Storm Hits Sacramento | Sacramento Real Estate Voice

Sacramento Homes Get Hit by the Winter Storm

January 9th, 2008 categories: Real Estate Tips, Sacramento

Tree Down.jpg This past week we have all endured a power packed winter storm, the likes we have never seen.

With winds peaking at 60 miles per hour, the City of Trees suffered with fallen trees.

Over 24,000 SMUD and PG & E customers are experiencing no power since Friday.

Rain has poured and more is expected.

This brings me to some very important questions that have been asked by my previous clients. As always, since I am a Realtor for life, I have been contacting my home buyers and asking how they weathered the storm only to find out by many that they have encountered some damage.

Just in case other home owners in the Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado County have the same questions and have experienced Mother Natures terror on our area, here is some important and vital information to help you resolve some of the issues you may have.

With over 600 reported City of Sacramento trees down here is a bit of information for those experiencing this problem. For down trees, it depends if the tree is on City property. Of course, if the tree has damaged your house, call your insurance company. If so, call the City and they will take care of the tree. If the tree is on your neighbors property, you and your neighbor need to contact your respective insurance companies.

Fence Down

Many of us are dealing with fencing that has toppled over like this one. First off, yes if the fence is a fence that is between you and your neighbor, both of you need to pay for the fix.

One question I received was what if the fence (the nice part is not facing me but is facing the neighbor). You still need to pay for half of the repairs. The fencing should alternate between the pretty side and the ugly side.

Now, the big one here is that yes, you could just throw the fence back up cheaply and expect to continue having to fix the fence over and over again. Fences put in by home builders were never put in correctly. Hire a licensed professional for repairs.

This brings me to my BIGGEST grip OVER WATERING. If your fence is stained with white stains as evidenced by this photo, then you are over watering, over spraying which causes decay and no matter how good a job the fence is put in you will encounter damage to the fence over time.

Too Much Water-Fence As you can see by both photo of the fence standing and the fence fallen, there are white areas stained on the fence.

This indicates over spraying of water and what you dont see is the over watering at the base of the fence and the absorption by the fence post.

All it takes is a storm like the one we just experienced to have this fence fall.

No matter what type of job is done repairing a fence, if you dont change your watering habits as a home owner you will get more of the same fencing down.

Yes, it is frustrating when you act responsibility with your watering habits and your neighbors DONT. At this point both parties have to share in the cost of the repairs but maybe someday, the home owner who acts irresponsibly with their watering will have to pay for the full repairs.

Usually, it is best to pay for fence repairs since deductibles on your home insurance are typically higher than the cost of the repairs. Check with your insurance carrier or better yet your own home insurance documents.

Things to Remember when Hiring a Contractor

Hire a Licensed Person
Double Check the License
As and contact Contractors Past Clients
ONLY pay 10% until job is completed correctly

One last note, which is very important, is to check your roof for broken, loose tiles and composition sheets. We are in for some additional rain and with the strength of that wind we had, it is conceivable that tiles may have blown off or are displaced.

If you do have concrete tiles, do NOT attempt to walk on your roof. Call a roofer who is skilled in walking on tile roofs.

For those who are or have experienced water intrusion, the rule of thumb is that if the water fell from above than your home owners insurance will cover it. However, if the water came from pools, streams, lakes, sewers (which means it rose), then only if you have flood insurance will that be covered.

Hope this helps answer a few of the questions that have posed by recent home buyers and helps all home owners in the Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado Counties.

Now, its time to get back to preparing to show homes to a few new home buyers this week.

If you are interested in seeing what homes are for sale, just click on Home for sale in Sacramento, call or email me with your choices.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Real Estate Tips, Sacramento. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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