Episode 72: Avoid Home Insurance Surprises Before Closing with Ryan Baker

In this episode of Between Two Doors, Nate Carver — Your Favorite Mortgage Guy talks with Ryan Baker of Dunbar Beddingfield about how insurers evaluate a Texas home. Listen as they explore roof age, property condition, fire response, and claims history, and discuss how early insurance conversations can help buyers avoid surprises before closing.

Hear Ryan’s perspective on deductibles, replacement cost, comparing policies, and working with an independent insurance advisor. The conversation connects insurance decisions with your real estate agent and lender, putting the focus on understanding coverage rather than simply chasing a low premium. Connect with Ryan at [e-mail] or 972-890-7410, or visit https://dunbarbeddingfield.com. Listen to Between Two Doors for local conversations that help you build your homebuying team and plan your next move.

Creators and Guests

Host

Nate Carver

Your favorite mortgage guy

Guest

Ryan Baker

Ryan Baker is VP of Personal Lines at Dunbar Beddingfield. His experience spans personal lines, commercial insurance, and underwriting. He helps clients navigate home, auto, and landlord coverage while building a team of independent agents, with an emphasis on education and protecting homeowners’ assets.

Producer

Stan Carver II

Stan Carver II is the producer behind his brother Nate Carver’s Between Two Doors podcast, bringing a blend of marketing savvy, technical craftsmanship, and video-editing polish to help each episode shine. As third-generation real estate investors, Stan and Nate share more than a family bond—they’ve rolled up their sleeves together renovating dilapidated properties, learning firsthand what it takes to turn potential into value. That shared experience fuels their on-air chemistry and off-air collaboration, with a brotherly camaraderie that’s equal parts hard work and genuine fun. For Stan, it’s a joy to support his Favorite Mortgage Guy's vision—translating great conversations into professional, compelling content that helps their audience make smarter moves in real estate and homeownership.

What is Between Two Doors?

Between Two Doors is a unique exploration of the real estate world through the eyes of its most fascinating professionals. Hosted by Nate Carver, a seasoned mortgage expert, and proud veteran, this podcast dives deep into the personal journeys of realtors, offering listeners insider perspectives on the challenges, successes, and the little-known stories behind the sale signs.

From first-time buyers to seasoned investors, Between Two Doors provides valuable insights, tips, and tales that illuminate the real estate industry in a whole new light. Sponsored by Success Mortgage Partners, we're here to inspire, educate, and empower our listeners with stories of perseverance, innovation, and success.

Join Nate as he bridges the gap between real estate professionals and enthusiasts, exploring what it takes to thrive in this dynamic industry. Whether you're seeking advice, inspiration, or just a good story, "Between Two Doors" has a place for you.

All right.

If you've ever wondered about insurance
companies and how they decide the risk,

is worth taking in
and providing insurance for a home.

I've got a podcast for you.

Hey, everyone, I'm Nate Carver,
Your Favorite Mortgage Guy

and host of the Between Two Doors podcast.

And today
we are talking with Ryan Baker of Dunbar

Beddingfield Independent Insurance Agency.

Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome

to Between Two Doors.

Hey, Ryan, how are you?

I'm doing wonderful, man.
How are you doing?

I'm good.

It's good to.

It's good to finally link
back up with you.

And, we're going to get into who you are
in insurance and see.

See what we can do to help

answer some questions
about what people are asking online.

And, we'll go from there.

So, let's see.

I'm gonna put you in the underwriter's
chair, and let's say

I'm buying a $600,000 home in Texas.

It's beautiful, I love it.
My wife loves it.

My realtor loves it,
and the lender says we're good to go.

And I look at I'm looking at the property,
and then you look at the property.

What could you discover that may make you
say, Nate, we’ve got a problem?

Yeah, that's a good one.

Yeah.

There could be a number of things.
Could be.

Where is the property
located? Is it in the country?

How quick can that fire department respond
if there is a claim?

Do we have a pool? Trampoline?

On the property.

How old is the roof?

So now, number of things that,

we want to take a look at on the insurance
side as we're reviewing properties.

Okay. Does, Okay.

I mean.

Does it make it impossible to insure,
let's say,

you know, the distance from a fire hydrant
or a fire department?

Let's say it's way out.

I don't know, in the rural area,
it could be ten,

15 minutes, maybe or less. I'm not sure.

Yeah. I mean, it's not possible to insure.

I mean, you

know, really, there's carriers set up
for each type of risk out there.

So whatever we run into,
there's going to be an option.

It may carry or carry a premium increase
just because you have a higher risk

of probability of there being a claim
if you're way out in the country,

like if you're in a high wildfire area
like out west,

you know, that may be a premium increases
because there's there's claims all the

time due to fires.

Okay.

As a lender, I may not see these things.

So as a, as a, as an insurance provider.

When I tell you I've got a property
that needs insurance,

and I introduce you to the,
homeowners, I.

You've got a checklist
that you're going through.

Is there something of that nature
or is there, you know,

Google Map it and zoom in?

Is that the first clue?

Yeah, yeah.

You know.

We do a needs analysis and then, you know,
then we take a look at the property

and you know, there's a lot of,
the internet's just a great thing

when it comes to, to kind of virtually
underwriting a property.

