband, Matthew Kaufman, a lawyer who is now 44, had owned for 20 months burn. By late afternoon, the adjuster from the insurance company charged with assessing the damages was surveying the smoldering property. The loss was total.
“It was like, boom, your house is boarded up,” Ms. Kaufman said.
Vendors, like contractors and companies that remediate smoke, descended on the property. “People are slipping cards under your door, and you just don’t know what to do,” she said. “You are just freaking out.”
Among the business cards being pressed into your hands will be those of some public adjusters, independent insurance experts who can navigate the process for you, albeit for a hefty fee. In New York State, public adjusters can charge as much as 12.5 percent of your settlement. Ms. Kaufman did not see a need for one because at the time she wasn’t working, and she planned to dedicate her waking hours to the task of rebuilding her home. But some homeowners, particularly those with limited time, view a public adjuster as an advocate well worth the fee.
