Mattie Lawson Suggests a Plan for Action After Meeting with Builders About Lowering Insurance Costs | Eastern North Carolina Now

    On Tuesday April 3rd Republican NC House District 6 Candidate Mattie Lawson met with representatives of the Outer Banks Home Builders Association at their headquarters on Airstrip Road in Kill Devil Hills, NC. She was eager to get the low-down on the spiraling insurance rates for property owners participating in the Beach Plan.

    Well-known builder and community leader Duke Geraghty hosted the meeting along with fellow builder Mark Martin and insurance guru and NC-20 leader Willo Kelly. Touching on a number of subjects, the meeting helped bring the Candidate up to speed on the history of the Beach Plan, the disparity between rates paid across the state and efforts taken to apply sanity to the situation. In this economy our citizens certainly do not need to continually be paying more and more for insurance to major insurance companies known to have bloated reserves, a guaranteed profit and a record of excessive dividends to stockholders all over the world.

    While the 80 counties in the western part of North Carolina view the coastlands as populated by wealthy folks rolling in easy cash from the tourism industry that has given us the dubious honor of being a donor region, state legislators influenced by the insurance lobby have been slow to offer needed relief to our property owners. Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin denied the first rate filing ever submitted to him by the NC Rate Bureau. He has also worked with local property management companies on travel insurance issues and convinced the largest company writing those policies here to extend their coverage for another year. However, there is much yet to be done. The 2012 election for NC Insurance Commissioner may affect a significant cost savings for insurance holders.
NC House Candidate, District 6, Candidate Mattie Lawson addresses a crowd of potential voters at the Beaufort Patriot Tea Party Candidate Forum held in the Auditorium on the campus of the Beaufort County Community College. Mattie drove from Dare County, as did her district 6 primary opponent Jeremy Adams to meet Beaufort County voters. Ms. Lawson's other primary opponent, Beaufort County native, Arthur Williams, did not feel so called to meet the voters, and declined to attend the debate, the meet and greet: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
    Voters, please, take note and cast your vote on May 8th for candidates sympathetic to the issues of Eastern North Carolina.

    Mattie offered a helpful idea with potential for providing instant financial relief to homeowners. The idea requires no legislative effort or lobbying dollars. Each and every homeowner and commercial business owner is encouraged to immediately contact an authorized builder to obtain an accurate assessment of the cost of rebuilding their structures. This is the full extent of insurance an owner needs to purchase: not the appraised value of the building or the property's purchase price. This re-build appraisal will not affect the resale value of the owner's property. The amount of the re-building appraisal represents the amount the owner's insurance company will pay the owner for rebuilding.

    The immediate savings due to reducing the cost of the insurance policy to reflect the re-build appraisal value could easily be hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year for each owner, regardless of the owner's insurance plan carrier.

    The Outer Banks Home Builders Association is ready to provide contact information about local builders qualified to make a realistic assessment of the replacement value of homes and businesses. There will be a fee depending upon the size of the property, starting at approximately $200. Compared to the potential savings within just the first year, this fee could be insignificant. This is a piece of information owners may need for other uses, as well, such as decision-making for estate planning and remodeling. Interested parties may call Maxine Rossman, Executive Officer of the Outer Banks Home Builders Association at 252-449-8232 for more information. Her email is obhomebuilders@embarqmail.com.

    On the topic of estate planning, the reader is reminded to create or update your existing will for the financial and emotional protection of your loved ones. It's worth doing now rather than later.

    Please, vote this Primary - early voting starts April 19 - on May 8th for Mattie Lawson for NC House District 6 (Northern Beaufort County and Hyde, Washington and Hyde Counties). Vote also for the Marriage Amendment limiting recognized marriages in NC to one man and one woman.