So, aerial imagery is something
we're able to check Google Maps, like,

how far are we from a fire hydrant? Aerial
imagery can review things like,

is there a tree that we may need
to cut down before moving in?

Like maybe there's some branches
overhanging on that roof

or part of the shingles
need to be replaced.

So yeah, you know, we got so many tools.

Insurance companies

use to help make some of these
underwriting decisions on the spot.

Right. And those

tree trimming,
the roof, that kind of stuff.

I see a lot with water heaters.

These are things that buyers, home

buyers can negotiate with the sellers
to get remedied.

One avenue to do that.

And then there's also renovation
loan avenues to do that as well.

To be able to, you know,
the goal is to get them in the home

with an insurance policy
that covers the replacement of that home.

And, y'all, will working with

you will find that solution
if we if we need to.

Okay.

So we'll tell me.

Tell me how
you got into insurance, Ryan.

Yeah, yeah.

So, you know,
I don't think anyone ends up, you know,

dreaming about being an insurance agent
when they grow up. I know I didn't,

but, you know, I,

I graduated from school, and, I was,
you know, I found a health insurance

gig back in the day, and,
that's where I got my start.

I did health and life insurance and,
just through some contacts

I made while networking in that role,
I got introduced to the property

casualty side, which is what I do today,
which is like home and auto.

And, I fell in love with the home
buying process.

I love working with home buyers and,
yeah, I've been doing it ever since.

Have you been doing, like, personal lines

or commercial insurance
and underwriting or.

Yeah,
I have some experience in underwriting.

I've done that. It was,
it was commercial liability underwriting.

So on the commercial side, but, you know,
I really my bread and butter

and what I really enjoyed
is it's always been just personal home

auto, like landlord policies, you know,
so on moves out of their first home

and they want to put it up for rent
and go get another property.

Something we help out with as well.

So in the time that you've been doing,

writing insurance policies
and helping people buy homes,

what's something you've learned
that you wish you'd had known right off?

And that's it.

That's a good one.

You know, I would say,
I wish it's good to just have open minds.

All that is the best way
I can say to answer that,

because,
you know, there's so many property.

Everything within
each property is pretty unique.

Nothing's really cookie-cutter
in insurance or underwriting, except for,

you know, maybe if it's a

if it's a new build direct
from the builder,

that that might be the most kind of cookie
cutter situation you have.

But anything that beyond that,
you know, have an open mind going into it

because you never know what could pop up.

Right?

Do credit scores

play a role in insurance policies?

They do? Yeah. Yeah, they absolutely do.

We have something called an insurance
score that they look at.

Okay.

Is there are there brackets there.

Like if you're like a 780 or better or 620
or better.

Is it, is it is there a benchmark number

that has a benefit to the insured.

Yeah.

You know,

it's not like your traditional credit
score in the sense

where it's going to be like,
you know, like seven, like,

you know, eight hundreds.
Great type of thing.

It's it's more
so we're looking at like past five years,

of your insurance history.

So, like, did you have a lapse in coverage
or did you have continuous insurance

over those five years?

Did you have claims?

What were the nature of those claims?

Did you pay the premiums on time?

And those collectively kind

of create your insurance score,
which can impact your rate.

Okay. So

as a lender, I'm,
I'm always working with people's

credit scores and looking at ways
to improve them because I know

I can save them money on interest rates
and closing costs.

Rate buydowns.

All all of the above.

Time being a big factor

in, you know, when they're wanting
to move into their new home.

They may have a lease that's about to end
up, so they may have to move.

So let's say we get them into a home

with a FICO score of 600.

And I'm looking long term

and I'm like, if you just do X, Y
and Z on your credit, in time,

your scores will come up, generally
three months depending on the severity.

Right.

But you'll you'll see over
time, plus adding a mortgage,

you'll see their credit scores come up

if, let's say we get there,

they're at 600 and we get their scores,

they get into the home, I'm following up
with them, stayed in contact with them,

and I know that their
scores have come up over 720.

Is that is that a

is that enough of a FICO score
improvement to trigger

a maybe an improvement on their insurance
premiums?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean what what you're describing
with having some runway.

Absolutely. Yeah.

You know I would even say, you know,

that's a great time
to even just take a look at the insurance

because there's carriers out there where,
you know, they do evaluate, you know,

what was your prior liability limits
on like your home or your auto policy.

Yeah, it could be a simple change.

It could be relatively inexpensive
to to increase some of those coverages.

So when you are ready to buy home,
you may, you may,

you may be able to get a better rate
than you would have.

Prior to that. Okay.

Incidentally, you did on credit cards too.

If you just go up, you can go renegotiate
your interest rates on your credit cards.

So I learned that.

So it's nice. Okay.

Always looking to see where I can help
people save some money.

All right.

So let's see.

Would you insure this house?

I'm going to give you a little scenario
here, and,

you tell me the the pitfalls
or the successes.

Let's say, here's the scenario.

Green light, red light or yellow light.

House number one: a $500,000

North Texas home.

Everything looks great.

17 year old roof.

Ryan.

Green, yellow or red?

That one's yellow for sure.

Reason I say the yellow. Yeah.

Is 17 year old roof.

