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Episode #108 Who benefits using a public adjuster · The Wealth Vibe Show

• 0:00
  And they've got half the money that they were that after we talked over they should have gone.
• 0:05
  But it's too late for us to get involved.
• 0:06
  This management company, they just did so much more damage this insured than actually good. Mm.
• 0:13
  But I do a hard to explain someone and, and now, now they're going to go to an attorney and say you know, they didn't want to, they had a public adjuster in the beginning that told them, you know, this is our fee.
• 0:25
  Which a public adjuster fee by the way, is 10% is usually the starting fee might go up to 5020, depending on the case.
• 0:32
  But ten 10% is usually very normal.
• 0:35
  So this client actually did have a couple adjuster in the beginning and the insured didn't want to or the management company told the insured, Oh, we don't we don't want it.
• 0:43
  Okay, we'll handle it for you.
• 0:44
  Well, now, a year later, they got to go to an attorney who's saying 35% and they've spent the year with no income on their property and property is still in disarray.
• 1:37
  This is not the El-Sayed, and I'm your host, Winky Lumba, a commercial real estate investor.
• 1:39
  and I'm your host, Winky Lumba, a commercial real estate investor.
• 1:41
  And today I have my good friend Andre And today I have a good friend, Andre.
• 1:42
  And today I have a good friend, Andre.
• 1:43
  And today I have a good friend, Andre.
• 1:43
  Good. Check with me.
• 1:44
  Good. Check with me.
• 1:45
  Welcome to the Real session, Andy.
• 1:46
  Welcome to the Real session, Andy.
• 1:48
  That's right.
• 1:48
  Thank you.
• 1:48
  Yep. Little bit about Andy.
• 1:50
  Andy is a founder of all city adjusting I licensed public adjusting for.
• 1:55
  Andy emigrated to us from Poland with his family at the age of nine.
• 1:59
  After working in the construction industry most specifically prior After working in the construction industry most specifically prior restoration, Andy discovered his true calling public adjusting.
• 2:08
  Andy grew up with the family motto If you're going to do something, do it right.
• 2:13
  Otherwise, don't do it at all.
• 2:15
  Oh, I love that.
• 2:16
  Oh, I love that.
• 2:16
  And he carries that sentiment into his business.
• 2:18
  Over the last decade, Andy has not only protected thousands of people from being defrauded, but also helped them receive more money than what their insurance than what their insurance initially opposed.
• 2:29
  Andy works hard to make sure his clients get what they truly deserve from their claims.
• 2:34
  Honestly, I'm I love that bio.
• 2:36
  And today our topic of discussion is who benefits using public adjuster.
• 2:42
  So welcome, Andy.
• 2:43
  First of all, I'm so excited to have you with me.
• 2:46
  I'm going to start with your background.
• 2:47
  If you can briefly share your background with me and tell us how did you become who you are today?
• 2:53
  Yes, thank you.
• 2:54
  So reading touching base on that and what you just said, you know, started in sales.
• 3:02
  I had my own construction company was in construction fire restoration.
• 3:06
  I met a P.A.
• 3:08
  that was in the industry actually for 40 years that was able to take me under his wing and teach me everything.
• 3:14
  So I got 40 years of experience taught to me in about two or three years.
• 3:19
  And then we went out and opened up our own company and we built it on.
• 3:23
  We're now we're in 22 or 23 states focusing on large lots, majority of our clients are going to be investors, landlords or business owners.
• 3:34
  And that's kind of how we got the short story of how we got to today.
• 3:39
  They awesome.
• 3:40
  So can you explain it to me?
• 3:42
  What public adjuster is and how is it different from the insurance adjuster.
• 3:48
  Crux of insurance adjuster, whether it's their staff or their independent or anyone else that's working for the insurance is working for the insurance company, Right?
• 3:56
  They're representing the insurance.
• 3:57
  The insurance is the one that's paying its bills is bonuses.
• 4:01
  All the incentives.
• 4:02
  And he's the one that's told what he can't pay for, what he can't do, whereas a public adjuster is a private party.
• 4:08
  So we are only there to represent the insured against the insurance company to make sure that the claim not only gets handled fairly quickly, but also that we maximize the claim in all aspects of coverages.
• 4:21
  But what made you decide that you wanted to be a public adjuster?
• 4:25
  Yes. So I was I saw in being in the restoration industry and, you know, working with other public adjusters and seeing Herb was that was the one I mentioned.
• 4:35
  Herb Johnson was the public justice that I met that introduced his business.
• 4:40
  I started getting more intrigued in the I always been in construction.
• 4:44
  I really like this the policy interpretation and and actually maximize the claim and the negotiations and all the other aspects that it's really started.
• 4:53
  I started doing research, research and and finally Herb decided that he could work with me and teach me everything. So was was more was more intrigued in that part than the construction aspect of it.
