5 Essential Steps for Successful Homeowner Claims Representation

John Harcar (00:01.719)
OK, hey guys, welcome back to the show. I’m your host, John Harcar, and we’re here today with Marcela White. And what we’re going to talk about besides her journey in business and real estate, we’re going to talk about how to file insurance claims correctly. Remember, guys, at Investor Fuel, we help real estate investors, service providers, really all real estate entrepreneurs, 2 to 5X their business. And we do that by providing the tools, the resources in the community.

that helps you grow the business you wanna grow, scale it to where you want it to be, which in turn helps you live the life you wanna live. Marcelo, welcome to our show.

Marcela (00:38.286)
Thank you for having me.

John Harcar (00:39.639)
Awesome. mean, looking forward to talking about, you know, insurance claims. I think that is something maybe people don’t do properly or know enough about. But before we get into all that, why don’t you kind of tell our audience about, you know, your background in business and real estate and what brought you to today.

Marcela (00:56.749)
So I have been in the claims industry for the last 24 years. I started my career as an employee in the insurance companies. am a very well-rounded adjuster, and I moved up all the way to management. About three years ago, I decided to do the switch to representing homeowners instead of representing insurance carriers, because in Florida, there were huge changes that

set up an alarm for me where my expertise would be better suited helping people instead of big corporations.

John Harcar (01:35.499)
What kind of changes?

Marcela (01:37.806)
The legislature changed and a lot of the consumer protections were removed.

John Harcar (01:45.055)
Okay, so this prompted you to kind of switch on the other side for what specific reason?

Marcela (01:51.681)
because I was seeing the changes as to less carverages, less claims being paid, more struggle from people to get paid when they were paying higher premiums. There’s an element of integrity that you have as a person and I wasn’t seeing things that were positive for the career and the way that I was trained when I initially started working as an adjuster for carriers.

John Harcar (02:18.804)
Okay, and so then you go and you start working for homeowners. And then what?

Marcela (02:24.704)
Yes, actually I have my own company and I because I have been in the industry for a while I was able to make the switch easily in Florida and then we had at the time we had Hurricane Ian so it was the right timing for me to join the insure side.

John Harcar (02:47.254)
Got it, okay. And then when you joined the insurance side, what were maybe some of the struggles?

Marcela (02:52.652)
A lot of the struggles are the policies that people are getting sold with less coverages, with caps in the age of the roof coverage and the amount of replacement that they would get paid. Also on the water end in Florida, there are a lot of caps up to $10,000 for water damages. They have removed…

Marcela (03:17.782)
dispute resolution methods. basically, if you come to a dispute with a carrier, you would have to hire an attorney. And then on top of that, in Florida, they remove what’s known as attorney’s fees. So if you hire your own attorney, you have to pay them part of your settlement. Whereas before, the insurance carrier, if there was a dispute and they were found liable for it, they paid for your attorney. Got it.

John Harcar (03:43.99)
Got it. do you, so when you have clients, do you educate them on all this? You kind of walk them through all these types of things? Like when they’re filing a claim.

Marcela (03:52.506)
Yes, most of my clientele is referral based business people that I have met throughout the years, families, relatives, worth of mouth referrals. yes, usually in Florida, people are a little more informed consumers. I am also licensed in Colorado and Georgia, where people are not as informed. So I am

Starting to educate customers in those states to retain somebody like me from the get-go so that way they don’t jeopardize their carverages and the amount that they get paid.

John Harcar (04:32.71)
Why did those states not know as much?

Marcela (04:36.548)
I’m not sure. A lot of the public adjusters in those states only take sizable claims. For me, I think that we should be available to the general public and that’s why I have entered to work in those states. I have been able to help some customers.

John Harcar (05:01.362)
Okay, awesome. when, or let me ask you, what kind of mistakes are you seeing people make when they’re filling out claims or what kind of things, you let’s talk about our topic here, filing claims correctly.

Marcela (05:15.076)
One of the main things is they will, let’s say, they either repair too much or they don’t repair at all and they let it go. A lot of the times it’s very late reporting. They’ll have a leak, they’ll notice it, they won’t do something about it and they’ll let it go for two, three months. That immediately is a grounds for denial. Whereas if you see your issue and you stop the leak,

then you have a better position to collect what your damages are.

John Harcar (05:47.414)
What other mistakes are you seeing people make?

