Though born in Ohio, Mitchell Berg has been in Houston so long, he considers himself a native Texan. Since Mitchell’s first job in high school selling home remodeling services for the family business, his lifelong passion has involved working with properties and helping others.
After spending time as a builder developing subdivisions, Mitchell became a real estate broker and mortgage broker. He felt it was important to control the transactions and make the real estate experiences seamless for his customers. His efforts built him a network of loyal customers who provided him with endless referrals.
Mitchell subsequently became involved very successfully in the collateralized mortgage obligations industry. He developed a system for the derivative securities which caught the eye of the industry and the Wall Street Journal which helped him achieve financial success.
He took some time off and lived in Cancun for a while, got married and eventually returned to the United States. Upon his return to Houston, he continued working with real estate in the investment niche, doing bulk rehabbing transactions. During this time, Mitchell worked as a real estate broker for a national commercial real estate company.
In 2008, Hurricane Ike caused significant property damage in the Houston area. Many families, including Mitchell’s real estate clients, struggled as they worked through the tedious insurance claims process, usually with disappointing results. His clients had real issues with getting their money.
Mitchell states: “Here, they had paid their premiums all these years and they weren’t getting their money the way they were supposed to. And so they were begging me and saying, ‘You’re so hands on and you give such great service. We wish we had someone like you to manage this for us.’ So I became a public adjuster.”
While staying involved in the real estate industry, Mitchell Berg has found his calling – the passion for helping others successfully work through the process of getting their lives back together after experiencing painful, life-altering circumstances.
Mitchell went through rigorous training and credentialing to get licensed as a public adjuster in six states. Although he can directly represent clients only in those six states he’s licensed in, by virtue of his knowledge, he is also able to consult with clients in all fifty states.
According to Mr. Berg, people do not realize that insurance adjusters and independent adjusters do not directly represent property owners.
“Most people don’t know they have the option of hiring a public adjuster. Most people believe that their insurance agent works for them. They don’t realize that these people are working for the insurance company and their interests are actually contra to their interests,” states Mr. Berg.
Legally, only property owners themselves, attorneys and public adjusters can directly represent property owners with the claims they are presenting to the insurance companies.
A public adjuster’s sole purpose is to represent the best interests of the claimant and to ensure they get everything that is legally due to them based on their insurance policy in the shortest time frame.
Throughout his career as a public adjuster, Mitchell has strived to gain hands-on experience with every possible situation a property owner might become involved in. He has traveled the country, assisting people either as a licensed representative or as a consultant. He has worked directly with claims involving tornadoes, hurricanes, wind storms, floods, hail damage, fires and smoke damage.
He states, “The expertise is not only the type of occurrence that caused the loss. My expertise is in knowing how the insurance industry works and how the adjusting from the insurance side works because, at the end of the day, your damage is your damage. And we need to get you the money to put it back together. It’s not whether it was caused by this or that. It’s that it was damaged. How do I get you put back, because the premise of insurance is when you have a claim, you are entitled to be put back to the way things were the day before the occurrence.”
The insurance industry is continually enacting changes in their policies and coverage and it can be time consuming and confusing for a homeowner to stay up to date with all these changes. Public adjusters, such as Mitchell Berg, take it upon themselves to stay current so they can assist their clients to the best of their abilities.
Mr. Berg states, “I like going in there and evening the odds. I like that I have the playbook the insurance company has. I like that I can coach people to make the right decisions and get them a better result.
Because at the end of the day, you pay insurance for twenty years on your building. You never had a claim. And then you get a claim and they pay you half of what you’re entitled to and then you think that’s okay. And it’s not okay.”
Mitchell is extremely skilled at getting his clients the maximum amount of money that is due to them. Case studies repeatedly show that his attention to detail and knowledge of the insurance policies enable him to get his clients more money than when they represent themselves.
In addition to being an expert at helping his clients with their claims, Mitchell has a passion for educating the public about their rights within the insurance industry. He feels strongly that claimants should get all the money that is due to them, from the coverage that, in most cases, they’ve been paying for many years.
There are several areas that Mr. Berg feels people need to learn more about which have to do with their insurance benefits.
Many people mistakenly believe that after paying their deductible, their insurer will pay them the full cost to replace or repair up to the policy limits they’ve been paying for. This is usually not the case.
Also, most people are not aware that they have the right to receive additional living expenses to help pay for living and eating somewhere else while repairs are being done to their home.
In addition, according to Mr. Berg, “The other thing most people don’t know is I get advances for people all the time. You have a right to get your life in order as fast as possible. You have an obligation to mitigate your losses and protect the building. You’re entitled to get an advance to do that.
And that is one of the biggest differences between me and most public adjusters, that I get advances on almost every single claim for my clients.”
Whether a commercial owner or and individual homeowner; hiring a public adjuster to help you submit your claim will not only save you frustration and confusion, but it will help you get the most money the least time; and the most benefits that you are entitled to.
You can learn more about Mitchell Berg at http://www.settleclaimnow.com.