• 5:05
  But having the construction background made everything ten times easier.
• 5:09
  Now you can understand things a little bit better.
• 5:12
  When you meet with an adjustable, an insurance company.
• 5:14
  And you know, he explains, Well, we can't pay for this or we don't do this or I don't know this.
• 5:19
  To me, house commercials where we're doing a large church loss right now.
• 5:23
  We've seen all this.
• 5:23
  I've seen all aspects of construction.
• 5:26
  So I know what needs to be done to make sure that it's done the right way and it's done the same way it was before the law.
• 5:33
  So what kind of clients do you have as a like mostly real estate, commercial real estate related or anybody?
• 5:39
  So we switched on a couple of years ago.
• 5:42
  We switched our focus to we still do residential losses rather, but more more large loss, more large scale, whether it's a fire or like a large water loss.
• 5:52
  And then majority of the class now have been landlords.
• 5:56
  Investors are calling us, our business owners.
• 5:59
  You know, we have a you know, a bishop or a priest owns over ten, ten churches in his portfolio.
• 6:08
  You go to some of these churches and one of the church actually caught on fire.
• 6:10
  So that's kind of, you know, anyone that owns a building, whether he's a landlord, the investor in it, or even, you know, the business owner.
• 6:20
  Okay.
• 6:21
  So let's talk about the commercial real estate.
• 6:23
  What are some of the common type What are some of the common type of claims that you have seen so far in the commercial real estate?
• 6:28
  In commercial, the most common that you're going to see and most me, even your listeners would be kind of familiar with would be with storm damage.
• 6:36
  The roofing claims, hail, wind, whether it's a flat roof, it's a it's a shingle roof that would be the most common.
• 6:44
  And then water losses, I think, would come after that, whether it's a pipe burst flood, which that's usually a separate policy, that's flood insurance.
• 6:53
  And then the least common would be fires, which we actually handle the most, probably.
• 7:00
  So in these kind of claims, how do you determine the value of a claim?
• 7:04
  Let's say a facade of roof ladder?
• 7:06
  Because that's pretty common in Texas right there.
• 7:09
  Yeah. Yes, very.
• 7:10
  And Dallas especially, I think Dallas of Dallas or around that area just got hit with with hail.
• 7:15
  So they're always getting large hail, we estimate, because we use we use a software called exact email, which is actually the same software that insurance companies use.
• 7:24
  So we're on the same level playing field when it comes to using the software or having the same software.
• 7:29
  Where we where we differentiate is we have an estimate that's been doing this for years.
• 7:34
  One of our main estimates is actually has been in the industry for 20 or 20 years writing large losses for insurance companies.
• 7:41
  So we kind of have the best people writing our estimates, no in the software and they're certified at the highest level.
• 7:48
  So when we put our estimates together, there's nothing missed.
• 7:51
  I mean, we include every every, every inch, every penny that's got to be in to make sure that our client is put back to the same condition they were before the last one year.
• 8:00
  So you guys are using the same software like, correct.
• 8:03
  So Jester So how do you differentiate your work than them? Correct.
• 8:08
  So the software is just a it's a software, it's a guideline.
• 8:12
  What who's ever using it is in control of how they put everything together, right?
• 8:16
  Because we can look at the same home and you write an estimate.
• 8:19
  We write an estimate.
• 8:21
  The insurance company's estimate is 20000 hours for using the same software.
• 8:24
  How is that right?
• 8:26
  It's just knowing what items are supposed to be included.
• 8:29
  Know one construction and then knowing how that system, what that system pays for and what it doesn't.
• 8:35
  So there's just a lot of it's the user that's using it, not the program itself.
• 8:40
  So yours is more like line flavoring and then insurances.
• 8:44
  Insurance is like more like insurance companies failing claim right or.
• 8:50
  Correct or or not knowing the building, what they're estimating how to estimate it properly.
• 8:56
  You have a 20 year old that will go into a home that just burned down or the three floors flooded and they're just looking at it and saying, okay, just remove and replace some drywall, replace some floors.
• 9:07
  But now there's electrical, you know, there's a subfloor, there's all these other things that go into play that that system, you have to know how to use it and operate, include it.
• 9:17
  And and the insurance adjusters get paid, especially now with independent adjusters, meaning they're like third party.
• 9:25
  They get paid when the estimates done.
• 9:26
  So whether they write for, you know, $500 or a thousand their fee is going to be around the same.
• 9:32
  So the quicker the write it, the quicker they get paid and the quicker they're on to the next job.
• 9:36
  So but how do you justify your claim against there is, you know, like you say, that claim could be profitable, then you could be 40,000.
• 9:43
  There's a huge delta.
• 9:45
  So it's hard to mitigate some of those.
• 9:49
  Based on the documentation and the support of the documents we provide.