Yeah.

So we're to get it to

and to get it to a

a fundable or insurable product.

We need to put a new roof on it
or they are going to.

Is that the option
or is there a financial option

there that they,
you know, there's a commitment to a premium?

Is that pretty much yeah. Yeah.

They got multiple options.

And I say yellow because you know it's
definitely insurable.

It's just yeah.
Are we going to insure it.

You know
there's multiple types of coverage.

So at 17 years old likely not going to be

looking at replacement
cost coverage on that roof.

It'd be more of a depreciated payout
should there be a claim.

The other concept could be self insuring
like you you like you have brought up.

Maybe we take a higher deductible,
just to offset that premium.

And, you know, that might be the
way to get the deal closed.

Okay.

All right.

Second scenario put you on the spot.

So brand new $700,000 home.

It's got a brand new roof,
plumbing, electrical, everything.

But it's in a high hail exposure area.

What do you think? Red.

Yellow or green?

Green. Yeah, that's a green for sure.

High risk exposure.
That's all of North Texas.

You know, I'm
I'm based up here in McKinney,

and, that's where, like,
catastrophic zone for for hailstorms.

We get them every single year.

And what I've starting to notice
just from talking with roofers

is, I mean, hail season is.

Like.

Usually in the spring, right?

But we're starting to see hail storms,
like, even just a couple weeks ago.

I think we have one in Denton County.

And yeah, it was in late August.

So it can happen anytime
you're in these times.

So, yeah, definitely,
definitely a green light.

There's carriers.

that play in North
Texas in high-risk areas.

Yeah,

these houses are real houses in our in our
in that in this market.

So, every one of these I've run into you.

So, five, eight.

This one's real. Common.

Five acres,
detached workshop, barn and two horses.

That's that one's yellow light.

That's yellow light.

Yeah, that's yellow light.

Inherently, there's nothing wrong with it.

It's just going to be about

which carrier is going to accept
that exact risk profile.

Because in my head,
if they're out in the country

a little bit,
how far is our responding fire department?

Right. That's
something that a lot of folks don't.

You don't really think about that
when you're buying a house.

Not a fun thing to be thinking about, but,
you know, it is super important.

Does it does it matter if there's, like,

they're out in front of my house,
there's a fire hydrant.

I am out in the country,
I know from the fire

department to my house,
probably six minutes.

But does the fire hydrant in location,
in proximity to your home?

Does that still matter?

I know that used two years ago,
I just curious.

Yeah, yeah.

It still matters.

I think the biggest thing they look at
is going to be what is it, the local

like fire respondents like.

Well like what

is it a fully staffed fire department
or is it like a volunteer?

Okay.

It's going to be really what we kind of
see out in those country properties.

Okay.

And this is really I mean, I guess what
what we're really getting at with

all of these scenarios is your home
is unique, it's going to be unique,

and your insurance provider
is going to make sure,

that you're properly covered.

Right? Right, right. Yeah. Then.

Here's one to a

lot of Victorian or older homes,
gorgeous older homes,

beautifully remodeled cosmetically,
but some electrical and plumbing systems,

maybe they didn't do anything about that
stuff.

Is that going to be red, yellow
or green for you?

For me, I'm.

Going to say, yeah.

I don't want to answer yellow
and everything.

That's the green.

All right.

I'll say green.

There's nothing
inherently wrong with the old system.

And, you know, the cool thing is when you

when you work with, you know, the right
insurance provider, we can turn it into a,

you know, from a question mark
into a good thing.

So that could be as simple
as, let's have a licensed electrician

go out there and let's figure out
what the status of of it is.

If everything's operational,
everything is going okay.

There's no reason to suspect
there should be an issue, and

most of the carriers will kind of operate
from that perspective.

Okay. Here's one for you.

Let's say you're you're writing up
a policy on a home they're about to buy

in that physical property

has had previous insurance claims on it,
not the homeowner.

Maybe the previous homeowner
in that property is that do

those previous insurance claims
have an effect on your insurance policy

or anybody's
insurance policy moving forward?

Yeah, yeah, it certainly can.

So some carriers
allow you to exclude those prior claims.

So, it depends.

It really depends on the carrier
and the specific area we're looking at in

a higher risk area like North Texas,
that may look like

we need to have a licensed
roofer take a look at the roof.

If there was a number of roofing claims

or that area
historically gets hit pretty hard.

But definitely,
you know, not a major cause for concern.

And most it, most of the time, you know,
we can get them excluded if, if it's,

if it's from the prior prior owner.

As long as everything's in good shape
today.

Okay, so I'm in good shape. Okay.

So so a home,
a property does have an insurance history,

Yes. And y’all have access.

Oh that's interesting
I didn't I didn't know that.

Yeah. Rolls back five years. Five years.

Yeah. Okay.

All right. Good.

That's good to know.

The, Okay, so let's say

I'm come back to that

17 year old roof
because I know that's a problem.

Because, you know,
usually it's less than it's less

than half of its life left
if it's a 30 year term or 30 year term.

30 year roof.

Buyers, often homeowners, the home buyers.

I've never I have yet to hear
someone say we love a house.

We hate the roof.

