Your house is more than just a place to sleep. It could be your most valuable asset, and one that you won’t be able to replace on your own if disaster strikes. That’s why having the right homeowners insurance coverage is crucial to safeguarding your investment. If an event covered by your policy damages or destroys your home or personal belongings, this insurance will compensate you. It will also protect you if you injure someone else or cause property damage in certain circumstances. Enough reason to really think about a homeowners insurance – but where do you start? Read this guide and find out why and how you should buy a homeowners insurance.
Types of Coverage
Before anything, have a look at the different types of homeowners insurance. These insurances range from cheap to expensive, thus differing in the coverage. The more you pay, the more your house and your possessions are covered. There are six types of coverage: dwelling coverage, other structures coverage, personal property coverage, additional living expenses coverage, liability coverage and finally, medical payments coverage.
Despite these six types, there are four more options that you can add, which are as follows: deductibles; earthquake, flood, or wind storm coverage, replacement cost coverage and guaranteed replacement cost coverage. If you read more about these or ask an insurance broker about this, then you’ll have more of an idea what coverage you really need and are willing to pay for.
Details about Your Home
Once you’ve figured out what coverage you really want and need for your home, you can start to apply for an insurance. However, it is also possible to ask for a homeowners insurance first before actually applying, but these details will still be required. What you’ll need to know, for example, is what the square footage is, or how big the garage is. You could also be asked about dates regarding the building, so make sure to have this information available.
What is Covered and What Do You Need?
Before actually buying an insurance, be sure to know what exactly is covered in your policy as some insurances are different from each other. For example, it might be that you want to be covered for hurricane damage or flood damage, but not all the insurances cover damage caused by weather conditions. Neither do insurances cover damage caused by a war or governmental related issues that might cause damage to your house. This is why you should reconsider your choice.
What is Not Covered?
Even the most extensive homeowner’s insurance coverage will not cover everything that can go wrong with your house. You can’t, for example, do damage to your own home and then expect your insurer to pay for it. Other causes of destruction are often excluded as well, such as power outages, government action, nuclear hazard, wear and tear or neglect, bird infestations, earthquakes, landslides, and sinkholes. Some of these dangers, such as flood insurance and earthquake insurance, can be purchased separately.
Compare Insurances
To secure adequate coverage at the lowest price, a homeowner should take responsibility for their own homeowners insurance policy. Lenders will never take that into account because insuring the property against loss is their first priority. This is something to always keep in mind.
Besides that, when you’ve gone through all these stages mentioned above and have received different quotes from different insurance companies, you can start comparing them. It is obvious that you would like to save as much money as possible, but you should also be covered as much as possible. See whether you can get the option to bundle coverages in order to get the right coverage for your home.
Another reason to compare policies from various providers is that minor differences can make one policy more suitable than another. For example, one insurance company may have lower claim limits in a personal property category , requiring the purchase of an endorsement by the customer. To provide time for an appraisal to be delivered to an insurance carrier, anyone buying a home should obtain quotes and purchase a policy at least one week before closing on a property.
Homeowners insurance is required for everyone who owns a home. It can also pay for you to stay somewhere if your home becomes uninhabitable, protecting your personal possessions, you and your family against lawsuits. Reasons enough to find out which insurance fits your needs and to start thinking about a home insurance before you buy your house.