• 9:53
  Also, you know, when we go and we document very detailed with photos and videos and explanations and and third party even reports to back up our findings.
• 10:04
  So the system that we use as well, the exact system that we use, that the insurance companies use, if you know how to use it, it helps document and it helps support a lot of the damage as well, if you know how to use it properly.
• 10:16
  And can you also add the things that could go wrong when they're trying to fix it?
• 10:21
  And then still, like you were saying, electrical earlier, you know, there's a water damage when you're trying to fix it or just need to break down a wall or something.
• 10:30
  There might be something else that you will touch that could go wrong at that time.
• 10:34
  So can you include that in the initial claim or do you have to do another review or another reading on that? Yeah.
• 10:41
  That's a no, that's a great question actually.
• 10:43
  So when we settle the claim, let's say it's for 10,000, it's not this at all, right?
• 10:49
  Because when the insured starts the repairs and they find more or then there's code, code upgrades, we would come in and we would supplement or write more and then submit that.
• 10:59
  So it's not then and because you can only see so much right once the repairs start and let's just say now the city comes in and says you need to upgrade all this electrical because of this.
• 11:09
  Well, now we have to build a supplement on, you know, for code upgrades.
• 11:13
  And so it's our open ended claim, totally correct and done with that.
• 11:17
  So you can keep on adding to it so that there is no any kind of limitations or anything. Okay.
• 11:23
  There is. This much there is.
• 11:25
  Usually you have one year to two years from the date of loss to rebuild.
• 11:29
  Depending on the policy, the state, it's usually one year to two years.
• 11:32
  So if the date of loss happened today, you'd have a year or two years from today to put everything back or, you know, to file any documents within that time Know, you would start the repairs today in six months.
• 11:44
  You would call us and say, know, we took down all the walls.
• 11:47
  We had to redo all the electrical because the city made us they made us upgrade all the windows.
• 11:52
  We found this other damage.
• 11:53
  We would just come in, document it all, put it back into our system, estimate it, document it, and present it to the insurance.
• 12:01
  So is this something that has been in the insurance already that when you open a claim, you can have the limitation of one year or two years like some when we are getting the insurance at that time, we have to specify that that we should know something about.
• 12:15
  I mean.
• 12:15
  That's that's something that an agent should make sure insured aware of.
• 12:20
  They usually don't people don't actually find out until they something happens.
• 12:25
  And that's when we find out your policy just so your where you have a year from date of loss to put everything back together.
• 12:32
  Now that's a good one actually let's talk about that insurance policy since we are talking about the subjects when we are trying to get the insurance policy at that point.
• 12:40
  I mean, at that time, what are the some of the important things I mean, at that time, what are the some of the important things we should keep in mind that, you know, we do not run into any issues we should keep in mind that, you know, we do not run into any issues later on, like when we are filing a claim or anything like that.
• 12:50
  So one of the the one of the things I see all the time is how many properties are underinsured.
• 12:51
  the one of the things I see all the time is how many properties are underinsured.
• 12:55
  And the reason fact is when they introduce properties, they use computer software.
• 12:59
  So if a computer software says think your home is in this neighborhood So if a computer software says think your home is in this neighborhood and it's and if the rebuild cost is 200,000, that's based basically on the value of or the buildings and everything else.
• 13:11
  But if you take that same home and you take it to a really high end neighborhood, well, that value of rebuild might go up twice.
• 13:18
  But it's the same home.
• 13:19
  It's going to take the same amount of money to rebuild.
• 13:21
  It doesn't matter if it's in place A or place B, if you're if you follow me, It doesn't matter if it's in place A or place B, if you're if you follow me, Meaning So you people, people have to understand and they have to actually get a you know, something we would recommend is either getting an accident from a contract or getting an appraisal value on what is a rebuilt cost of our building.
• 13:40
  Because again, the the repair value, what they're saying is going to be the replacement cost might not actually might be much less than what it's going to take to get this building back up if they had a total fire, total loss.
• 13:51
  Hmm. So let me ask you here.
• 13:53
  How do you determine the value of a claim for any property, you know, whether you're doing the commercial real estate?
• 14:00
  Because the process should be the same, right?
• 14:03
  How do we determine the value of the damages?
• 14:07
  Yeah, as just to.
• 14:09
  Correct using our software, using our documents, they're using the exact software, using our measurement software.
• 14:16
  So using our tools, that's how we build our estimate, determine the amount of damage.
• 14:20
  Now that's what the structure and their personal property, we actually have a team that inventories that part.
• 14:25
  If you have business interruption, we have a team that handles that part.
• 14:30
  There's different aspects of a claim, especially when you get into commercial.
• 14:34
  So isn't that like there are multiple online tools available to kind of estimate or guesstimate your loss?
• 14:42
  How accurate are those compared to the software that you use?
