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Home Inventories Help

If you’re reorganizing your house this winter, take a few moments to jot down a list of what you keep in your home and how much each item costs. This type of an inventory can be a huge help should something happen and you need to file a homeowner’s insurance claim to recover what you’ve lost.

“It helps to know what you have,” said Jerry Linscheid, general manager of Mennonite Insurance Services, which processes about 100 homeowner’s insurance and church insurance claims a year.

Linscheid said a home inventory – even if it’s just a series of pictures someone snapped with their phone – can come in handy because people don’t always remember everything they own after a tragedy. People also might not realize their silver set was stolen or damaged because it’s only used once or twice a year. Either one of these situations could force somebody to reopen their claim after it’s settled.

Linscheid recommends people update their inventories at the start of each year so the lists reflect any expensive gifts that may have come in over the holidays. The more details you have in your inventory the easier it will be to settle your claim.

Valley’s dense winter fog creates problems for drivers

San Joaquin Valley drivers might as well call the winter “fog season” because dense ground fog fills the region’s lower areas and make it impossible for them to see.

“It’s kind of what we’re known for,” said Officer Robert Montano, community relations officer with the California Highway Patrol’s Central Division.

Named after a grass found in the Central Valley’s marshlands, Tule fog happens from surrounding moisture and dampness. The Central Valley’s mountains and the warmer air currents that floats above them holds this fog in place until the midday sun burns it away.

This weather patterns causes dozens of crashes each year – some of which are fatal – because it cuts a driver’s visibility down to an eighth of a mile on a good day and less than 10 feet in front of them on a bad one. Montano said people can reduce their chances of being in a wreck by following these tips:

  • Use your low beams instead of your high beams – The bright, powerful light from a person’s high beams creates a glare when it reflects off water droplets in the air, making it even harder to see for the driver and anyone else on the road.
  • Drive slowly – Colder temperatures make the fog’s water droplets sink to the ground, which can cause slick roads and even black ice. These conditions make it harder for someone to stop if they slam on the brakes.
  • Open your windows – Rolling down your windows when you’re at an intersection lets you hear vehicles you might not be able to see. It also lowers the temperature inside the car, reducing the chance the moisture from your breath would condense on the windshield.

Officers with the California Highway Patrol advise drivers to pull far on to the road’s shoulder and turn off their lights if their vehicle is disabled or they no longer think its safe to drive. They should also move away from the vehicle in case it gets hit by oncoming traffic.

They also suggest postponing any travel through fog-prone areas until the morning when the sun’s warmth evaporates the moisture and causes the fog to lift. It’s better to be late or change your plans than risk wrecking your vehicle while driving through a cloud.

Sources:

  1. Phone conversation with Montano on Dec. 22
  2. “Tule Fog,” Wikipedia
  3. “It’s Tule fog season: Here’s what you need to know about the gray unknown,” The Tribune
  4. Photo: NASA Earthdata website

How to Say No

Stephanie Heier has one goal for the coming year: Learn how to say “No.”

“I tend to say yes to too many things because they’re important to me,” Heier said, admitting she sometimes drops one of the balls she constantly juggles in the air. “The word ‘No’ is generally not in my vocabulary but it’s going to be this year.”

People tend to have a hard time saying “No” according to the American Psychological Association because they want to be liked and avoid having someone else think they are uninterested, selfish, or lazy. Of course, constantly saying “Yes” can leave a person feeling scattered, stressed and in poor health .

That’s why the association recommends people in these situations develop a clear understanding of what’s important to them so they can figure out whether the request might get in their way or help them move forward. They should also learn how to be very simple and direct when denying the person’s request and do it quickly so he or she doesn’t have to wait and can make other plans.

Heier’s already started this process by figuring out that lightening the load on her shoulders would give her the chance to spend better time with her family members and pay more attention to her daily Bible readings. She’s also started letting people know about the change that’s coming.

“I’ve told some friends,” Heier said about her plans to start saying “No” at the beginning of this year. “It’s not a reflection on you, it’s a reflection on me.”

