No matter how strongly your house is constructed, a natural disaster can easily dismantle your home in a matter of seconds. When the unthinkable happens, you need to make sure that you’re fully protected with a great home insurance plan. In this article we’ll discuss some of the best insurance tips available.
Have your financial house in order before you try and enter into a real estate transaction. Check your credit report and credit score from the three major credit bureaus. If there are any inaccuracies, you will want to have those fixed. Unexpected hiccups in your financing can derail a purchase you are about to make.
Even if renter’s insurance isn’t mandated where you are living, it is highly recommended. You simply never know what is going to happen. Renter’s insurance covers all your valuables in the case of some disaster like a fire or a flood.
Multiple Policies
When considering home insurance, be sure to check with different providers to see if they have discounts for having multiple policies with them. You may be entitled to quite a discount if you have multiple policies with the same provider, such as home, auto, and life insurance. If they don’t offer a discount, ask them why. If you haggle you may get results, otherwise you should consider your options.
If your home is damaged severely with water, do not dispose of any destroyed property before your insurance adjuster can assess the damage. You can remove destroyed items from the home so that they do not cause further water damage to floors or other items, but leave them on the property. Failure to do so means you may not be compensated for those items.
It’s important to know whether your homeowner’s policy covers temporary living expenses if you’re unable to live in your home. Sometimes, if the home is unlivable, you may be able to claim some of your accommodation expenses through your insurance policy. That said, you have to keep receipts and provide them to the insurer.
Like most homeowners, you want to keep your insurance premiums as low as possible. Installing and maintaining a high-quality home security system can lower your yearly premiums by five percent or more. Make sure that it’s centrally monitored by a security company or linked to a local police station. Your insurance company will want to see evidence that your system is monitored before they give you the discount.
Before installing a pool or buying a trampoline, be sure to check with your insurance company to see what effect this will have on your premiums. Some companies will charge as much as 10% more to insure a house with a pool, trampoline or other potentially hazardous equipment on the property.
When buying a homeowner’s insurance policy, what is excluded from coverage is sometimes more critical that what the policy does cover. Flood coverage, for example, is not typically covered in most homeowner’s policies, but can be purchased as a separate policy. The same is true for other natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Smoke Alarms
Smoke alarms can help you save on your homeowners insurance premiums. With installed smoke alarms, you can save around 10% or more on your annual homeowners insurance premiums. It is possible that if you add more smoke detectors, your insurance agent will further discount your policy. Don’t forget to tell your agent about your smoke alarms.
Install and thoroughly maintain a security system in your home to get a discount on your homeowner’s insurance. Not only do the insurance companies see you as less risk and drop your premiums, but would-be crooks will see your system as a deterrent and choose to find someone else to rob.
Create a comprehensive list of the valuables that are in your home, and provide a copy to your insurance agent. Take pictures of your items, and have them stored somewhere away from your home. Confirm with your agent that all of these items will be covered, and make sure to update your agent on new valuable purchases that should be covered.
Insurance Policy
Check your local state insurance website prior to getting a home insurance policy. It contains information that will prove to be quite valuable when making the decisions about your home insurance policy. It covers complaints, fraud reports and insurance company ratings, among other things. These tidbits could save you a lot of grief in the long run.
When choosing a home owner’s insurance policy, look into the quality of the company. The company that holds your policy should be able to back it up. It is good to know if the company that holds your policy will be around to take care of any claims you may have.
If you are satisfied with your home insurance company, try and get greater savings out of them with a multiple policy discount! Many times a company will offer a significant discount as an incentive for taking out more than one policy with them so look into coverage for your car or health with the same company and quite possibly save on two or more annual policy premiums!
To ensure you’re getting the best possible rates on your home owner’s insurance policy, review and compare your policy regularly. You may find that something has changed that can lower your premium. You should also look for other insurance companies offering rates lower than your own. If you show these rates to your insurance company, they may offer you a competitive discount.
Be sure to pay off all of your mortgage. This tends to be easier said than done, but if you pay off your debts, you could see your premiums drop. This is because the insurance company thinks that if you, the homeowner, owns the home, you will be more inclined to take better care of it.
There are endless elements out there out of your control, all of which could cause serious damage to your home. Make sure that you’re using the tips you have just read to protect yourself and your family with an ironclad homeowners’ insurance policy. As the homeowner, the responsibility rests with you.
