A slowdown in the economy leads to business cutbacks and closings, which ultimately results in vacant buildings. According to real estate firm CB Richard Ellis, the 2007-09 recession increased the average vacancy rate for offices to 17 percent nationwide; nearly 10 percent of retail spaces were vacant. When buildings contain no occupants or personal property, they become susceptible to a variety of problems. There are approximately 31,000 fires in vacant buildings annually, resulting in dozens of deaths, hundreds of firefighter injuries, and an average $642 million in property damage.
Recent natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina have once again put mold in the spotlight. And since flooding can occur in the winter due to the abundance of melting snow and heavy rains, homeowners need to familiarize themselves with the steps to eliminate mold from their homes.
You treat your car like you would a child. You take care of it inside and out and no one could ever tell it recently celebrated its tenth birthday. Over those ten years, you and your auto have had some great times together, but now the unthinkable has happened and your car has been “totaled.” Does that mean that the two of you have to say good-bye?
The first few moments following an auto accident can be an extremely confusing, emotional, and frightening time. As such, it may be difficult to know what accidents need to be reported and what your insurance may require.
Disaster can strike a business in a multitude of ways. Businesses located near the coast from Texas to Maine are highly susceptible to hurricane damage. Fires and explosions can devastate buildings regardless of where they’re located. A building need not be the target of a terrorist attack to feel its effects, as many business owners discovered after the September 11 attacks. After a catastrophic event, evaluating the damage to the facilities quickly and accurately is essential for both insurance recovery purposes and for getting back into operation as soon as possible.
If you’re like most people, you believe you’re pretty well versed when it comes to protecting your car from thieves. If that were the case, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center wouldn’t be reporting these chilling statistics.
As elementary school children, we were first introduced to the concept of ratios, or how one number relates to another number. Back then we tended to think that like almost everything else we were learning, ratios were just one more forgettable piece of information we would never use. Of course, we were wrong. Ratios are something we constantly come in to contact with, even when it comes to our homeowner’s insurance.
About twenty years ago, a famous hamburger chain ran a series of commercials featuring a cute octogenarian named Clara Peller. This feisty little old lady claimed her fifteen minutes of fame asking that now famous question, “Where’s the beef?” While it may have been funny to watch her put fast food restaurant owners on the spot, it is not at all funny if you’re in a car accident and you ask the other driver for their insurance card only to find out they have none.
Teenagers and fast cars are a Hollywood legacy that dates back to James Dean. The “Rebel Without A Cause” and his Porsche 550 Spyder were the ultimate symbols of teenage rebellion during the 50s. Despite all the Hollywood hype surrounding a teen’s need for speed, the problem with teenage reckless driving has serious consequences that reverberate beyond the drivers themselves.
According to the FBI, there were 221,009 laptops reported stolen from 2008 through 2009. As an increasing number of business men and women are traveling with laptops in tow each year, this already high number is likely to keep rising. Statistics show that the most popular targets for laptop thieves are office buildings, airports, hotel rooms and cars.