• 14:46
  So we've never used any of those softwares.
• 14:48
  I'm not even aware that there is ones like that.
• 14:52
  I wouldn't you can't estimate a damn.
• 14:55
  You can estimate damage or determine the value of the damage until you actually go see it, feel it and see every corner of it.
• 15:02
  That's really the most accurate way you can.
• 15:05
  The insurance companies are using drones to inspect roofs and and you can see maybe the larger damage of it's just crush hail that was two inch or something.
• 15:14
  But other than that, you have to be on site physically and actually look at the damage.
• 15:20
  I think they're just like, can I get Mike to get somebody in the door?
• 15:24
  Right?
• 15:24
  So they say, okay, put your information and I will tell you how much it's going to cost you roughly.
• 15:29
  And after that, you can have the adjuster in or somebody in to check it out.
• 15:33
  Maybe that's what it is.
• 15:34
  So maybe we we have seen a lot of websites now or are kind of marketing agencies.
• 15:40
  And what they're trying to do is just get people in the door and then they'll siphon your information and send it to a public adjuster or send it to another company to sell that lead.
• 15:48
  For that, we have seen that.
• 15:48
  So that might be part of it.
• 15:51
  Yeah, that could be it.
• 15:53
  So let's discuss over here some of the unique challenges are considering.
• 15:56
  We talk about that already, right?
• 15:59
  So let's talk about, you know, how do you work with the property owners?
• 16:03
  You said you're working with the commercial real estate operators now, especially you talking about Texas roofing or the water issues.
• 16:12
  So how do you connect with these people?
• 16:16
  You know, how why would somebody hire you?
• 16:19
  Because that is going to be swampy associated with that versus working with an insurance adjuster.
• 16:26
  We don't have to pay anything.
• 16:27
  So how do you defend yourself or how do you position yourself?
• 16:31
  So how do you defend yourself or how do you position yourself?
• 16:31
  Good question.
• 16:32
  The value that you get compared to the fee that you pay is is like having a good accountant or anything else on your team when when you have a public just so that's good.
• 16:42
  The value that he's going to bring or that company will bring in the end, not in just the amount of time you've saved, all the obstacles you avoided, the amount of money you recover in all your coverages.
• 16:52
  avoided, the amount of money you recover in all your coverages.
• 16:55
  There's just so much, so much greater than if you didn't have that public.
• 16:58
  Just because that's that's that's the end goal that your clients are left with so much money.
• 17:03
  Even after paying us, they could have doubled our fee and still had money left over to get their property back and now have more money left over to buy more, more properties.
• 17:13
  Mm. I like to say that.
• 17:16
  I mean that's, that you could, we can give to any of our listeners want to list, could talk to all our clients but really you know they got these settlements and they rebuilt the properties for half the month because again you know what you're out is what your all what you end up on that actual cash value check if it's 200,000.
• 17:35
  But you've only you know, your rebuild cost was 100 and so you got paid because that's what you were all. So yeah, because sometimes operators think that they being the property management or the asset management, they know inside out everything so they can just do it themselves.
• 17:53
  Working out versus hiring a public adjuster.
• 17:56
  That's the reason I ask you that question.
• 17:58
  You know, how would you position yourself or show them your value, You know, what you bring on the table.
• 18:04
  And then, you know, this is in commercial real estate.
• 18:07
  You know, some people are like, well, I want to do it myself, right?
• 18:09
  I don't want to cause I'm going to do my own.
• 18:11
  There's just those people that are that want to do everything themselves.
• 18:14
  That's fine if you're invested. A few months ago, a portfolio would actually be a big investment on properties.
• 18:20
  You can't do everything on your own.
• 18:21
  That's why you build a team around you.
• 18:23
  Having a public adjuster is just like having a good property manager, the contractor.
• 18:27
  It's someone that's in your back pocket.
• 18:28
  Hey, we had something happen.
• 18:30
  Go check this out.
• 18:31
  Can we file a claim?
• 18:32
  I mean, that's what we do for our clients.
• 18:34
  But doing it on your own is scary.
• 18:37
  I mean, we really just took a call from a management company that's been trying to.
• 18:42
  It was in Chicago, trying to handle a claim for their client for a year.
• 18:46
  For a year.
• 18:46
  And they've got half the money that they were that after we talked over And they've got half the money that they were that after we talked over they should have gone.
• 18:52
  But it's too late for us to get involved.
• 18:53
  This management company, they just did so much more damage this insured than actually good. Mm.
• 19:00
  But I do a hard to explain someone and, and now, now they're going to go to an attorney and say you know, they didn't want to, they had a public adjuster in the beginning that told them, you know, this is our fee.
• 19:12
  Which a public adjuster fee by the way, is 10% is usually the starting fee might go up to 5020, depending on the case.
