HOUSTON—As thousands of property owners struggle to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, they may find insurance claim filing to be an arduous process. In some cases, an insurance company may provide a low-ball offer to a property owner. This can set off extensive negotiations that can take months to settle and require adjusters to make multiple trips to a property.
This can prove to be an issue for commercial owners who usually have to complete repairs as quickly as possible, before the insurance claim is sorted out. Once the damage has been fixed, it becomes that much harder to prove the extent of the damage the storm caused.
If the damage could be frozen in time, renovations could get started without forfeiting any bargaining power with insurance companies. Photography and videos are both tools that can be used, but those tools don't provide much nuance.
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
