When you are buying and/or own a home it is important that you have the right insurance. There are many items to consider but the first thing to do is get the correct amount of insurance. This amount of insurance – (example – $300,000) – should be adequate to cover all costs to fully rebuild the home in the event of a total loss. The insurance company should be provided with all of the specifications of the home and it’s associated features. All attached structures (covered patios and porches) are classified as part of the home as well as attached garages. The grade of construction (from basic to luxury) is another factor to be included is the calculation.
Insurance companies regularly keep in touch with the local construction costs and their estimates are usually fairly close (but no insurance company will contractually guarantee that the estimate is exact). If, as an example, the estimate shows $300,000, then that is the amount of insurance that you should have.—–Suppose that you paid $400,000 for the home. You may initially think that you should insure the home for $400,000 but if you did you would be throwing money away. The market value of the home has nothing to do with the proper amount of insurance to have on your home.
Likewise suppose that you paid $200,000 for the same home. You should still carry $300,000 on that home.
Suppose again that you bought the above illustrated home and you had a mortgage of $150,000. Many lenders often, not knowing how insurance works, might initially only require that you insurance only equal the amount of the loan. Following their lead on this could spell financial disaster.
I suggest that you consider contacting the insurance agent who insures your home to further clairify the above information and to be sure that all of these issues have been taken into account on your homeowner insurance. If you don’t already have an insurance contact let me know and I can pass along some trusted folks!
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