• 19:19
  But ten 10% is usually very normal.
• 19:22
  So this client actually did have a couple adjuster in the beginning and the insured didn't want to or the management company told the insured, Oh, we don't we don't want it.
• 19:30
  Okay, we'll handle it for you.
• 19:31
  Well, now, a year later, they got to go to an attorney who's saying 35% and they've spent the year with no income on their property and property is still in disarray.
• 19:43
  Wow. So share with me one more guest.
• 19:46
  Any kind of end to end for that commercial real estate claim, you know, that you worked on that worked for you and it was favorable for the operator who hired you.
• 19:55
  Yeah, we just we just finished one where was a big office building, and it was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• 20:02
  There was a couple of shingles missing.
• 20:04
  We ended up fighting.
• 20:05
  It took a couple of months, but we ended up getting a whole roof replaced.
• 20:08
  Even though that roof was pretty new, we actually knew that shingles technically was no longer manufactured.
• 20:13
  It was a discontinued shingle.
• 20:15
  So we're able to make the fight off, Hey, you can't put this roof back with any other material because the material is not is not you.
• 20:22
  It's obsolete. Correct.
• 20:23
  So we ended up getting the client for roof replacement.
• 20:26
  So. Wow.
• 20:28
  Is it a lot of work when you are just calling back and for the insurance company and then trying to get that claim settled?
• 20:36
  It's time consuming, but we have a team.
• 20:38
  You know, we're not just a mom and pop PR firm and we have our license and thing.
• 20:43
  Now we're in 22 or 23 states and we have a team in-house that makes those calls every day.
• 20:49
  Email us those follow up.
• 20:50
  So with that justice, because if you don't, the claim is going to sit there for months and months and months.
• 20:55
  So you want to keep moving that claim forward so you get a resolution as quickly as possible.
• 21:02
  So let me ask you this.
• 21:03
  What advice do you have for the property owners looking to mitigate risk and protect the assets before even the loss occurs?
• 21:11
  Track So call a public adjuster if you don't have one on your team, have a good one.
• 21:16
  If you have a good agent, that's that's great.
• 21:19
  But a public adjuster like what we do for our clients is we'll review their policies based on their buildings and make sure that they don't have any lapse in coverage.
• 21:28
  There's no deficiencies or any other you know, what we're seeing now, The key what what what property owners should be aware of is, is the non occupied clause.
• 21:38
  It's basically if one of your units is unoccupied at the time of something happening, you're loss coverage.
• 21:46
  Your your loss amount is is is less 60% less than it should be.
• 21:54
  Meaning if you had a fire and you have four units, one unit was vacant which we have a situation like this, they're trying to take the total loss and cut it by 60%.
• 22:05
  Think about that because one unit was making because it was waiting for a new tenant.
• 22:12
  How can you there's no way you can avoid that because you have tenant turnover all the time.
• 22:15
  You have somebody waiting for a new tenant.
• 22:16
  You know, we have rentals myself, so you're waiting for a tenant for a month or two for a time, or you maybe you're remodeling it.
• 22:24
  Now all of a sudden you had a fire in your coverages slashed by 60% for a $200,000 loss or 60, 60% loss. Now.
• 22:33
  And people don't even know and it's in your policy as well.
• 22:38
  So that's I'm saying these little things, agents don't they just insure you and they look at you, look at your premiums, say, well, that's expensive.
• 22:44
  Can we shop?
• 22:45
  Well, let me change some stuff in coverage, okay?
• 22:48
  And all of a sudden they come with a premium that you like and you save a couple hundred.
• 22:52
  And this is a yearly fee.
• 22:53
  You save a couple hundred.
• 22:55
  Now, if something happens and it will happen, it's just a matter of time when something happens, especially with property owners, with investors.
• 23:02
  And now your coverage is slashed by half or you get denied because you didn't do something properly.
• 23:09
  Wow. But how do you ensure that you're properly covered by the policy?
• 23:15
  how do you ensure that you're properly covered by the policy?
• 23:15
  You have to read the policy.
• 23:17
  Yeah, but there's so many pages I saw you.
• 23:20
  Like something in the gray or very small that you miss it.
• 23:23
  And later on they might come back and say, Oh, you missed it.
• 23:27
  But that's why having a public adjuster on your team to review your policy, it's for you, Correct.
• 23:33
  We look at policies all the time, so we interpret policies so we know what page to look at, what we're looking at to see know what are they exclusion, what is their, what's in this policy that could that could harm our clients in the future.
• 23:45
  And if we look at a building, we can we can always, always say, hey, there's this coverage missing, this coverage missing.
• 23:51
  Be aware that if this happens, you're not covered for this.
• 23:56
  Be aware that if this happens, you're not covered for this.
