Are you planning of buying a home? Do you know you should have home owner insurance? Do you know what to include in this insurance policy? Getting the right coverage will protect you from financial disaster. Learn what you need to know about this insurance. Reading this article will give you a few ideas on how to purchase this insurance.
If you plan to buy a home or condo, you must have Home owner insurance. Not only does it protect your home investment, it is also a requirement when you buy a house and lot through mortgage.
Home insurance is a protection given to your house in case it is damaged or needs repair.
One effective way in buying a condo insurance, another term for home insurance is to inquire first at your existing insurance, whether it is life insurance or car insurance.
Some insurance companies have different types of insurance policies. Moreover, many insurance companies grant discounts if you buy several insurance policies with them.
There are many types of coverage to choose in buying home owner insurance. HO-1 is the basic type to protect your property from 11 threats which include fire, vandalism, lightning, theft, major breakage and overflow of water from plumbing. The HO-5 policy covers everything except flood, war and earthquakes.
If you need to insure your house from natural disasters, you need to buy a separate condo insurance. Another consideration before buying your home insurance policies is to make an estimate on how much it would cost for you to rebuild your house in case it is damaged or destroyed.
The insurance company has its own guidelines to estimate the replacement expenses together with the corresponding premiums. Of course, the higher the replacement expenses, the higher the premium.
The premiums for your home owner insurance also differ depending on where you live, the value of your house, your length of stay in your house, and the number of insurance claims in your neighborhood. So better to shop around and compare home insurance providers.
If you want to save on your condo insurance, look for ways that can help get lower premium. For example, you can install effective security system, fire protection system and maintaining a 100 feet around your home.
If your neighborhood is prone to flood, your basement and its furnishing are not covered unless you have a separate flood insurance. In other words, know your major risks and do something about it to make it disaster-resistant. Continue reading →
Insurance is a slightly nonstandard business in that all the major regulatory functions are left to the individual US states. Federal government has decided to abandon its normal role as the regulator of business to protect the consumers’ rights. Such regulation as does exist is down to the political climate in each state and the will of the lawmakers to take on the economic power of the insurance industry. That said, all Departments of Insurance start off equal. Their primary function is to license companies to sell insurance in their state. Unlike other businesses, an insurance company is licensed state-by-state. No company can sell a policy across state lines. That means every national insurer must establish separate subsidiaries in each state and each company must hold a license. There are also minimum capital holdings set by the Department to protect the solvency of the local companies. There must always be enough money held by each company to pay out on the claims made. Some states require actual cash to be available. Others have a formula to prove the availability of money as required. But, for the most part, this is historical. The major players established their presence in multiple states years ago and newcomers moving across state lines are rare. In fact, the general lack of competition in state markets gives no incentive for companies to seek new licenses.
Once all the players hold their licenses, the personality of the Commissioners in charge comes to the fore. Many view their role as political either to run the Department with the lowest possible level of regulation or to be an effective watchdog to protect consumer rights. You can tell which way your local Department is run by logging on to your state’s website. Some sites are very pro consumer, offering detailed help and advice on how to buy insurance and get a good deal. But the key test lies in the way complaints are handled. Without exception, all Departments accept complaints from people holding policies. In theory, they should all investigate these complaints and apply a judicial process to decide whether the insurer is at fault and, if so, what the remedy should be. For example, Road Island has just imposed a fine of $5,000 on a leading insurer. Following a traffic accident, the insured wanted the repair work done at his regular auto body shop. This was refused by the insurer because the shop was not on their list of approved body shops. Local regulations drawn up by the RI Department allow the insured a free choice of repair facilities. The fine of $5,000 and publicity for it represents a small penalty in itself. But if there were many such fines, the cumulative bad publicity would damage this insurance company’s reputation and its market share would fall. Continue reading →
So you’ve finally moved into your new house and currently unpacking your stuff to make your new home beautiful and comfortable. But what about insurance, did you get the right amount to cover your new home? When changing place of residence, even moving to another house in the same block, there are much more things influenced by your actions than homeowners insurance. Here’s a list of things you should consider analyzing and adjusting when moving to another place of residence. Continue reading →