Make sure to check out this great blog article from Allen Insurance and Financial in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Organizing is never just putting stuff in its rightful place and calling it a day. It is a systematic process with a heavy dose of behavior modification that takes a great deal of strength, determination, and will power. Once a room, house, office, etc. is physically organized, the work is only half done. Keeping the space organized is the other half. This is where a Home or Business Inventory can be extremely beneficial.
Think of an Inventory of a blueprint for an organized space. Tanking inventory with photos, video, and written descriptions of the items within each room is an extremely powerful tool for staying organized. A Home or Business Inventory is a binder that is laid out room by room documenting photos and written descriptions of where each items should be in a room. The addition of video to the inventory caps off the process, allowing for easy reference of what should and shouldn't be in each room. A Home or Business is also helpful when one is downsizing, moving, planning an estate, getting divorced etc.
For more information on how a Home or Business Inventory can aid you in your organizing, as well as the myriad of other uses for an inventory, click here. We work with Professional Organizers as well as people who are in need of organizing. We offer professionally documented third-party inventory services, but equally important, we can show you how to conduct your own Inventory.
Thanks very much to Denise and Bernie Hannon for their testimonial of our Photo Scanning Service!
"It was a very quick turnaround for the large box full of pictures from the attic to be turned into a digital photo album. Less than a week! No sooner did we get them back when we created a digital photo album on our iPad and then started sending friends and family individual ones to reminisce and enjoy.
Many of these pictures we haven't looked at for years now and they've brought back so many good memories. What was especially important to us was the ability to preserve the older photos, many of which were black and white and were in various stages of deterioration. Thankfully, now they're preserved forever. We were pleased to see the quality of the images, even for the old and faded photos. The resolution is terrific too. We ran a photo show on our 50" LDC TV and everyone remarked at the quality of the images.
We are already planning to send the rest of our pictures over to Patrick for digitizing. If we knew it were that easy, we would have done it long ago.
Many thanks for the service and for the memories and the smiles they've brought to our faces."
Denise & Bernie HannonStow, MA
Click here for more information on our convenient and fast photo scanning service.
If you're over the age of 20, chances are you remember a time before digital cameras. You couldn't immediately view the photos you just took directly on the camera or your computer. If you wanted to share your photos, you had to get duplicates made at the developers. You likeley have boxes or albums in your house full of paper photos.
So what would happen if those photos of yours were destroyed by fire, flood, tornado, etc.? No amount of money can replace those memories.
Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem. Steadfast Disaster Planning's Photo Scanning Service takes your photos, scans them using high resolutions scanners, and saves them in digital format. Now, those boxes of vulnarable, paper photos are now conveniently preserved on DVD. At your request, Markham Group will upload your photos to
the cloud storage site of your choice so you can easily share them with family and friends.
Everything is done in house and handled safely and securely by professionals.
There has never been been an easier, more convienent and inexpensive way to bring your photos into the digital age to preserve your memories for years to come!
Click here to visit Steadfast Disaster Planning's Photo Scanning Service to learn more.
Mention this blog article and recieve 10% off your first order!
Steadfast Disaster Planning is a Division of Markham Group Inc.
While many Americans have insurance to protect their home and possessions in the event of a disaster, a recent survey finds many of them do not have a home inventory to make those home insurance claims easier.
The poll, from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, found that 59 percent of consumers did not have an inventory of their possessions.
Even among those people who did, 48 percent did not have any receipts, and more than 25 percent did not have either photos or a backup copy of the inventory outside of the home. The majority of lists were also more than a year old.
"Violent weather events affected approximately 80 percent of the nation's population over the past six years," says Kevin M. McCarty, NAIC President and Florida Insurance Commissioner. "Creating a detailed inventory of your possessions is one the best ways to ensure you have the right amount of homeowners or renters insurance for you and your family."
Having home insurance can prevent people from facing financial difficulties. The Insurance Information Institute says it's common for policies to replace possessions valued from 50 to 70 percent of the home's coverage level.
March 15, 2012
By: Carrie Van Brunt-Wiley
Source: HomeInsurance.com
Markham Group's Steadfast Disaster Planning offers a wide selection of Home Inventory services to fit your needs.