• 23:56
  So we have a situation where just this is a while ago where the investor had a was their was their first property, so they bought it, they bought a duplex and they lived in one of the units and then they rented the other unit was a regular homeowner's policy.
• 24:13
  When they moved out, they never changed their policy.
• 24:17
  Oh. There was still a homeowners and agent said, Hey, don't worry about you're good or you're not good.
• 24:23
  We got you on.
• 24:24
  We are able to kind of maneuver.
• 24:26
  Everything was fine.
• 24:26
  This is a small loss, but a fire happened or it was a larger loss.
• 24:31
  Your that would be a do not claim.
• 24:34
  Your that would be a do not claim.
• 24:35
  So are there any situations where it may not be beneficial to use a public adjuster or do you need it all the time?
• 24:43
  An honest public adjuster will tell you that you don't.
• 24:45
  If you have a if think if you called and said, Andy, we have this.
• 24:49
  We had a sewer backup at one of our properties.
• 24:53
  Okay.
• 24:53
  Can you send me the policy?
• 24:55
  Let me take a look at it. And I see 80.
• 24:57
  You only have 5000 coverage or 10,000 coverage looking at either basement.
• 25:01
  This is a total loss.
• 25:02
  There's no need for a pay.
• 25:04
  They're just going to pay the max because it's way over that maximum.
• 25:08
  So there is situation so good PR company will tell you and help you there.
• 25:13
  There's no reason we tell our clients all the time if we have to withdraw or say, let's not file it, a good PR will tell you when they don't want.
• 25:22
  You don't need their system. Oh, okay.
• 25:25
  But you can have them on your payroll to begin with.
• 25:27
  Like you were saying, you know, you can read the policy and you can guide it as before anything happens.
• 25:34
  So you're prepared for something, you know, unforeseen that could happen.
• 25:40
  So we don't have we're not on anyone's payroll.
• 25:42
  Obviously, we get percentages of the of the claims that we settle, but because we we work with so many investors and so many landlords and business owners, you know, we ask them and they send us policies all the time to look over and we do it just because we again, this is how we build our networks.
• 25:58
  And that way we know that if something does happen, that client most likely will call us because again, we're you know, we're there in the beginning, even before anything happens, and maybe nothing will ever happen.
• 26:08
  But it takes us a couple of minutes to look and dissect the policy and and give you some feedback.
• 26:14
  So let me ask you this.
• 26:15
  When do people call you?
• 26:16
  I mean, are hiring you, if that's the right terminology over here, The best time to hire a P.A.
• 26:19
  And like, we just had to fire two two investors that call us or to fire us.
• 26:24
  They knew about us and they've worked with us before on smaller losses.
• 26:27
  They called us the day the fire happened.
• 26:29
  The one was the next day.
• 26:31
  So we got involved right away and we're handling everything from the first steps For most new people that never had investors never had a loss.
• 26:39
  We'll call us sometimes when it's too late or when it's been, hey, we've been denied or we've been investigated for six months.
• 26:46
  We don't know what's going on.
• 26:47
  And they usually call us when it's kind of the claim, it's progress and they're starting to see that their adjuster is not acting fairly, that they're being maybe discriminated, that there's just these red flags are start going up.
• 26:59
  And that's when they start looking for online for help with claims and that's when they find public adjuster.
• 27:05
  So how do you handle those claims kind of mid way, you know, if they're working with somebody else and all of a sudden they decide, oh, it's not working for me or I'm not going to get the full benefit of this claim.
• 27:16
  So they reach out to at that time.
• 27:18
  How do you handle those kind of cases?
• 27:20
  Same, same way we do when we start from the beginning, except now it's going to take a little bit longer, right, Because we're working from behind.
• 27:27
  The insurance already has.
• 27:28
  Let's, for example, they have six months of information, photos and every communication.
• 27:33
  So we're coming in trying to investigate first of all, what's happened with our estimate together, put all our content, put everything together, build the package and investigate at the same time.
• 27:43
  So all it does, it just takes longer.
• 27:46
  And then usually in those instances, we usually our company charges a higher fee if we come in the back end and usually that's on the amount of anything extra we get.
• 27:55
  So then should was offered a certain amount we wouldn't charge on that.
• 27:59
  We would only charge on anything extra we would get for our clients.
• 28:02
  So let me ask you the last question before we move on to local And again, how do public adjusters charge their fees or how would the fee structure look like for you guys?
• 28:09
  So it usually starts with it's a contingency, right?
• 28:12
  So it would be contingency.
• 28:13
  It's usually a standard fee for company is 10% and it goes up from there.
• 28:18
  And that's paid once the claim is paid. Right.
• 28:20
  So there is no retainer.
• 28:23
  It's a once we get the claim settled for you and you get a check in your hand, that's when you pay a public adjuster.
• 28:29
  That's the reason I went downstairs to get water.
• 28:29
  That's how most public doctors do it.