Maybe they do, but maybe they don't know
that there's something wrong,

or it's the last thing that they notice.

So 15 to 18 years

old, but it's currently functioning.

Let's see.

What if there's nothing wrong with it?

Is that is it still replacing it?

So the reason I ask
the seller may push back on wanting

to replace a roof on a property,
whereas the buyer may see it and say,

hey, I can't get insurance on it,
or my insurance premiums

are going to be significantly higher
than if we put a new roof on it.

Any options there?

Some solutions.

What what are our pitch that we

would be telling those owners?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

You know that that one.

It's a super common situation.

And what I always started, you know, I'm
a big education guy, so I always like,

start with, you know, why
why is actually happening.

And so to make it, like everyone
sort of understands health insurance,

it seems like a lot more than they do
sometimes like their home insurance.

And just because the roof is functional,
that doesn't mean it's

going to be a lower risk.

Like, for example, if you were to get
a life insurance policy at 18 years old

and you have someone is 40 years old
getting that life insurance policy,

The 40-year-old could,
maybe he has a better diet.

He works out more
if there is virtually the same risk.

The difference is that one is older,
one is younger.

Now the 40 year old is still going to pay
a lot more because in sheer probability,

it is much more likely to have a health
event occur just simply due to his age.

It's kind of the same exact thing
with the roof.

So there are things that we can do.

Now, I always have the perspective
that, hey,

if the roof is in good shape
and we can confirm

it's in good shape, then it's okay
to self insure a little bit.

And there's multiple different things
I suggest.

That could be, let’s take a higher deductible
in the short term

so that we can work at, you know, pocket
a little bit more of the premium.

And in the meantime, let's not wait.

Let's actually be proactive.

Let's get with your Realtor,
your loan officer, your insurance agent,

and let's connect with a good roofer,

because I know I've talked
to great roofers in my network.

And, you know, when you think about
maybe a 5% deductible, having to pay

$20,000,
that's not really the case these days.

You know, there's
payment plans or financing options.

You're not having to come up with 20
grand on the spot

should you need to replace something.

And then, you know, the likelihood, too
is if it's in good shape,

it's probably not going to need to be
replaced immediately in the next storm.

So that does give us time to revisit
long-term.

Right?

So the roof's not the end of the
deal. That's good.

And it's, you know, ideally it's perfect.

Second best is sellers and buyers

are willing to negotiate
to a reasonable solution.

Yeah.

And then after that there's still
there's still opportunities

whether it's a higher deductible,
higher premiums.

All of that's adjustable.

And then I just learned from you.

You know what?

You know, your network with builders,

A roofer specifically is,
you know, some of them, they have some

financial opportunities
there or financing opportunities there

in case you don't have those kind of cash
reserves, to do those repairs.

That's fantastic. Absolutely.

Yeah.

Maybe we get someone,

maybe
even get a roofer specialist on there

because I'm not going to ask you anything
about anything more about roofing.

So, what are you is it

is there an average in North Texas
that you're seeing for home values?

And I know asking
that, we’ve got different square footages

and all kinds of different variables
going into a home.

But when you're pricing out policies

and I don't know, as a homeowner
looking at homes, you know, I

one of the things you got to know is
you got to have an insurance policy.

They don't necessarily know how to figure
out or estimate what that's going to be.

I've got my numbers as a lender,
so I always like to make sure I'm close.

So do y’all,

Is there a good rule of thumb
to where you're within

a ballpark number
of what to expect on an insurance policy?

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

You know,

where it gets predictable is going to be
for like, new construction homes.

You know, those range
anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500.

They're on the lower range
for the premiums.

So anywhere in that range
is going to be a healthy mark

because, you know, part of the rating
is also the individual insurance score.

It's not just simply the property itself.

There's other rating factors.

But for resale here in DFW,
I'd say healthy is anywhere

from like $3,500 annually
to probably about $4,200 is what we see.

And if it's in that range,
we're in a pretty good spot.

And, you know, we, we,
they opens up the door and we're kind of

premiums is in a healthy window
and we can work with the client

to kind of tailor that policy to what
they do seek, you know, what they see,

because there’s some optional coverages
that some folks can either add to it, waive,

that they may or may not see the value,
and that can affect that premium.

Okay.

In my opinion,

I think one of the easiest ways to help,

I guess, keep your insurance
policy costs down.

The premiums is a brand new water heater.

Am I right or wrong?

It can certainly help.

I'd say it depends on the carrier,
but it does not hurt, yeah.

Doesn’t hurt. Okay.

Well I've seen some pretty rusty ones.

So I get these appraisals back and I
look at the photos and I'm like, oh no.

Oh yeah.

Well, you know, if
it's like a historical home then for sure.

I mean, that is absolutely something
that can make a big swing in premium.

I, I just looked at one and it was like a
almost $2,000 a year difference.

If they had a,

you know, 30 year old water heater
compared to a ten year old water heater.

So, you know, those things can add up.

So, you know, a couple of years back,

we had Texas had, ice Armageddon,

like, the entire state was frozen.

Literally the entire state was under ice.

And, of course, hail, tornadoes,

wind, straight line winds out
west Texas, fires.

We get hurricanes, wildfires,

lots of calamities.

Why would you do insurance in Texas?

