Home Owner Insurance - Don't Make Costly Mistakes
Advice: Life events may have also changed the coverages you need. For example if someone has moved in or out of your home, they'll probably have personal items that will need to be covered by the home insurance policy, or in the case of moving out, no longer need to be covered.
Home owner insurance is supposed to give you a peace of mind that you will be protected in the event that anything damaging or disastrous happens to your home. However, you cannot just assume that if you have a home owner insurance policy that you will not be responsible for the repairs to your home if something does happen. It is very important that you are well aware of the obligations that you have as a homeowner to ensure that you and your home are covered against the most likely (and unlikely) problems. Here are some common things that some people overlook in their home owner insurance policies:
1. If you bought your home more than 2 or 3 years ago you may need to update your assessed value on your home owner insurance. Although you may have "full" replacement coverage, it usually only covers 100 to 125% of your home value when it was originally insured with home owner insurance. Home values in some areas have doubled and tripled within the past 5 years. Talk to your agent to update your home owner insurance coverage amount so that you will not be left with tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay out of pocket to rebuild your home.
Advice: Another way to find the best quotes on home insurance is to use the Internet. Through any search engine, you'll be able to find sites where you can compare the quotes of several different companies at the same time.
2. You may not know this, but the insurance industry keeps a national database of claims and even inquiries about making claims. This was set up to prevent people from making a lot of fraudulent home owner insurance claims. But, in the recent past some insurance companies have been using it to deny coverage or drop coverage for people who make a single claim or even an inquiry about a claim. So, be cautious about making any claims. If you think that your expense will be less than the deductible do not make a claim.
3. Make sure that you have adequate liability coverage. It is not expensive to get full coverage, and it may prevent you from losing your home if you are ever sued-and lawsuits are becoming more and more common.
4. Keep up your home maintenance-especially plumbing. Mold and mildew damage are now excluded from coverage in many insurance policies. If you have had an undetected leak that has caused damage, mold, and/or mildew it could end up costing you dearly in out of pocket costs.
Advice: Be sure to see what safety objects you may need in order to qualify for home insurance. Perhaps you need to have a certain amount of smoke detectors per square feet or an anti-theft system that will help keep thieves away.
Educate yourself on what your home insurance policy does and does not cover for peace of mind.
Eriani Doyel writes articles about Insurance. For more information about home owner insurance visit fnsinsurance.com
