Homeowners Insurance

If in the near future you are intending to buy a home, then it is essential for you to know everything about homeowners insurance. A good home insurance policy would not only help you to save your hard earned money, but would also give you a complete peace of mind. There are numerous of things that have to be considered while buying a home insurance. Let's take into account a few important ones.

• Know your home inside out- To get the right home-insurance premium quotation, inspect your home carefully to ascertain the construction material used, age of electrical and plumbing fittings, and so on. If you have a wooden home in a wildfire prone area or if you have a masonry home in an earthquake prone area, then you would have to pay higher premiums.
• Familiarize yourself with the neighborhood- You can claim discounts, if the fire station is near your home or if the emergency vehicles are able to reach your home within a few minutes. Hence, take a look at your neighborhood.
• Take into account the geography- The cost of homeowners insurance also depends upon the geographical location for your home. If your home is located in areas that are prone to earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods or wildfires, the annual premiums automatically increase.
• Install various safety and security gadgets- By installing security gadgets like burglar alarm that is connected to the local police station, and smoke alarms, you can drastically reduce your home insurance premiums.
• Plan for the future- If you intend to expand your home, then before selecting the homeowners insurance, plan for the future. Certain things like wooded frames, swimming pools, trampolines, and so forth can increase your home insurance costs by 10% to 15%.
• Regularly maintain your home- Keep your homeowners insurance for major disasters only. Deal with minor problems on your own. Repairs, replacements and plumbing needs are easy to handle; so, do them on your own. In this way, you would neither jeopardize your insurability nor would you end up paying higher premiums.
• Compare, contrast, look for discounts and shop around- There are lots of options available. To select the best one, conduct in-depth research. Take the help of internet or ask your kith and kin for recommendations. Check the license, credibility, financial ratings, customer service index and complaint records of the insurance company before going for it. Often, insurance companies give about 10% discount to those people who maintain several policies with the same company. Give this option a serious thought and save money.
• About deductibles and replacement cost coverage- Deductible is the amount of money that you need to shell out at the time of any mishap. A high deductible will significantly lower your annual premiums. With time, the value of your home will appreciate significantly and so will the construction costs. Hence, replacement cost coverage is essential. It's an additional coverage that the home insurance company provides besides the insured amount. With this coverage, you can easily re-build your home without worrying about the increased construction costs.
• Keep your records up-to-date- Always be ready to tackle the worst scenario. For this, keep all your home insurance records up-to-date. If you have recently got your home renovated or made any structural changes in it, note down, in detail, the amount of money spend. Also put together the pictures or the video clippings of the changes. Lastly, keep all these record outside your home.

Homeowners insurance has become a necessity because many mortgage companies ask for it before sanctioning you a loan. The above wholesome tips will certainly help you to buy a superlative home insurance policy. Once you get that, you have nothing else to do than to sit back and relax as your dream home is fully insured.

What Every Historic District Resident Needs to Know About Buying Homeowners Insurance

Isn't there something truly awesome about knowing every time you step out onto your front porch you're looking at a little piece of history? Living in a historical district can be like capturing a moment in time over and over again, every day of your life. The catch is, part of enjoying the serenity and the mystery of living in a historical district is doing what you can to preserve the authenticity of your own home. That's where your homeowners insurance steps in.

See, buying homeowners insurance on a historic home isn't as easy as hopping on the web, filling out a questionnaire and getting quotes from companies all over the country. Wouldn't it be nice if it was? When you're insuring a home in a historical district you're probably going to need to work with a professional that specializes in that type of thing to make sure you're preserving the sanctity of both your checkbook AND the little part of history you call home.

Why Buying Insurance in the Historic District is Such a Pain

When you're insuring your historical home it usually isn't because you don't have anything better to do with your cash. It's because you don't want to have to pay out of pocket to repair it if the antiquated wiring should suddenly combust or your septic tank finally gives up the ghost! Most of the homes in the country's authentic historic districts have a replacement cost of over $1 million, often much higher than their estimated market value, simply because it's going to cost your homeowners insurance so much to find the right kind of materials and the right craftsmen to put it back together again.

Did You Know Most Homeowners Insurance Companies Won't Insure Houses Over 100 Years Old?

Yes, it's shameless age-ism, but there you have it. No one ever said the insurance industry had to be politically correct. At least, not as far as inanimate objects go. Guess nobody ever told them that history was alive!

But seriously folks.

Because of the expense of rebuilding a historical home, especially one that's in a historic district and therefore strictly governed by the laws of historical accuracy, most homeowners insurance companies choose to pass those contracts off to insurers who specialize in "that kind of thing". These companies work almost exclusively with high value historical homes and know exactly how to give you the best deal possible on your potential rebuilding costs without sacrificing the sanctity of your home.

But First, the Inspection...

Owning a historic home is one of the very few times you can almost guarantee you're going to have an insurance agent standing on your front steps sooner or later. Why? Because the difficult part of any historical renovation isn't rebuilding the house. It's getting it right, down to the last slime covered toadstool.