Well, I if I'm if I'm speaking
from the carrier perspective,

you know, personally, I don't think I have
the courage to open up a shop

in Texas, because like you said, we have
claim events everywhere.

But, you know, for me
personally, it's a it's a great market.

There's a lot of options.

I love working here in Texas.

You know, I'm local here. And,

the good thing is a lot of carriers,
just because we are a big market,

even though it's a hard market,
they have found ways to figure out

how do we continue to be competitive
and continue to help homeowners

and potential homeowners
get closed on these properties

and moved in.

Okay.

I've always as far as premiums go,
I think they're pretty good.

I mean, as a lender, I see a lot of
premiums in around the state of Texas.

I see a lot of premiums in other states.

I think Texas good on the insurance
compared to some other states.

And so you

I mean, you might know some other states,
but,

yeah.

The ones that I've written loans in
or write loans in,

it seems like it's a trade off
where, where we have a higher

you know, our property
taxes are what they are.

In other places that have lower taxes,
they tend to the insurance policy,

for whatever reason, for lots of reasons,
is just it's

like they just flipped them out on the
I flipped.

And so anyway, yeah.

And as a lender, I always want to
make sure we've got the replacement cost

for the loan.

I don't want to leave a borrower

in, in,

in financial problems
when they're clearly, if you're having to

run a claim on your insurance policy

for your primary residence or property,
you already have problem.

You got some things going on, right?

So now we're not wanting
to compound that. So,

so when

when is the right time
for someone buying a home

to reach out to an insurance agent
and when is that trigger for them?

Yeah, we when we go
under contract is when we should have

the insurance, started,
an insurance process started.

And, the the reason I say under contract
is, you know,

of course,
we're waiting for the inspection.

There's certain steps
it still need to happen.

But when you got an insurance partner,
like someone like myself,

where we can take a look at the property,
the claims history, we can.

We might see, hey, there might have been
some water claims on the plumbing.

And you can take that
into the negotiations.

Just say, hey,

can we have inspection on that plumbing
and know, hey, we're all good.

And now, you know, you're you're in a spot

where as the the potential homeowner,
you understand that plumbing.

We have no reason to think that it's
going to fail or there's something wrong.

Homeowners taking a look at it
and it can be a good thing.

So always a good idea to start right
when we get under contract, so

we're not finding things out
right before closing.

Yeah okay.

So in that, for anybody listening,

So the process here we got pre-approval.

That’s when you get ahold of me
and we fill out a loan application.

And you know, we get your, get you a clear
mortgage plan put together.

Then you go out, meet your Realtor,
and y’all go do some house hunting.

You find the house you want,
you're going to make an offer on it.

They're going to accept that offer,
you know, send you a contract.

You're going to sign the contract.

I will get a copy of that contract.

Introduction to Ryan.

Correct. Right there.

That's
that's the only way to do it. Yeah. Okay.

Because then we're going to go
into inspections, appraisals

and then ultimately closing all in 30 days
or less.

And generally it's a lot
less than 30 days.

But if, if I can get you introduced

to someone
that's a family is buying a home,

as quickly
after they get under contract

and that will line up
with their inspection and appraisals.

That gives us enough time
that if there is an issue,

see this all the time in Florida
with, hurricane clips on the roof.

If you live down on the coast,
they want hurricane clips.

It really improves your insurance
policy, helps hold your house together.

And,

that,
you know, if they're putting a new roof

on, that's a great time to slide those in,
because they're super cheap.

If they're not putting a new roof on,

putting those into the roof
joists can be costly.

And so anyway,

perfect time to trigger your insurance
policy is right there after contract

I love it. Good good.

Because that's one of the things on my
when I'm celebrating their lock in call

or the contract with them.

Like, I'm super excited for them and like,
it is.

One of the next questions
I ask them is, who are you using for insurance?

Or do you have an insurance preference?

Most say no.

They don't.

And, and so there's an opportunity there.

Make an introduction.

So what makes a, what makes,

what's the difference between
an independent agent, different from,

I don't know, I've known you
from other insurance walks in life.

In chapters in life,
we don't have to use their names.

But I'd like to know
what being an independent agent means.

Yeah.

Yeah, really, what it comes down to is

we have the freedom of choice
and selection for our client.

So, you know, there's a captive
and independent captive model is,

you know, they just have access to their,
the one carrier, and it's,

there's not inherently wrong
with anything wrong with that.

It's just, you know, it's not it's
it's a one size fits all type of approach.

But that doesn't necessarily work
for each property because as we discussed,

there's a every property is very unique.

So, one carrier
may only have that one option.

And it could be like double or triple

sometimes
what you see on average in the market,

but having the access to many carriers

is where we can really serve the client,
because we can help them.

select what is the right policy
with a fair cost

and then and really tailor the,
the policy to them.

So we're aligned
with what they want covered.

What they're willing to self-insure,
and they really have an understanding of

their insurance.

Okay.

So I always think in terms of teams

building a team, for the homeowners.

And in that team, you've got a real estate
agent,

you've got the lender loan officer,
and then you've got an insurance agent.

That is core. To me,
that’s core

in having a successful closing
and purchasing a home.

Finish this sentence for me.

