The Property Insurance Mistakes Costing Real Estate Investors Thousands

Scott Harris (00:00)
Reputation. Honestly, it comes down to your reputation. if you are a person who sometimes engages in shady things, your reputation’s gonna reflect that. If you’re a person that tries your very best to hold the highest standard and highest value of integrity that you can, I think your reputation’s gonna reflect that as well.

Meghan Escobar (01:51)
Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Real Estate Pros podcast hosted by Investor Fuel. I am your host Meghan Escobar, and I am so excited to have this guest on today. He’s somebody a little outside of our typical guest.

He is a part of the real estate industry on a very unique perspective, I guess we could say. And he also has plenty of experience in the real estate industry as a general contractor, as a property manager. We have Scott Harris here on the show joining us, and where he specializes today is a

policy advocate for homeowners and insurance companies to make sure that the claims going in are getting claimed the right way. And so Scott, thank you so much for joining us today. For our guests listening in, if they wanted to learn about what it is that you’re doing to somebody who doesn’t have a clue of what a policy advocate is, tell us about who you are and what you do in the market that you’re operating in.

Scott Harris (02:50)
Sure. So my name is Scott Harris. Thank you for that wonderful introduction. I am the CEO of NAPAICC Inc., which stands for North American Public Adjusters Insurance Claims Consultants. We’re located in the Tampa Bay area. We service the entire state of Florida.

And we are policy advocates. We are here to help people get through the worst day of their lives, whether they’re investors, property managers, or homeowners. We want to advocate on your behalf to make sure that the carrier or the insurance company that you’re working with actually gave you the best and most favorable outcome under your policy. Not an outcome that isn’t correct, but an outcome that actually is correct. So if there’s friction with the policy and the claims experience, they may want to call a public adjuster and they specifically may want to call someone like me.

Meghan Escobar (03:37)
Thank you for sharing that. That was broken down very, very nicely. And what caught my attention the most during our conversation prior to hopping on live here was not intentional. I think it’s really important to point that out because sometimes, homeowners might think that a claim is denied because insurance companies are being spiteful or just looking for loopholes to get out of the claim. And you said,

This a couple of times over. So I think it’s important to bring up here. when you say most insurance companies aren’t denying claims intentionally, they’re not doing it out of intent. Talk a little bit about that.

Scott Harris (05:00)
Sure. So I was a carrier adjuster as well. They hired me as a subject matter expert to help train their staff in writing better estimates so they could produce a better indemnification. and we denied a lot of claims in the process of processing. Every adjuster processes close to 300 claims a year. That’s a lot. There’s a lot of volume in there. So mistakes happen. So it’s not intentional, but it’s super personal, right?

When a homeowner gets that coverage determination that’s so unfavorable, like a denial, they take that so personally. It feels like I’ve had people say, I’ve owned this house for 10 years. I’ve paid premiums every single year. And how could they do this to me? It’s not intentional, guys. It’s not. It’s not something that they’re targeting you on. it’s a mistake that was made in the process. It’s a mistake that can be corrected.

You just need to have someone look at the overall view of that insurance claim so that they’re able to identify those mistakes on your behalf like we do and then present that competently to the insurance carrier in a way that they can understand. It’s not adversarial, we’re not coming at them, we’re just trying to collaborate with the carrier on behalf of the insured so that we can actually come to a reasonable and solid indemnification.

Which basically means correct the mistakes. and I make mistakes too. So I may come up with my own coverage determination, present the facts of the loss to the carrier, and they may say to me, But Scott, you missed this one little thing. Can we talk about that? And then that’s where it’s not a negotiation, it’s more of a discussion, it’s more of a conversation where we can we can identify the nuances of the policy enough to create the right outcome. And that’s what we’re focused on.

Meghan Escobar (06:44)
I think that’s a great no, no, it was actually perfectly said. And I think our listeners will really be able to take from that understanding from that perspective to see, you know, it okay, maybe it’s not a target, right? Because that’s how you feel in that personal moment, right? so I think it was very well explained. I really appreciate that, and I think our viewers will as well. And so every operator that I have ever had the opportunity to chat with, entrepreneur.

There’s always a moment where things got real for them and maybe that’s a deal that had gone sideways or a time you felt maybe you had to pivot really fast. Do you mind, Scott, sharing one of those moments?

Scott Harris (07:20)
Deal that’s gone sideways or a time that I had to pivot very fast. The normal time that it takes to readjust a claim is anywhere between three to six months. So with that in mind, in the claims industry, I don’t know if I have a solid example for you on that because that process is so long that there’s a lot of pivots that go along. There’s a lot of turns and changes in direction.