The beauty of living in a historic district is that you want to be authentic, not just close to authentic. That means if you had a slate roof and it burned up in a fire you have to build another slate roof. And that slate may even need to be from the same quarry as the original. The wood is going to have to be the same type, and properly aged. And you're going to going to need to find a craftsman that knows how to work with both.

Since that all costs money your homeowners insurance is going to want a comprehensive list not only of what's in your home but also what it's made of, and they're not going to trust you to make that list. They're probably going to send out a qualified appraiser to poke around, make a list, toss around a few numbers and set the stage to give your home the top notch homeowners insurance it deserves.

A Great Way to Save on Homeowner and Renters Insurance

It seems that the more money in insurance dues we pay out, the more "they" get the last laugh. If in fact we find ourselves filing a claim, now we have the sweat on our brow worrying whether or not our trusting insurance company will continue to insure our home. Its almost a double edged sword. Not much we can do about the corporate decisions of insurance companies that happily accept our thousands of dollars a year in dues, but what we can do is take advantage of little things that may reduce the overall premiums we pay yearly.

After doing some online research, I presumably came to the conclusion that if some "additions" were added to our home, perhaps in turn, our premiums would decrease. Well, after taking appropriate steps, and installing some "additions" of the home security nature, my fiance and I spoke with our insurer, told them of our "additions" and... Voila! A break in our yearly premium! Needless to say, I was elated! The items purchased to secure our home, give us a better nights sleep, and reduce our yearly, will be paid off in no time considering the monies saved from our previous home insurance premium. Bottom line, free! Well not exactly, but you see what I'm getting at. After all was said and done, we felt secure, we were saving, and maybe, just maybe, I'll surprise my fiance with a little "getaway" by parlaying that extra savings that we made happen, just by doing a little research, developing a plan, and setting the plan in motion.

I implore you, the reader, to take initiative. Whether it be to save on your home or renters insurance, to stop eating fast food, to walk that extra half mile, whatever it may be. Find a way to capitalize on something positive. Your health, love life, career, anything. You can do it. We did. We're not basking in our complacency either, its on to the next challenge. How can we better our future? How can you better yours?

Home Warranty Insurance - Learn Home Warranty Insurance Before Buying a Home From an Owner Builder

Are you about to buy a new home from an owner builder? Are you about to buy a home that has been built or renovations by an owner builder within the last six years? Are you paying more than $12000.00? Do you know about Home Warranty insurance?

Owner builder home warranty insurance is a compulsory insurance required by the Home Building Act 1989 and is to the benefit of you the purchaser. Basically it is illegal for an builder to enter into a sale contract without a valid certificate of your home warranty attached to the contract, unless six years has passed since the date of the building/ renovation completion.

If you are purchasing a new home from an builder it is vital they disclose this at the point of sale, as well as inform you that an Builder Permit was issued in relation to the work they did, and that warranty insurance be taken out. Legally, any builder that is issued with an owner builder permit who sells their property within six years of completion MUST, under law, take out home warranty insurance.

So why is it so important to you the purchaser?

In the event of a building problem or building defect within the six years from the date of completion your insurance will cover you for compensation due to bankruptcy, death or disappearance of the builder. The home warranty insurance policy will also extend to the costs of alternative accommodation, removal and storage costs if reasonable and necessary.

Remember, that if builder does not disclose this and insurance for your warranty home is not arranged then the purchaser can void the contract of sale prior to settlement and an owner builder can face large penalties.

Home Owner Insurance - Taking a Home Inventory

Taking a home inventory and the claims process

Taking your inventory can be an excellent way to speed up the claims process and make things run more smoothly in the event of a loss. Completing a home inventory can take some time, but it's worth doing it right. Because, in the event of a loss, it's something you'll be glad you had done in advance.

A free tool to help you do your inventory

The Insurance Information Institute has a valuable and free tool. It's an online program that helps you build a custom home inventory. It allows to to enter just the basic information, or get as detailed as entering serial numbers for each of your items.

Finally, it allows you to print out a complete home inventory with pictures of your house and each room, as well as very organize spreadsheets of items you have in each room and their value. I would highly recommend utilizing this free tool! Home Owner Insurance Inventory

Taking pictures provides a visual representation of your items

It's a great idea to take pictures of the exterior of your home, including any separate buildings like your garage, sheds, etc... Take interior pictures of each of the rooms in your house. Take three or four pictures per room, showing close-ups of the things you own in that section of the room. If you have extra valuable items, like jewelry, money, coins, guns, or art, make sure you have close-up photographs of them. Keep the pictures in your insurance file so you can get to them in an emergency.

Keep your inventory records somewhere else, besides your home

In the event of a major disaster, such as a fire, your home inventory information could be destroyed. Keep a copy of your inventory in safe or at a trusted family members house.