I wish every realtor understood
blank about homeowner's

homeowner's insurance.

That's a good one.

I would it's hard
to just finish the sentence.

I would say financial service. I know, right?

Yeah.

Financial service

I they,

I wish they would have every every realtor
understands the financial service,

not just something we need to think
that you have to have for the loan.

Right. It's
that it's an actual financial service.

Yeah.

How about a mortgage lender?

What is it you wish I knew you like? Oh,
that.

There's Nate calling me. What?

What is it? You

you know, I, I you know this,
which is great, but, you know,

I, I've been in the industry since 2020
and I've met, I've met

lenders that, you know, don't recognize
the insurance as financial service.

And they're in the process of closing.

They want the lowest
premium possible for the client.

And sometimes that is not the right way
to, to do things.

Because the client may be really
not in a great spot.

So, you know, you,
you do a great job about that

and understanding that,
hey, it's a great financial service,

but that's, you know, insurance
as a whole.

It's a very commoditized industry.

When you're hanging out this weekend,
you're going to see GEICO pop up

and Progressive, and 15% or more,
and it’s very much structured that way.

And, you know, I,
I believe, you know, I agents like myself,

you know,
we want to try to move it away from that

and focus on quality coverage
and making sure we're protecting

someone's, you know, one of their largest
assets being their home.

All right.

Are you
seeing anything that lenders are missing

when it comes to the insurance piece?

Yeah.

You know, I really I really think that
it's not that they're missing anything.

I think it's just like not having

intentional thought on like,
hey, like what does the insurance have?

Like, what role does the insurance
play in the home ownership experience.

Right.

Because as an insurance agent,
I'm having interactions, with the,

the client, anytime there's a hailstorm,
anytime there's something going on.

I mean, there's normal and organic
opportunities where I'm talking to

the client as they're a homeowner,

not just in the process of renewal
or getting them signed up initially.

And so I think it's something
that, you know, when they

when they make a referral, you know, you
really want to make sure you understand

someone's approach long-term,
because you're lending your relation—

your reputation long-term
to whoever you’re sending to.

Okay.

Let's see if I can dispel some myths
or confirm them.

So myth true or it depends.

New construction is always cheaper

to insure.

I'm going to say true.

Okay. For the. Most case. Yeah. It's true.

Okay. Well, we'll take that.

We'll take that.

And, okay, I'm going to fact
check you on all of this.

If I never filed a claim,
my premium shouldn't increase.

That's a myth. That's a myth.

Okay. Is there is.

You want to dive into that
a little bit or just leave?

Yeah. Yeah, I'll break it down.

It's, like the life insurance analogy
I made earlier, right?

Like, you know,
your life insurance ages with you.

If you purchase a life policy age 60
versus age 30, it's going to be much more.

It's going significantly higher
for 60 than it would be as you're younger.

Your home
insurance is the same exact way.

Your home is also aging.

That roof is aging.

The risk of a

like the just the probability of a claim
occurring is higher every single year.

So that's where, you know,
definitely, definitely a myth.

Okay.

All homeowner's
policies are basically the same myth.

Yeah, I was yeah. That's why.

But, imagine
if you own an aggressive breed

dog and I don't know what to say.

Everything else is equal.

Your insurance is going to be
higher than mine.

Oh. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah. So it's not the same
and there's different policy form.

So it's the same.

And specifically what they cover versus
what they don't cover.

So you know, that's where you really want
to work with an agent on that.

Yeah.

Sidebar on the pools

pool is is owning a pool that's going
to push your insurance policy up.

But there are some things
you can do to mitigate that, right?

Yeah.

I'd say if you're looking at a property
with a pool, or you're looking at,

like adding a pool to

to your current home,
you know, has the expectation

that your premium may increase.

Of course, there's

a liability exposure with simply owning
something like a pool or trampoline.

So typically you do
see it's not catastrophic,

but you can see the premium increase.

But, having a locked gate,
making sure the fence

is at least four feet tall
so people can't just, you know, hop over.

Those are two things
that can really help out.

Okay.

My home's insured

Value should equal what I paid for it.

Myth.

Myth for sure. Yeah.

What are we looking?

Yeah. We're looking for the.

Yeah.

So, you know, when we look at it,

when I look at a property,
I run something called an RC.

It's a replacement cost estimator, so

You know, we're not really factoring
like, market value.

So occasionally,
especially what we see pretty common here.

in DFW is, the value of the home may be
higher than the actual replacement cost.

But when we think about
a claim, let's take a fire, something

catastrophic like a fire.

There's only rubble and the slab left.

Right.

Well,
we don't have to rebuild land like you.

You you owned the land, right?

When you purchase a home, it's
also part of the house.

You're not just buying the structure.

So it's not that it's not insured,
it's that we don't need to rebuild the dirt.

So. Right.

Okay.

All right.

A newer roof will always lower my premium.

I gotta say myth, but

I would say probably like 80% of the time

if you're comparing like a five year
old roof to a one year old roof.

Younger. Okay. Going know.

Okay. All right, I'll take that.

If I'm not in a flood zone,

I don't need flood insurance.

Big myth.

Big myth.

Yeah, that was a big one.

Technically,
everywhere is in a floodplain.

