Dear Friends and Realtors,

Following is a suggestion you may want to copy and paste into an email to your home buyers, given we are in hurricane season:

Important Insurance Suggestion for Home Buyers!

Now is the time that tropical disturbances in the Caribbean form and strengthen to tropical depressions and even tropical storms or worse, hurricanes. Therefore, you may want to consider contacting your insurance agent now in advance and obtaining binders for your homeowner's policy and any required flood insurance policy as soon as possible. Your mortgage lender requires you to have insurance before you can close the purchase of your home, and you want your future home protected as soon as you own it, which you will at the end of the closing.

The reason for this suggestion is that most homeowner's and flood insurance companies stop issuing policies once the area in which a home is located comes under the earlier of a "hurricane watch" or a "tropical storm watch" (sometimes referred to as "the Box") issued by the National Hurricane Center. Watches are typically issued 48 hours before hurricane or tropical storm conditions are possible in the area.

Note that both hurricane and tropical storm watches are issued before hurricane or tropical storm warnings, the latter being issued 36 hours before hurricane or tropical storm conditions are expected in the area. Further, hurricane and tropical storm conditions are always experienced before the hurricane or tropical storm makes landfall because that does not occur until the center of the hurricane or tropical storm intersects the coastline. Therefore, the point is that hurricane and tropical storm watches are issued and insurance companies stop issuing policies far sooner than the time when the hurricane or tropical storm's landfall occurs, so do not delay in obtaining your insurance binder(s).