• 28:30
  And then again, now there's instances where you would call us and you got an amount and we look over the claim and say, well, we can get we know there's a lot more money or a lot more to get you here.
• 28:40
  So we would maybe we would charge a higher fee based on the amount we would recover above what you already received.
• 28:46
  So there is no the insured can't lose in that situation.
• 28:50
  They already got this much.
• 28:51
  Everything else, anything else is just extra stuff.
• 28:54
  So what if I mean, did you have any situation where you didn't get paid what the client was looking for?
• 29:01
  What happens in that case?
• 29:03
  I don't know.
• 29:03
  I would say out of 20 out of 20 claims, one is going to come in where we go back and forth, we go back and forth and just we can't do anything about it.
• 29:11
  That's when that might have to go to an attorney.
• 29:14
  We'll present it to an attorney.
• 29:15
  We only take claims if we know it's legit.
• 29:19
  Everything checks out right.
• 29:20
  The insured is okay because of an insured cause and he's kind of suspicious or he's he's trying not to tell us something.
• 29:27
  And we could feel that out right away.
• 29:28
  We all we won't take that as a client.
• 29:30
  So we want to check all our boxes that we know that we're fighting a good cause that we're fighting, and we have value to bring it to our client.
• 29:38
  And like I said, you know, maybe one out of 20 is going to go to a third party, whether it's appraisal, there's another clause there for appraisal or an attorney just because we can't take it any further.
• 29:52
  Thank you for having me on this course.
• 29:52
  So, Andy, share one good story with me for a claim adjustments which work or didn't work both ways.
• 29:59
  Correct I'll share one of my favorites.
• 30:02
  This one is from a couple of years ago.
• 30:04
  It's not the biggest claim picture on a smaller side, but it was an investor that's very well known in the industry, had a loss in not know.
• 30:13
  This is in Tennessee.
• 30:15
  He was denied because they said he didn't have sewer backup or didn't have the right coverage.
• 30:21
  We went in, proved that the loss was actually they worded it incorrectly and we got that loss overturned.
• 30:29
  The denial overturned paid the claim in full.
• 30:32
  Then he had a $5,000 deductible that we ended up getting.
• 30:37
  Actually, not yet.
• 30:38
  We actually got it waived.
• 30:40
  So then he got full our estimate, no deductible and got everything paid upfront.
• 30:45
  So. Wow. So how did you do that?
• 30:48
  What kind of efforts.
• 30:49
  Did that last?
• 30:52
  The way he was denied, I kind of knew how we knew why he was denied and we knew he was reading the documents he heard from the plumber, from the insurance company.
• 30:59
  We knew that they had the wrong basis for that.
• 31:04
  And then the the the deductible there's you can actually move that deductible.
• 31:09
  He had a mold endorsement, which was like, I think 10,000, which we reached.
• 31:13
  We were way over that.
• 31:14
  So we ended up moving the deductible from the main coverage into that endorsement and got getting it waived so he didn't have to pay anything.
• 31:22
  No deductible.
• 31:24
  So you said the other way.
• 31:25
  It was it was on to begin with. Right.
• 31:26
  It was it was on to begin with. Right.
• 31:28
  So what were the KPIs that I there some examples for you.
• 31:33
  They they were a super up when we saw the plumber report, the plumber said there was something there was something stuck in the drain.
• 31:42
  So then the water can run.
• 31:43
  So the water was backing up.
• 31:44
  So the insurance company sees that word back on backup.
• 31:48
  You don't have coverage for it.
• 31:49
  But that backup was was caused by a clog.
• 31:53
  Well, a clog is a covered loss.
• 31:56
  If you they actually read the full plumber report and we got another plumber to verify and got that whole thing overturned.
• 32:03
  Wow. So the amount the amount, again, I think the claim was about 70 or 80.
• 32:08
  There wasn't large on our scale.
• 32:10
  But again, it was a it was a good client of ours.
• 32:14
  But it was a it was a cool factor, especially since he was denied I was everything that worked out worked out really well in that one.
• 32:22
  That's good.
• 32:23
  So I think one last question I wanted to ask you is, is there something So I think one last question I wanted to ask you is, is there something that I'm forgetting to ask you?
• 32:29
  Are you wanted to I do not have enough knowledge to ask you about Vicki.
• 32:37
  I think you asked all the right questions.
• 32:38
  The only other advice I would have for any other tips is, you know, don't don't get hung up on paying a fee to someone, whether it's a publicist, a good accountant or a good attorney, because the value you get, even with a good attorney or someone that protects your assets, it's worth every penny.
• 32:54
  Good insurance premiums you know, pay a little bit more and build that team if you're really going to grow, grow, You know, big investors aren't worried about paying a PR or paying anyone else a fee.
• 33:05
  Right there.