That go along that and that’s part of it’s part of this industry, you know. Yeah.

Meghan Escobar (07:48)
Well, maybe we could focus that question more towards getting the company going, right? NAPAICC, you started back in 2021 starting a business is never an easy task, especially in the beginning stages. And so maybe for somebody out there that’s looking to start a business in the real estate world, whether that be, doing something like an adjustments or getting into, becoming a builder or an investor. what’s

A business piece of advice that you might be able to supply for our guests that, establish in the business.

Scott Harris (08:18)
I know this is gonna sound possibly cliche, but I think anybody that wants to start any kind of business really needs to be true to the integrity of the business itself, right? So when we first started this business, we had zero capital to start this business. And it was just me and another person that was in the industry for quite a while. His name is Gemayel “Jay” Mareus. He’s my business partner. he has a water mitigation background. So he worked for the carriers resolving

water claims for them. And we came together with absolutely zero capital with a vision in our mind to help the industry. And we did not market NAPAICC very heavily at all. Instead what we relied on was good industry relationships, right? I’ve been in the industry for quite a long time and over the twenty years everybody has come across my path one time or another, right?

So we started networking with

People who needed to have an advocate. So that would be water mitigation companies, that would be roofers, that would be that would be people that can’t adjust a claim, but feel like they want to help the homeowner, but they can’t do that process legally because that would be unlicensed practice of public adjusting. So that’s the relationships that we established in the very beginning to let them know we’re here to help you. We’re here to protect your money.

A contractor goes into a home and writes an estimate. It’s generally a good faith estimate. And if a carrier doesn’t like that good faith estimate, it’s a financial reason behind it, usually speaking, right? So when the people in the industry realized that I had crossed over to the public adjustment side and I’m here to help them, word of mouth exploded for us.

And then we had a hurricane a year later. And then we had another hurricane a year and a half after that. So we have been very, very fortunate to be able to establish and grow this business in the last five years in a way that doesn’t require a ton of upfront capital, marketing, advertisement, campaigns, and things like that. I don’t know if that’s something every business could do in the beginning, but I think leaning on your professional

Reputation, leaning on your professional network and really having that communication out there that you provide X service and when people realize that you have a high amount of integrity for X service, I think that makes a big difference.

Meghan Escobar (11:15)
Thank you. That was really powerful to share. you know, relationships are everything in this space and it’s yeah, so solid piece of advice. And that’s the kind of stuff most people don’t talk about. And it truly is, I believe, what separates folks from who are here to just dabble and make a sale versus those who are here to stay in the game long term.

Scott Harris (11:21)
Thousand percent.

Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s very important, you know. And again, going back to the idea of sales. Yeah, sales exists in every business. it’s very, very important. But there are different ways people sell products. Yep. And you know, even in real estate, right? When you market a home, one sales agent may market it differently than another sales agent. So finding that style I think is very important for every individual.

Meghan Escobar (12:01)
Hundred percent. Absolutely. And let me ask you this. What are you guys most focused on scaling next? Like what’s the next real big goal for Scott and NAPAICC?

Scott Harris (12:12)
Well, so the name of the company is North American Public Adjusters, Insurance Claims Consultants. So we want to expand out into North America. We want to provide more regional offices in Florida. And then we would like to expand to Tennessee, Colorado, and California. And this is all happening right now as we speak. we’re also working a lot with our IT department on

Properly utilizing AI because AI is a game changer for so many people. But I also think it’s not only a game changer, it’s gonna—it could possibly hurt many industries if people utilizing it don’t do it right.

Meghan Escobar (12:50)
Yeah, that’s huge. And especially because you guys are already in a high claims area, right? And so taking more on, that’s going to either help you guys compound things or create some chaos, depending on

Scott Harris (13:04)
And I welcome

The chaos. I absolutely welcome the chaos. Look, my this company has been a roller coaster ride. We’re commission based. We do not ever ask an insured for any money up front, ever. We fund a lot of the investigation. We fund a lot of the experts. and we only get paid when the indemnification that we’re demanding rolls up. So there’s a lot of risk there, yeah. and the risk for the

Meghan Escobar (13:27)
That you’re taking on

Scott Harris (13:32)
For the person hiring us is it’s not that great, right? They’re in a situation right now where they got X amount of dollars and it wasn’t enough money. and if they hire me, then they can only benefit from that process. And if I’m not successful, then they’re no worse off where they were prior to hiring a company like ours.

Meghan Escobar (14:29)
So super high risk for you guys at NAPAICC, no risk for the homeowner to say, you know what, this is worth a look. So I mean high risk at the same time, but it’s also an easy way to gain trust and clients.

