So, on Sunday I wake up at ~8am and as a good landlord, I look at my phone. Over 10 missed calls and texts. On a Sunday night, that’s never a good sign.
You already know what happened.
Sunday morning 5am, my neighbor’s wife who’s sleeping with her husband in a dormer, only a few feet from the property line, needed to go to the bathroom. For some reason, her husband followed her. In that moment, the trees crashed down, one right into the dormer. Substantial damage to their ~1930 house, our 4plex just suffered a clipped corner (roof and 1 panel of siding ripped off)
To make things a bit more stressful, I had to catch a flight on that Sunday late afternoon, San Francisco to Taiwan that I really did not want to miss. I had to be out of there by 2pm.
I went to HD and bought a heavy duty tarp for $60, nailed it on and put caulking around the edges. Never had water intrusion until it was finally repaired by a roofer in June:
1st tree: $1000 to remove the tree and $300 for the windshield.
2nd and 3rd tree: neighbors had called tree company who removed everything, their insurance paid for it.
They also got an all new roof and all new siding. Subject to their $1000 deductible.
My cost was limited to the tarp and caulking ($60), $2100 for a new fence and stump-grinding, and then $1500 in June to repair the roof, siding, gutter, downspout and paint… $3670 total.
I reported this whole ordeal in January to the insurance. They came out and took photos. In August they sent me a letter that they won’t renew my hazard policy because I have trees lieing around. WTF??? I wasn’t going to file a claim because the payout was only going to be $1170, but I guess I had to!
If the city refused to issue a permit to remove trees and later the tree falls and kills someone. Will the city be responsible? I guess the city does not care about responsibilities since it’s spread to taxpayers anyway and the city government can’t go to jail since it’s not a natural person.
For a government organization, the responsibility is really a non-issue. We have to place responsibility on real people. If the tree kills people, the government employee who refused the permit should go to jail. Or the mayor, or the lawmakers who passed that regulation.
I know that if you have a construction defect on a newly built house that passed city inspection, the city is not liable.
The tree experts who said trees 2 and 3 are stable? It was a verbal statement.
If they had to put it in writing, they would probably always recommend removal. There is no upside to recommend keeping a tree – only risk.
Appreciate the sharing, @ptiemann. Yeah, I def would have tried to remove them asap after the first one too, and if it meant going around the law by doing it on a weekend so be it. At the end of the day, we as owners have to make the assessment as to what is best for our tenants’/neighbors’ interests there. In this case, no brainer, since everyone there, tenants and neighbors “understand” the issue and they aren’t going to complain about a downed tree if you had time to get to get.
Yeah, I had a kitchen fire once and submitted a claim. Claim amount was higher though, of course, but yeah got term’d by my carrier.
This is exactly why when some rookie says how easy owning rental property is and blah blah blah I walk away…
If your insurance company refuses to renew your insurance after some claim, is it very hard or very expensive to find another insurance carrier?
Insurance is something you have to have with a Californian rental property. For primary home, maybe you can do without insurance, but mortgage company will force you buy.
It would be interesting if even the mortgage company can’t find you an insurance carrier if your claim is too much or too often
Thanks for sharing @ptiemann! Luckily none of my properties have big trees nearby. Well, maybe my townhouse in Santa Rosa… but the HOA is supposed to take care of them…
I have a big tree on the driveway and the neighbor complained about it during the raining season. He asked me to remove the tree. However, the people from the city say that the tree is still solid and won’t fall to his house. I did spend a few hundreds to trim the tree for the neighbor to avoid him calling me too much. I don’t know what kind of tree it is. Since it’s in the front, it would be too much liability to remove the tree without permit. I hope the city will change its policy and remove owner’s responsibility for trees in the sidewalk.
From my check, that tree is not in danger of failing, but that neighbor is paranoid about it
it was not as easy as making a phone call. There were trees down all over Santa Cruz County in January-March.
There were urgent situations everywhere. The crew that removed the first tree came the same day, because I’ve given them a lot of business over the years. They would prioritize a down tree with down power lines over trees that “may be an issue”.
Roofers have been very busy this year also. Seems that with the heavy rain, all the marginal roofs suddenly leaked.
yes, the mortgage company can find a carrier but I would not go there.
I had a flood insurance policy on another property with FEMA and the renewal was about $5000. Upon the anniversary date (June 1st), there’s a 30 day grace period in which you can make the payment (July 1st). I somehow confused those 2 dates. I obtained cheaper flood insurance from a private carrier for $2000. The cheaper policy kicked in June 11th. Because of my confusion, I had 10 days without flood insurance (while I thought I had obtained the new policy 20 days too early!)
So, my lender sent me a letter in July that I needed to buy flood insurance for June 1st to June 10th. (Again: this is for a time period completely in the past.) I called around and nobody could backdate an insurance policy. Renewing with FEMA was not an option either - it would have cost me $5000 and they would not refund any portion. Besides, I was past the 30 days.
Sure enough, the lender bought a policy for me. June 1st to June 10th. It cost me about $1200. Yes, that’s $120 a day to insure against an event that did not happen. FEMA’s policy is around $15 a day and the Lloyd’s charges around $6 a day.
I’m still coming out ahead by $1800… saving $3000 on the policy - the $1200 nonsense.
Since we’re now into trees. My neighbors keep bothering me now and then to trim my two 20’ pine trees , was trimmed 10 years ago, time to trim again?
Anyone have experience with pine trees?
My other rentals don’t have big and tall trees
Talking about storm, one side of one of my Austin rental has no house, thought is damn good but is a mistake, every year runs the risk of fence falling during heavy rainy/ storm season… repair bills of a few hundred dollars. Same tenant since I bought it more than 3 years ago, may be should consider selling if current tenants don’t renew, wuqijun, interested
A lazy farmer was resting under an apple tree, and while he was in and out of his sleep, he asked God why he didn’t create a tree for the watermelon. You know God…he said, it is so hard to pick them up. On a tree, you just drive your truck up to it and grab it.
All the sudden, an apple falls on his head. Tears coming out of his eyes because of the pain…when a voice from up there on the sky replied: What were you saying about a watermelon son?
Remember, I am the guy who didn’t smell a thing in Smellpitas… I have been watching some news coverage. It is very bad. My TH is in the southern part of Santa Rosa. It’s cutting really close…
, was trimmed 10 years ago, time to trim again?