• 33:06
  They've scaled so large for a reason.
• 33:08
  It's because they've built the team and they're not worried about, oh, let me go work on this fire and deal with it with insurance company.
• 33:14
  Don't worry about buying the next properties.
• 33:16
  That's all they're worried about.
• 33:17
  So that's.
• 33:18
  True. That's a waste of time.
• 33:18
  And that's waste of money.
• 33:21
  Time is money.
• 33:22
  Oh, awesome.
• 33:23
  So share one golden nugget with my audience regarding the claim adjustment, how they can make it better for themselves.
• 33:31
  Yeah. Besides hiring a public adjuster.
• 33:33
  So how do you get where I am?
• 33:36
  Mean, I don't feel like any other day.
• 33:39
  That's good. We just hire one.
• 33:41
  But the last you say, the less you say, the better.
• 33:46
  People talk too much.
• 33:48
  And. And it's.
• 33:51
  It's too honest.
• 33:51
  It's it's talking too much about a claim is what gets people delayed or denied in place because they just want to be too honest.
• 33:58
  They just want to say everything that's going on.
• 34:00
  Insurance company is listening, recording everything, and it's throwing red flags.
• 34:04
  Those red flags are going to go up.
• 34:07
  Now you're getting delayed and now you're going under investigation because all you were trying to do is be honest.
• 34:13
  And really all we see is clients that were just trying to be honest, get denied or or, you know, or or underpaid.
• 34:21
  get denied or or, you know, or or underpaid.
• 34:22
  That's a really good advice, I think, in general to talk success.
• 34:26
  People should people should listen more and more.
• 34:30
  Right.
• 34:30
  I think you learn more when you listen more.
• 34:33
  And I learned a lot from yesterday.
• 34:35
  Thank you so much.
• 34:36
  So let's move on to the Rapid Fire loan.
• 34:38
  I'm going to ask you five questions.
• 34:40
  One thing is you're going to answer it in one word or one sentence only.
• 34:44
  Are you ready.
• 34:46
  To have a choice?
• 34:47
  I can say no now. It's too late.
• 34:53
  What is the one most important thing that you have learned in your life, and how did it change your life after learning it?
• 35:02
  Years of education, but education outside of school and and learning on my own, reading books and just that continuing growth that education brings.
• 35:16
  I like that.
• 35:17
  It's like reading your own experience, right?
• 35:19
  Correct.
• 35:20
  And so first hand knowledge, I would say.
• 35:23
  I think people after school just stopped educating themselves.
• 35:27
  It just kind of just kind of blend in with everyone else and and stop growing.
• 35:31
  So I like that.
• 35:34
  What is one best book that you've read and recommend to my audience now?
• 35:39
  What's the last one?
• 35:39
  I have so many good ones.
• 35:42
  One of my all time favorites is The Alchemist.
• 35:46
  And that's a good one.
• 35:47
  I have that one too.
• 35:47
  Actually, I. I can read that.
• 35:51
  Yeah, I can read that a couple of times a year.
• 35:52
  That's right. One's one of my favorites.
• 35:54
  I think the funny thing is every time you read it, you get something else out.
• 35:58
  Yeah, that's what.
• 35:59
  I keep highlighting.
• 36:00
  The more the more the more I highlighted.
• 36:02
  So soon it's going to be just all yellow.
• 36:04
  As to understand these things.
• 36:06
  Every time you read it in one word.
• 36:08
  What does life mean to you?
• 36:14
  In one word, words life, love.
• 36:17
  I would say, Well.
• 36:18
  That's good.
• 36:19
  What is your biggest passion?
• 36:23
  Are family.
• 36:25
  My kids.
• 36:26
  Like that.
• 36:28
  If you could turn back in time and talk to your younger self, what would you tell yourself and why?
• 36:38
  If I could go back in time and tell myself something, I would tell myself with lot of numbers.
• 36:45
  I That's a good one.
• 36:49
  I like that.
• 36:51
  How can people reach out to you and.
• 36:53
  They can go on our website at all-city.
• 36:56
  Just income.
• 36:57
  They can Google all three just and they can Google my name.
• 37:00
  Andy Card, Chuck and they could call us.
• 37:03
  And for your listeners, I'll leave you with my cell phone, which is they can directly text me or call me any time if they have questions.
• 37:11
  That's usually the best way.
• 37:13
  And my phone number is 786554186.
• 37:18
  That's directly my cell phone for all your listeners if they ever want to reach you directly.
• 37:23
  Thank you so much.
• 37:24
  And we'll make sure we add that into the show notes.
• 37:26
  Thanks for being with me today, Andy.
• 37:28
  I really enjoyed our conversation.
• 37:28
  Thank you.
• 37:30
  Thank you so much.
• 37:31
  I appreciate it.
• 37:32
  Thank you for having me on this course.