Scott Harris (14:44)
Absolutely. And then if you know, one of the things that we are focusing on and it’s a tough industry to tap into, right? So we are all related. real estate, insurance, mortgages all ties together in the real estate industry, so to speak. Yeah. I often wonder when a real estate agent’s listing a home and during that listing period, an accidental event occurs and triggers policy coverage.

It doesn’t seem to be there seems to be a disconnect between the available resources from someone like me that can help that real estate agent smooth out that nightmare they’re all of a sudden in, right? Because you know, you’re marketing the house for X amount of dollars. Yep. now you have a sudden accidental event, damages occur, those have to be resolved. You could be in the middle of a close and you could have an expectation of a close and or you may have to stop your listing.

To make those repairs. I really hope that real estate agents in that situation will reach out to professionals that can help them like me. Because we advocate for them too.

Meghan Escobar (15:47)
Win-win.

Scott Harris (15:48)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That’s what it’s all about, right?

Meghan Escobar (15:50)
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I think a lot of our listeners are they’re either early on in their journey, I don’t think actually I know our listeners are either early on in their journey just looking to get their feet wet in the real estate world. You know, like you said, it all ties together. The insurance, the investors, the builders, right? it’s all one big happy family here.

Scott Harris (16:11)
Yeah,

it’s all risk analysis, isn’t it? For an investor, that property becomes one huge risk analysis. And for a homeowner, it usually is the American dream in their mind until that risk becomes a reality.

Meghan Escobar (16:23)
That’s correct. And the other half of our listeners are people who have been in the industry for quite a while and they’re looking for ways to level up, whether that’s integrating AI into their program, bringing on somebody like Scott who can help with, you know, claims adjustments and things like that. So you know, finding those niche industries within the program to build a better outlook. And so I think they would really benefit from hearing this is, you know, when it comes to we talked about building relationships and

In business in any business and growing your network. what do you feel, Scott, has truly made the biggest difference for you?

Scott Harris (16:53)
Reputation. Honestly, it comes down to your reputation. if you are a person who sometimes engages in shady things, your reputation’s gonna reflect that. If you’re a person that tries your very best to hold the highest standard and highest value of integrity that you can, I think your reputation’s gonna reflect that as well.

Meghan Escobar (17:13)
And that is something that just can’t be faked, you know.

Scott Harris (17:16)
You really can’t, right? If you’re a really good real estate sales broker or agent, your reputation will carry those sales for years to come. If you’re a type of person who just wants to make that quick deal and close that quick contract and go on to the next thing and you don’t really care about who maximizes the benefit from the whole deal itself.

Then you might develop a reputation that’s contrary to what you want in the long term and you may find that you it your lifetime in the industry is going to be very short.

Meghan Escobar (17:47)
Absolutely. Absolutely. Some more solid advice coming from Scott. Again, somebody who has the experience, has been in business in many different titles, I guess. Hats. You’ve worn many hats. Worn many hats, but solid piece of advice for business across the board. And so before we wrap.

Scott Harris (17:59)
I’ve worn many hats.

Meghan Escobar (18:07)
You know, if somebody wanted to reach you and say, no, Scott’s definitely somebody that I want to connect with, I wanna learn more about what he’s doing, I wanna collaborate with him, what’s the best way for someone to reach you?

Scott Harris (18:18)
I think the best way is to go to our website, www.napaicc.com, N-A-P-A-I-C-C dot com. And you’re going to find everything there. You’re going to find our resources. You’ll find our educational platforms. You’ll find what we’re doing. and you really will get a good sense of what you need from us. And then at that point, I think you know, you can reach out to us.

We have a link that you can click and that gets us right in contact directly with us. and we’re always willing to provide any, you know, free consultations, free advice, you know, 30 minute one even up to one hour. We can go over a claim, we can go over a situation or a scenario and then provide just very solid advice. we’re not there’s no expectation for a contract, there’s no expectation for us to get involved. And then if they obviously want us to get involved, we’re more than happy to do so. So our website is probably a the best way to see our ecosystem.

Meghan Escobar (19:14)
Perfect. Well, listen, Scott, I appreciate your time, your energy, your story, and more importantly, the perspective that you have provided here today for our listeners and for myself to learn more about, you know, how you’re making changes in the claims world for everybody to have these things done the right way.

Thanks again for being here. For those of you that are tuning in, if you did get any value from this, make sure to hit subscribe. We’ve got more conversations coming in with entrepreneurs and operators, just like Scott Harris here. So he’s out here building real business in real time with real people. We want more people like that out here on the show. And we’ll see you on the next episode. Thank you.