Rhode Island Passes New Law to Protect Homeowners with Hurricane-Related Claims

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed into law a new piece of legislation designed to provide additional protection to homeowners whose properties suffer damages from hurricanes.

The legislation (House bill 2012-H7484A and Senate bill 2012-S2597A) also includes additional consumer protections for the processing of insurance claims for hurricane damage.

The new law will take effect beginning January 2013. It will be applicable to policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2013.

Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the state of Rhode Island suffered a mass exodus of insurance providers from the state, especially in coastal areas.

Lawmakers said many Rhode Island homeowner policies were not renewed and other insurance companies changed the traditional dollar-based deductibles for storm damage to a percentage-based deductible, leaving homeowners facing the potential for enormous costs for any damage from future, serious storms.

This new legislation has several components which aim to protect homeowners:

• Limits a hurricane deductible to only once per hurricane season, so that a homeowner cannot be hit with a second deductible in the unlikely event that a second hurricane hits the state during a hurricane season.

• Provides a hurricane mediation process as a non-adversarial and non-binding alternative dispute resolution process for claims arising from a hurricane in which the property owner and the insurance company will work to resolve potential claims.

• Allows the Department of Business Regulation to address the declaration of a catastrophe in Rhode Island in which homeowners may not be able to receive notice from insurers. This regulation would provide the necessary procedure for reporting requirements for claims related to the emergency, provide a grace period for payment of insurance premiums, and provide a temporary postponement for cancellations and non-renewals for insurance polices.

• Limits de minimus surcharges against a homeowner’s policy. For example, because of the extended power outages associated with Tropical Storm Irene, many Rhode Islanders suffered food spoilage. But the General Assembly noted that when some people submitted claims for $400 in food losses, their insurance company hit them with a $500 rate increase for reporting the loss that they were entitled to.

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Brownstone Visits the Big Apple to See Seth Godin

By: Elizabeth Cincotta
For those of you who are not familiar with Seth Godin, he's sort of a big deal in the world of marketing. This "marketing guru," has written countless books that have changed the landscape of marketing, including: Purple Cow, Linchpin and Permission Marketing to name a few.

Brownstone Insurance jumped at the opportunity to see such an influential and powerful speaker, so we hopped on the first Acela train out of Boston yesterday morning and headed to the Tribeca theater in New York City to see Seth Godin present.

His presentation was fantastic, and left the 6 of us anxious to implement new ideas in our office and to connect with our customers more. We can't wait to see what we can come up with!

Here are some photos from our day trip:

Hello New York!Listening intently.The man himself - Seth Godin.Front, left to right: Alexis and Sara. Back, left to right: Don and Glenn.Front, left to right: Alexis, Sara and Beth. Back, left to right: Don and Glenn.Navigating the NYC subway system.Glenn and Alexis on the train.

Trulia App Gives Apartment and Condo Hunters an Edge

Tired of looking through countless real estate print ads and Craigslist posts? Trulia, a leader in real estate tools and advice, has released an app (compatible with the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) that gives apartment and condo hunters a huge helping hand in their search to find their next home.

Owners of apartment buildings and condo buildings would also benefit by familiarizing themselves with the tool to see just where their property stacks up in comparison with other units on the market.

The Trulia Rentals app allows home hunters to find the newest units for rent that match their search criteria and notifies them as soon as they become available.

The app uses a sleek map view or a list option, and allows users to share listings that interest them with roommates and family. The map view allows searchers to view what's nearby -- restaurants, shops, grocery stores and more! And best of all, you can contact landlords and property managers while on the go.

Know someone on the hunt for their next apartment or condo? Suggest the Trulia Rentals app to them, or, check out how your listing compares to your competition!

Coming To Your Phone Soon - Severe Weather Alerts

Beginning this month, the federal government will be teaming up with wireless providers around the country to roll out a new service to alert people of severe weather emergency alerts.

The alerts, which will be triggered by life-threatening weather situations including tornadoes, flash floods and hurricanes will be sent to customers' cell phones free of charge. Wireless providers taking part in this service include: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel, Cellcom, Cricket and U.S. Cellular.

Customers do not have to sign up for this service and text messages will be 90-characters or less.

These messages are intended to prompt immediate action on the part of the customer, so if you do receive an emergency weather alert from your cell provider, please take action to ensure your safety.

Brownstone Insurance is here to help you prepare before a disaster happens. Check out our blog entries on creating an emergency plan to be ahead of the game.

Rough Notes Insurance Marketing Agency of the Month

Did you hear? Brownstone Insurance was named the "Insurance Marketing Agency of the Month" by Rough Notes Magazine, a national insurance publication, for the month of May!

Each month, the publication highlights an insurance agency that is a leader in industry marketing and sales solutions that really help them help their customers. Brownstone Insurance is proud to be featured as this month's Insurance Marketing Agency of the Month.

Everything we as a company do, is done with our customers and community in mind, so to have our efforts recognized by a national publication is really an honor for the Brownstone staff.

View the online edition of the May issue here.