Sources:

  1. “Just Say No,” American Psychological Association

Mennonite Insurance Feeds the Homeless

By Mac McLean, freelance writer for Mennonite Insurance Services

A simple twist on an annual tradition of feeding local families, Mennonite Insurance Services helped provide a warm Thanksgiving meal to about 25 homeless San Joaquin Valley residents.

“They were like, ‘Wow, you brought us food,’” said Mary Lou Iniguez with Centro Christiano Familiar, a church that prepared the meals with Mennonite’s donation and delivered them to a camp in Parlier.

For the past four years, Mennonite employees purchased groceries for needy families during the Thanksgiving season. But they switched things up this year after Claudia Fletes, one of the company’s insurance agents, talked to Iniguez about her church’s homeless outreach program.

Staff used half the money to buy food for Centro Christiano’s outreach program. They purchased three turkeys, 20 pounds of potatoes, stuffing and gravy that Iniguez and fellow church members prepared the weekend before Thanksgiving and delivered to the homeless camp’s residents.

Their partnership and generosity do not end there. That’s because Mennonite Insurance staff will use the rest of the money to buy hats, gloves, toothbrushes and other necessities Iniguez will deliver to residents of the Parlier camp later this month.

Package theft is a problem: Here’s how you can stop it

By Mac McLean, freelance writer for Mennonite Insurance Services

Americans bought nearly $7 billion worth of gifts for their friends and loved ones this past Cyber Monday1 and had them shipped across the country in boxes and envelopes at the click of a mouse.

And those packages – which could carry anything from a simple toy to the latest iPhone – are the perfect target for thieves if they arrive on their recipient’s front porch when he or she is not home.

“It’s an ongoing problem that we face,” said Fresno County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Botti2. “People will follow the UPS truck and wait to see what gets dropped off.”

Nearly a third, or 31 percent of Americans, have personally experienced package theft according to a recent survey conducted by the Shorr Packaging Corporation3. This crime is so common that 41 percent of Americans said they’ve avoided ordering high value items like electronics when they shop online out of fears these items might get stolen.

But these statistics don’t mean people have to risk being the victims of theft if they want to get a package delivered to their door. The survey found 53 percent of Americans have changed their schedules so they’re home when a package arrives. Other tips to avoid package theft include:

Shipping the package to your place of work, a UPS store, a FedEx store, or another location where someone can watch over it until you pick it up,

Requesting a signature delivery option so the driver won’t leave a package at the recipient’s house unless someone signs for it, and

Leaving special instructions for the delivery person asking him or her to place the package on your back porch or another location that’s not easily visible from the road4.

Botti said asking your neighbors to look out for your packages and pick them up when they arrive is another common way to avoid theft. Many people have also installed security cameras over their front door to deter package thieves, he said.

“The awareness has definitely been heightened,” Botti said, adding more and more Fresno County residents are taking steps to keep their packages safe.

Sources:

  1. “Cyber Monday sales set to hit $6.59 billion, the largest ever online sum for a U.S. shopping day,” CNBC.
  2. Phone interview, Tony Botti with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office
  3. “The 2017 Package Theft Report: Porch Pirates, Purchase Habits, and Privacy,” Shorr Packaging Corporation.
  4. “Seven Tips for Keeping Your Packages Safe This Holiday Season,” FedEx Global Media

Home constructions costs rise due to hurricanes

Picture of flooded homes

Do you live in an area impacted by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma or Maria.  Are you sure?

The ripple effect can spread far and wide.

Houston alone has over 200,000 homes that need flood renovations. In addition, businesses need repairs. Almost every building in the Caribbean needs repairs. The Florida Keys were also impacted. There is damage from Texas to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Will there be a spike in costs as a result of imbalances between demand and supply? How much and for how long? For the next couple of months we expect no significant impact. Then over the next 6 to 18 months we expect to see an increase in costs in both labor and materials.

The economic conditions, new home market and demand for contractors before the storms were already inflating prices. This will further increase prices.