There's different risk categories,
but it can flood anywhere.

And, you know, I know for me,
you know, like, I own a home here in DFW,

and I don't even carry a flood policy,
but I understand the risk with it.

Right.

So I always
I always advise homeowners to, like, take,

you know, be a responsible homeowner
when it rains heavy.

Actually pay attention
as the water creeping up in your driveway.

Maybe we need to get a flood policy
because it can certainly flood anywhere.

Yeah,

yeah, I could see that.

All right.

So let's say how about bundling home
and auto.

Is it always cheaper.

Myth. No.

Sometimes it can be can.

But it's not always true okay.

Sometimes it can be.

We look at it from a, household
portfolio.

Right. So like what is your,
your insurance portfolio.

And sometimes it makes sense
to not have it bundled, but

on other times it does.

Is it

is it is simple.

Something simple.

Is it maybe you got the perfect home,
but maybe you got a lead, you know,

a heavy foot on the on the speeding
and get a whole bunch of tickets

and pass them, like, simple.

Yeah, yeah. Exactly that.

I mean, you know, there's,
you know, let's like,

you have a, let's say two teenagers,
you got a couple speeding tickets

along with that.

You know, your home
may be in a great spot, on its own.

And then just keep the auto,
you know, wherever it, is.

Yeah. Okay.

Fair enough. I get. No,

Not me, of course.

Yeah. Just asking for a friend.

Cheapest insurance
quote is the best deal.

Myth. Myth?

Because. What are they doing?

They're missing something.

Yeah.

You know what you really want to pay
attention to is what what what

what actually is, is like
driving the cost to be lower, right?

You know,
if it's you got the full coverage,

they have optional water
coverages, the foundation cover

they might have everything
could just be lower.

But you know, you really want to don't
you know you don't chance

that you got to have insurance
kind of right out the gate.

So that when there's a claim, you know,
you have peace of mind

that it can be taken care of.

But, there are some water coverages,
additional replacement cost,

little endorsements that really can affect
the premium quite a bit.

So let's see the

house if it passes inspection, passes
the appraisal.

We're good on all of that.

Is it insurable for sure.

Yeah okay.

Good fact. Not a myth.

So it's very good.

Let's talk.

But you the leader.

I've known you for a while.

I've been super impressed
with the way you operate,

and, mostly as a lender.

Your communication skills,

it's following up with me in the past,
and I just wanted to.

I like it, you know, highlight
where you're at now, your VP, right?

Of personal lines, you're the VP.

Tell me a little bit about that.

I've got some follow up questions.

Yeah, yeah, it was a great opportunity.

I found myself in,
you know, my agency, Dunbar Beddingfield.

I got connected with partner
of the agency, and, you know, he's.

He's based out of Houston.

And,

you know,

we got to talking about personal lines,
and, you know, I got a real knack for it.

And so we've been just really building out
our team and getting our name out there.

Hear it

throughout the entire state of Texas,
which has been a really cool thing

to watch it grow into.

Now, I got a team of three agents.

We just hired another one.

We have four folks, on my team
scattered throughout the state.

And, you know, we're we're
we're out there hunting and, just getting

our name out there.

I think that's remarkable.

When did you.

When did you get into the insurance space?

As, as an insurance agent?

That was not too long ago.

Yeah. 20, 2020.

So six, six years to be seven, six year?

Yeah, it'll be

six years.

And now you're the VP?
Yeah. It's fantastic.

I mean, you don't get that by just

phoning it in.

You showed up.

Wow.

So are you.

Are you hiring agents?

Is that you're looking.

Is there a specific thing
you're really looking for?

In agents?

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm, you know, really,
it comes down to two things.

Well, there's, of course,
a number of things you want, right?

But biggest thing is I.

Integrity, integrity above all else,
we want to make sure

policies are being written
where they should be written.

We want to protect the carriers.

We don't want to damage relationships

with carrier partners,
and we don't want to hurt the client.

Put them in a bad spot.

So I love integrity
and coachability.

You know, I think insurance can be.

It can be a tough road to walk.

You gotta have a lot of stamina.

But if you're coachable
and you're willing to do the work,

you know, it's
certainly a fruitful career.

Yeah.

I always thought your your methods
are in alignment with my methods.

And, I was there.
We coach the same person.

Okay.

So we are not. But,

anyway, a little bit about you.

Let's,
What do you do when you're not working?

So I'm married.

I have a dog, Rocky.

And, I love hanging out with love.

Hang out with my wife and Rocky
going dog park walks.

He's our only child at the moment, so,

he's he's spoiled,
but a lot of fun with him.

And, I love to travel.

We got an RV, and we love going up
to the Rocky Mountains, hence his name.

So we go. Yeah, quite a bit.

Best place you've been in the RV?

And then where would you like to go next?

Oh, you know what I gotta say?

Best place is probably Asheville,
North Carolina.

In the fall foliage.

I did that last year. Yeah.

Spectacular trip.
I've never been out there until then.

And then where I'd like to go, I really
want to go down to, like, Key West.

Key West and probably like

the Cascade Mountains up in Washington.

Okay.

Yeah,
go to Key West, but don't go in August.

Oh, yeah. No, it's the hot.