My name is Patrick Martin. I am the VP of Disaster Planning for Steadfast Disaster Planning, one of the two new divisions of Markham Group. If you've been to our site before, you may have noticed that our website has been going through a bit of a growth spurt while we slowly but surely implement these new divisions into the company. Believe me when I say that this has not been an overnight transition as it has taken many months of planning and adjusting to get things in place. Needless to say, we are extremely pleased with the outcome and we are sure you will be too.
So what does Steadfast Disaster Planning do? Simply put, we provide peace of mind. Now, I realize that this is somewhat of a clichéd term, but there really is no better way to describe the services we provide. Your home and your family are your life. Unfortunately, there are many threats out there that could disrupt these things, potentially destroying your life as you know it. Wouldn't you sleep more soundly at night knowing that you have put every safeguard in place to prepare you and your family for a potential disaster?
From Photo Scanning to Home Inventory, Steadfast Disaster Planning has a suite of services to prepare your household for a disaster and preserve your way of life.
What sets us apart however, is how the services within Steadfast Disaster Planning coordinate and integrate with the Insurance and Financial Services departments of Markham Group. Our different departments are in fact pieces of a much larger puzzle, providing you, the client with an overall planning and protection plan not seen anywhere else.
I encourage you to visit our Steadfast Disaster Planning page to learn of the different services we provide. Please check back to this blog often as we will be introducing and exploring more of the services of Markham Group!
If you would like more information regarding our Disaster Planning Services, you can email me at PatrickM@InsuranceInMass.com or call me at 1-800-971-0800 ext. 317
When getting married for the 2nd or 3rd time, or when combining households there are some things you need to change on your personal insurance policies.
Homeowners Insurance
When you get remarried, you are combining two (2) households into one. You will need to increase your personal property coverage on your homeowner’s insurance policy to make sure you have adequate coverage. You also want to make sure both names are on the policy. Check with your insurance agent for eligibility.
If you do not own a house or condo, you should have a renter’s insurance policy. The renter’s policy will not only protect all of your personal belongings in the event of a loss, but it will also provide you with liability insurance to protect your combined assets and future combined assets. The cost of a renter’s policy is as low as $150.00 a year.
Umbrella Liability Insurance
Combined households + combined earnings = more to lose! We strongly recommend purchasing an umbrella policy. The umbrella policy will give you additional liability coverage over the liability coverage on your auto and home insurance policies.
Auto Insurance
When you get remarried, you can combine your auto policies to receive a multi-car discount. Combining the home and auto policies with the same insurance company will give you the best discounts available.
If you are going to keep your auto policies separate, make sure you are both listed as drivers on each policy. You should also include “any and all” household drivers including the children from both spouses. A child away at school is still considered a “household member”. If any household member is not listed on the policy, they will NOT be covered. If the household member has their own Massachusetts Auto insurance policy you will not be charged for adding them to your policy. Be safe and list all household members that have a driver’s license! This would also apply if you not married and living in the same house.
Lastly, change your mailing and garaging address on all auto policies affected by the move.
This article was written by Mindy Lichtman. Mindy is the Personal Lines Advisor at Markham Group, Inc. If you have specific questions about divorce or remarriage and how it affects your insurance in Mass, please do not hesitate to call, email or complete our website contact page.
A divorce is a very stressful time. There are so many changes about to take place in your life. You have so much to do and you may not know where to start. Concerning your auto and homeowners insurance, we have put together some insurance items you will need to consider when going through a divorce.
An important item that will change from a divorce is your liability insurance. Personal liability insurance is insurance that guards the policyholder from legal expenses resulting from a lawsuit. This includes, but is not limited to; attorney fees, damages, pain and suffering resulting from you or a household member’s negligence. Personal liability insurance is included in your home, condo or renters insurance policy. Personal liability will also follow you were ever you go.
Homeowners Insurance
- If wife/husband moves out, the insurance will need to be changed to husband/wife’s name with the other as additional insured. This will give the person moving out, liability insurance where the house is concerned until the deed is changed but it will not give them coverage in their new home
- Whoever moves out should get their own policy (home, condo, renters) to cover them for liability and coverage for personal belongings. Even though the home insurance policy might still be in your name, it will not cover any personal belongings that are not left in the house. Nor will it cover you for personal liability that is not related to the house.
- Umbrella policies can be a separate policy or part of the homeowners policy. Umbrella policies can be purchased to increase your liability and protect you in excess of your home and auto policy. If you currently have one, this will also need to be changed. Talk to an insurance agent about this coverage.
