The pandemic has fostered a strong desire for clients to upgrade livings spaces, relocate or buy vacation homes. Research from Brookings showed that major metropolitans with populations of more than one million have seen a decline since 2019 with more people moving out of urban cores and into coastal cities.
With such a surge in movement towards the coast comes an increase in risks that many property owners may not have encountered before, such as floods and hurricanes, leading executive director at the Private Risk Management Association (PRMA), Lisa Lindsay (pictured), to emphasize the importance of having open lines of communication so brokers can mitigate these issues and ensure their clients have the right policy in place.
Insurance agents and brokers are uniquely qualified to help manage their client’s lifestyle, and with post-pandemic planning in full swing, now is the time to provide clients with strategic risk management advice, she suggested.
Often clients don’t think about telling their agent that they’ve made improvements to their home or about their plans to purchase another property. “We have to make sure there’s proactive conversations between the insurance companies, insurance agents and clients,” Lindsay told Insurance Business.
Some clients may be looking to relocate to catastrophe prone areas post-pandemic, unaware that getting insurance may be more difficult depending on the location. Starting conversations about flood mitigation or the benefits of having a defensible fire-resistant perimeter around the home will benefit clients from a personal safety standpoint, and the precautions taken could help lessen the amount of damage that may occur should the worst happen.
“The number one job of an agent is to make sure they’re spending as much time helping their client not have a loss, as they are in making sure that if they have a loss, they have the best insurance program available,” Lindsay explained.
“You’re making [a client] a more insurable risk in the eyes of an insurance company,” said Lindsay, “with it being such a tight insurance market, you want your client to be the best risk, which is more likely when they have risk mitigation strategies in place versus someone who does not have any.”
Brokers and agents should take advantage of the current climate, reach out to clients prior to renewal, assess liability risks, and work in tandem to make smart decisions post-pandemic. Being in tune with clients’ needs mitigates home insurance risks and promotes a healthy, lasting relationship in the future.