I've been there.

I love it,
but it's hot in August, so, Good.

Yeah.

The rock, the Rockies, your dogs.

Rocky.

Smoky Mountains, Asheville.

Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous there.

Guilty pleasure.

Oh, probably Marvel movies.

Marvel movies? Yeah.

All right. Amelia. Okay. Marvel or DC?

For sure.

Marvel. I'm. I'm okay.

I'm just not a superhero guy in general,
but I the new movies

they've done with, like, Iron Man,
the Captain America, like all of them.

Like,

anytime they come on the TV, I can't help
but watch because they're just.

They're funny.

But they're funny.

You know,
I used to be a film nerd, so it was,

I never imagined
I'd be into Marvel these days.

Yeah, I am I a comic

book kid growing up in,

This'll timestamp this podcast,
but the Spider-Man movie just came out.

Most recent one.

Have you seen it?

No. Fantastic. No, I but yeah.

Oh my gosh, I just

oh yeah I mean it's
$1 billion generating movie.

It is fantastic.

I've seen it twice.

I will happily
go see it again at full ticket price.

And, it was a fantastic movie.

So anyway, give them a free plug.

So. Yeah.

Ryan, you've been doing the right thing
for a little bit,

and your wife's been doing it with you,
so you you're doing great, right?

Yeah, yeah. Having a lot of fun.

I did it right when, I bought the RV
right around the time we connected.

That was back in, early 2022.

So it's been four years going on five
years now, but, yeah, it's so much fun.

And that's really where I love
the insurance space.

I've really tried to build out my business
to support that.

Is my
my long term goal is I get Starlink and

and, for example,
when it gets hot in Texas,

like we just had the 40 days straight of,
like a hundred degrees or whatever it is.

And, you know, we'll go up and go up

to like Colorado or some other place,
just live there for a month.

Yeah.

Yeah, I did the RV thing for a season,

I think maybe two and a half years.

It was fantastic.

Neighbors.

The RV neighbors is different every week.

And, you know, they were all friendly
and then you could go anywhere you want.

This for pacing people with great stories.

Yeah.

And if you're a veteran, by the way,

if you're a veteran,
every national park is free.

So if you got an RV, go to national park.

Don't cost anything.

So I just I just think that's
which is exactly what I did.

So I was like going to every, every park
I could get into them like I'm a veteran

they had to pay for.

It was good,
but you had to pay for the RV stuff.

But access to the park is free.

We're about to run out of time,
so I want to do some quick rapid

fire questions just to you
give me your your gut visceral reaction.

And then, and then we'll wrap this up.

Being in Texas,
I got to know barbecue or Tex-Mex

barbecue.

All right.

Dallas Fort Worth, Dallas

Ranch or lake? Lake house.

All right. Truck or sports car?

Truck. Truck. Okay.

Cowboys or Texans?

Cowboys. I'm a Rams.

I think the Cowboys.

Yeah.

Morning or night person.

Morning.

If you had to choose a new construction

home or historic home,
which would you choose?

Personally, I think historic, I think.

Yeah, I'm going to historic. All right.

Pool or outdoor kitchen?

Pool.

Well, okay.

Would you choose to live in the
in the city or in and out in the country

and country.

All right.

Beach or mountains? You got an RV?

Which one are you going
to? It's the mountains. Mount.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

One Texas city, one every one Texas city.

Everyone should visit.

McKinney for Hutchins Barbecue.

If you haven't had I go to Hutchins
Barbecue in McKinney, Texas.

It'll ruin barbecue for you,
but it's worth it.

Yeah.

Have you had the stuffed peppers there?

The jalapeno?

Oh, yeah.

The, they called the, Texas Twinkie.
Yeah.

Texas Twinkie.

That's the one.

Often sold out.

More times not.

They've sold out, but I keep trying.

It this things are so good.

Everything is fantastic.

Yeah. Good plug for them.

One thing every homeowner should know.

Oh, I'm sorry, own. What's one thing

every homeowner should own? A toolbox.

Toolbox.

Okay, and one thing every homeowner

should understand about insurance.

Oh, that's a good one.

You know, I would say

they don't need to be an expert.

They need to understand the value
of having an insurance advisor

in their corner. Right?

Someone that they can call,
pick up the phone, and they can help

guide them through whatever situation
they're running into as a homeowner.

Awesome.

Well, Ryan, you’ve spent a career
in evaluating and protecting

people's risk and assets.

What's the what's the best way
that someone, can reach out to you?

Maybe they need to get an updated
insurance quote.

Or they're getting ready to purchase
a home.

Want to get you lined up
as their insurance partner?

Yeah, yeah. Group text, text me directly.

Call me, email, number of ways
to reach out and hit me up on Facebook.

You know, really just send me a message
somewhere, and, you know, I will.

I'll see it.

Okay. I'll put those links down below.

Wherever you're consuming this content,
you'll be able to find Ryan.

And that's going to wrap it up.

Ryan, thank you for being a guest
on the Between Two Doors podcast.

And everyone else, I'm Nate Carver,
Your Favorite Mortgage Guy.

If you need, advice on lending

or purchasing or refinancing a home
in this market, please reach out to me.

My contact information will be
down below also.

Thank you.