Auto Insurance
- If the car you are taking is not in your name alone, you will have to change the ownership. More important if the car your spouse is driving is in your name, you will want to change ownership to them because of the liability exposure to you (see personal liability definition).
- When you change the ownership on the car, you will have to register it in your name alone and get new plates, registration and title. The title will need to be signed over to you, in order to begin this process. If the car is financed, you will have to “buy” it out either with cash or another loan. There is also a form to complete exempting you from sales tax for the registry.
- Because you are changing ownership on the car, you will have get a state inspection on the vehicle, even if this was just completed.
- If you move, change your address with your insurance agent. An auto claim can be declined if the insurance company does not have your proper garage address.
- You will want to add any new household members as drivers, even if they have their own car and auto insurance. Auto insurance will cover you from a covered loss resulting from an auto accident. If you allow someone to drive your car and they get in an accident causing injury, you can be found liable.
These are only some of the insurance items to consider when getting a divorce. Each individual has their own unique insurance requirements. Some of the items listed above are related to having your Insurance in Mass and do not apply to other states. It is recommended that you meet with your insurance agent and review all the insurance changes that are necessary to properly protect you while making this transition in your life.
This article was written by Mindy Lichtman. Mindy is the Personal Lines Advisor at Markham Group, Inc. If you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to call or email our office.
The Markham Group website now offers consumers the ability to get an auto insurance quote directly from Commerce Insurance. By clicking on the Commerce Insurance - Request a quote logo, individuals can quickly and easily step through the quote process and get an instant auto insurance quote. Individuals no longer have to wait for the agent to call back later and can get an instant quote immediately.
This feature is only available for individuals with auto insurance in Massachusetts. If you do not have insurance in Mass, you will still have to go to an independent agent of your choice to get an auto insurance quote.
Typcially, I am not a big fan of direct on-line quoting because the consumer does not always make an informed decision when choosing their policy insurance limits. For example, an individual can choose a property damage limit of $50,000. It seems like a reasonable limit, but the individual is unaware of the true costs of property damage to cars, guard rails, telephone poles etc. in the event of a car accident. Also, the individual is not aware that choosing a higher limit of $100,000 or $250,000 is only $2 - $5 more in premium per car.
The Commerce Insurance on-line quoting process is different. Commerce Insurance provides a group of dedicated employees within their insurance center. These dedicated employees are licensed and will be responsible for reviewing coverage, answering questions and assisting the consumer in the binding process of the auto insurance policy. Once an auto insurance policy is bound, it is transferred to the independent agency where the quoting process originally started.
Obviously, Commerce Insurance is not the first company to offer instant auto quoting on-line. The Commerce Insurance consumer portal quoting engine is well designed. The dedicated insurance center helps the consumer make an informed decision, it gives the consumer instant gratification in obtaining a Massachusetts auto insurance quote and keeps the independent agency involved in providing great customer service once the policy is issued.
Plymouth Rock Assurance (PRAC) customers now have easy access from their cell phone to service their PRAC auto insurance policy. Customers have the ability through "Mobile Services" to pay a bill, view their policy, report a claim and make a payment. When you get into a car accident, you can also email your photos directly to PRAC. The "Mobile Services" App will work on any web enabled smart phone by going directly to plymouthrock.com.
The "Mobile Services" site also has the ability to look up your agent contact information. I punched in our Ayer, MA zip code and was suprised to see our updated agency contact information. It was only a week ago that I reported to Plymouth Rock that our agency changed its name from Markham Priest Insurance to Markham Group, Inc.
Plymouth Rock has also introduced an iPhone® App. If you have an iPhone® or iPod Touch®, you can download the App directly from iTunes. A video showing the features of the new iPhone App can be found on the PRAC website. Ideally, I would like to see a dedicated Android App. I checked the Android Market to verify and an App did not exist.
I will keep you informed on any updates from Plymouth Rock Assurance. Over the past year, PRAC has shown it is a leader in using social media and providing mobility services to its customers as compared to other insurance companies. Plymouth Rock can be found on Twitter at @PlymouthRock and on Facebook at Plymouth Rock Assurance.
My next blog will include how you can get insurance in mass auto quote from Plymouth Rock directly from your local insurance agency website.