Fire Damage Claims in Dallas

Fire Damage Claims in Dallas

Filing a fire damage claim in Plano was an ordeal to say the least – Trying to manage my family and their needs as we packed into an Extended Stay hotel and tried to live out a somewhat normal existence was difficult to say the least. Not only had we lost most of our possessions (many of which could not be replaced because of their sentimental value – pictures, journals, etc.) but we had a house that was 60% burned down. I was thankful that we had insurance for this fire damage claim or we would have been really in bad shape. I don’t think we would have recovered without it.

An independent appraiser (I think that’s what they are called) working for the insurance company came and did their due diligence to try and figure out a number that would get us back in our rebuilt home with new furnishings (even the ones that didn’t look too bad had excessive smoke damage and couldn’t be kept). What I didn’t know at that time (the appraiser coming) was that even though they were independent, they still worked on behalf of the insurance company, which put us at somewhat of a disadvantage when it came to getting the money back for what we needed to have done. A buddy of mine suggested that I counter their appraiser’s settlement number with a higher number, but I didn’t know how to do that. I had never thought of the value of my home and its contents and I figured I would be pretty bad at guessing. I told that to my friend and he told me that I should hire a public adjuster. He said that public adjusters are qualified professionals who advocate for you to get the maximum settlement out of the insurance company. They have their own appraisal people who are on your side in this whole thing. So, I called one from the Dallas area and the person I worked with was amazing. I won’t go into the details (mostly because I don’t fully understand it), but I know that my family and I got a really large settlement – one much larger than was pitched to us by the first appraiser. This helped us get everything repaired and also aided us in buying the furnishings we once had – house looks great, by the way.

So, if you ever find yourself in this same unfortunate situation I want to recommend that you do some research in your area and find a well-qualified public adjuster to help you like they helped me.