Landlords and tenants still feeling the impacts of February flooding have had overseas assessors ease the wait on claims, RE/MAX Ignite principal, Adam Workman discovered recently.
With more than 160,000 claims from Gympie to Lismore, the claims process was feeling the effect of an overstretched workforce of assessors.
The consequence for RE/MAX Ignite’s three senior property managers and three full time support staff was real.
“We have 450 properties under rental, and even though only a relatively low percentage of those properties were affected by flooding, it translated to pain for a significant number of our landlords and tenants.
“We have up to 30 properties with minor claims and around a dozen with major claims, and in each case people’s lives are being affected. The delay in accessing assessors affects people we care about as individual and as clients.”
Adam said his team was fortunate that only three tenanted households needed to be relocated.
“We have been able to make the places habitable, though a compounding issue has been the difficulty in getting tradies, of course.
“Treating mould was one of our highest priorities,” he said.
In addition to managing insurance claims for rental properties, Adam had a flooded office to contend with.
“We’d been waiting to hear from an assessor since the end of February. Unbeknownst to me, our insurance broker, Alliance Insurance, had reached out to independent assessors all over the world.
“I must say, hearing from a Texan was a surprise when Trae rang last week. He told me he was part of a team from Texas on a 90-day VISA and he was personally processing six claims a day.”
Ironically Adam first met Trae in person when he came to assess the actual RE/MAX Ignite office claim a week later.
“He was familiar with RE/MAX, saying ‘You guys are really big back home’. In the US, RE/MAX is the leading brand in agent productivity.
“Trae was keen to see kangaroos,” Adam said. “Fortunately, Riverhills, one of Brisbane’s Centenary suburbs, has parks and areas of natural bushland. I put him in the car, found some kangaroos and made his day.
“It was a nice way of repaying him for the help he’s been to our tenants and landlords,” Adam said.
RE/MAX Ignite is working closely with its partners and clients to restore all rental properties affected by the February floods.