Marcela (05:50.005)
Lack of documentation, they’ll rip off the flooring and not take a picture, not take a video, remove or discard the parts that they replace so that way there’s no documentation as to what really caused the loss and for how long it happened or how it happened.

John Harcar (06:09.354)
Yeah, with a lot of the fires out in California and stuff, mean, are you seeing any new things, regulations, any changes or anything in the insurance, know, insurance claims or insurance world that’s coming down like a trends or something like that?

Marcela (06:22.877)
One of the most important trends is that people are not in most states, people are not being paid for replacement costs, even though most policies that they purchase are for replacement cost coverage. Usually the replacement cost coverage becomes applicable once they replace. So I’m seeing a lot of insurers having to fund half of their repairs because the depreciation holdbacks from the carriers are almost half of the amounts that they are calculated to.

make the repairs.

John Harcar (06:53.492)
All right. Okay. So, you know, what advice would you give folks, you know, obviously outside of using you, what advice would you give folks when they’re claims or, you know, just things to make sure they do or look out for?

Marcela (07:08.674)
All of these three states have laws that ban contractors from negotiating coverages and claims. a lot of the contractors will file the claims for people also, like roofers and mitigation companies. And then what ends up happening is that when the insurance starts making a, you know, makes a coverage decision, sometimes they don’t get paid because the roofer

John Harcar (07:17.067)
Why?

Marcela (07:38.552)
does not have the capacity to go with the adjuster and discuss coverages. It can only discuss the value of the repairs. Whereas for me, I am licensed in all three states as required, and I’m able to negotiate all coverages, values, and additional payments.

John Harcar (08:00.151)
Okay. And what makes your service better than the next person we find online?

Marcela (08:06.443)
Statistics show that anybody that is represented by a public adjuster will collect over 100 % more than they would collect on their own. And not only that, but most people don’t really know what’s in their insurance policy. I know everything that will be covered, what is excluded, and if there’s a limitation. And I can guide you through the process from beginning to end and not leave any money on the table.

John Harcar (08:32.502)
Okay, very cool. And I like to ask this for folks before we kind of wind it down. If you look over your time in business or real estate or whatever it might be, insurance claims and whatnot, what do you think are some of the mindset tools you’ve used to kind of keep going and what are some of your keys to success?

Marcela (08:53.156)
have a very thick skin and since I already know that the insurance is a contract, my expectations usually go by what I know. It’s part of the profession and what it’s a business contract, whereas the usual person, they buy the policy, they pay their premium, and they really expect to be compensated once they have a loss. But sometimes that’s not what they buy. So for me,

that it’s guidance that is invaluable and that will help people.

adjust their expectations to what they really have.

John Harcar (09:32.726)
Do you like do you give folks like free consultations? Do you do any type of free reviews or you know just anything that people can reach out and kind of connect with you and just and it might have questions

Marcela (09:46.849)
Our consultation is always free. And actually, even if they think that they have some damage and we know it’s not a claim, we will tell them, don’t file this claim. This is damage that is not going to be covered. So that way, they also avoid that situation where they’ll have a claim filed. And now, next time when they try to renew their policy, it’s going to affect their renewal. So yes, always a consultation and our policy reviews are free.

John Harcar (10:16.982)
Okay, well awesome. If there are folks out here and you said you’re in Florida, Colorado and Georgia, Statewide or any specific areas?

Marcela (10:23.714)
Correct.

Marcela (10:27.351)
In Colorado is mostly Denver and anywhere within the two hour driving range from that metropolitan area. In Georgia we are Atlanta and Valdosa areas and in Florida we are statewide.

John Harcar (10:40.918)
statewide. Cool. And if there’s folks that are listening maybe in those areas that maybe have a claim or just have any questions on claims, how can they best get in touch with you?

Marcela (10:50.174)
My telephone or my email address. The telephone is 954-934-7621 or my email address which is Mwhite at SharpAdjusting.gov.

John Harcar (11:03.914)
Perfect. And before we go, is there any information, words of advice, anything you want to share to our audience?

Marcela (11:10.996)
Always consult with an expert, just like you would do when you have a toothache or when you have anything important. Your home is the most important asset. Consult. It’s important.

John Harcar (11:25.697)
Guys, you heard it here first, consult, get a consultation. Marcel, thank you so much for coming on and sharing this information with us. I mean, I really appreciate it. Guys, I hope you enjoy the content. Hope you enjoyed the show and we will see you on the next one. Cheers.

Marcela (11:43.66)
Thank you for having me.