Home Insurance Daily Guide

There are different levels of protection provided by home insurance which protects property owners or renters in cased of theft or other man-made events. There are some specialized types of home insurance but the following are the most common you can avail of:
1.Homeowners – important aspect is coverage for both structure and contents. Oftentimes there is shared insurance policy for condominium owners in the same building.
2.Tenants – the structure is not part usually of the responsibility of the tenant, so most of the time, contents only policy will do.
3.Landlords – often building and contents coverage is needed but sometimes it also extends to coverage for legal fees, emergency assistance and rent guarantees.
4.Holiday Homes – mostly for property and structures outside their country of residence.

We’re talking about home insurance premiums.

Home insurance companies tend to give higher premiums to people who are habitual / heavy smokers, because of the effect smoking has on the home itself.

For one, cigarettes are always a fire hazard, and regardless of how much of a “responsible” smoker a person is, there is always the off chance that the house suffers a fire or burns down completely because of a cigarette that wasn’t put out properly. As they say, it all starts from something as small as a spark.

Smoking also damages interiors, and cause marks on the walls over time and ceiling if habitual smokers smoke in the house frequently. This causes the value f the property to go down, as well as incurring needed repairs or repainting when needed.

Standard homeowners insurance policies rarely cover earthquake coverage though they are offered as options to boost or expand the protection umbrella homeowner’s insurance provides. Property owners are required to get such coverage for their purchased homes, buildings and other property expecially in the state of California where the famed San Andreas fault, sleeping to release the Big One. Though limited to that part of the America’s, there has been notable damage to almost all 50 states due to earthquakes in the past few decades due to crowded urban developments. The amount of damage for rural areas used to be smaller but as they are developed into major cities to accommodate the growing population, so does the risk of damage from earthquakes.
Earthquakes may have a lot of immediate effects but unbeknown to many, they also exhibit hidden problems that manifest themselves a few years after a major quake. Settling of the ground, a disruption of the water table and many more hidden dangers that progress quite slow. Remember the crack in the wall that wasn;t there a few years back. That might be the result of an earthquake causing the ground to settle a bit that happened a few years back. Get earthquake protection for your home and your family, so you can recover swiftly in case of the Big One.

Many say that the addition of an alarm system greatly improves the security of your home thus less prone to burglaries. Though this is true in many instances, there are however levels to security systems so be sure to check with the insurance firm on which ones they prefer. From simple plug-in systems to more elaborate systems with automatic-dial capability that calls you and the police to notify a break in, they all have varying capabilities and the prices of such systems also vary.
There are many brands out there but one option is to get a third party security provider to do it for you. Say one with a private police force that installs the alarms and does all the maintenance of the equipment for you. If they are notified of a break-in in progress, they respond and call for police assistance as necessary. This saves you on equipment, maintenance and effort reducing the overall costs. You pay membership and monthly fees for their services and get the security you need as you need it.

Image Source: imms.com

Strictly speaking, it is your neighbor’s homeowners policy that should pay for the damages in your neighbor’s property even if that damage is caused by something from your property. To illustrate the point, if your tree falls on your neighbor’s property and destroyed a portion of it, your neighbor’s policy will pay for the damages. Legally, you and your insurance provider may not have to pay for anything, but your neighbor can hound you to shoulder his deductible. In the interest of good neighborly relations, it is important for you to do the right thing – which is at least to cover his out-of-pocket expense although you are not obligated to do this.

If you want to understand the factors that determine your premiums, here are some of them:

1.Location – if you live in high-risk or high-crime areas, the risk that your home will be damaged or stolen from is significantly higher. This results in higher premiums. Also premiums in highly congested cities are generally higher compared to suburbs. Another factor that can affect your premium is your location’s propensity to be hit by natural disasters. If you’re house is lying on a fault line, or in locations that are prone to storms, this may cause your premium to increase.
2.Construction costs – some insurers will look at the construction costs in your area to see how much it would cost to rebuild your home if it were destroyed. The higher the construction costs are in your area, the higher the likelihood that you’ll pay for it in your home insurance rates.
3.Building materials – the materials you used to construct your home play a large part towards your home’s vulnerability. If you used brick or stone that is more durable and better able to withstand natural disasters such as fire, tornadoes or hurricanes, you’ll get a lower premium.

When you invest in buying your house, the fun part is furnishing and decorating the house. This is exciting to many homeowners. But what is equally important that you should take into consideration is getting a home insurance policy to insure yourself against any risks.
There are two major components of a home insurance policy. The buildings insurance and home contents insurance. What the buildings insurance covers is the house itself, meaning the bricks and mortar of your home. Having this policy enables your property to be used as a mortgage or security for a loan. So that in case of fire or flood, your property value will not be greatly affected. On the other hand, the home contents insurance covers everything you own inside your house. Your personal belongings and furniture included. In this case, the coverage may either be ‘like for like’ which will provide you the same amount of the insured item before the damage, or ‘new for old’ which will provide you the amount to replace the damaged item with a new one.

Whether it is called Home Insurance, Homeowners Insurance or Hazard Insurance, it all means one and the same. They are security protection that covers private residences where the insurance provider issues a policy that would give financial protection not only to the home but also to other structures on the property including everything inside.

It is usually a combination of different types of Personal Insurance coverages. The amount of premiums to pay would depend on the type of coverage, the actual amount of the property to be covered and the risk classification of the property. The specifics of what to be covered would depend on what type of policy the owner takes out.

*continued from previous post

• Smoke Alarms and Sprinkler systems. Claims cause by fire calamities are indeed expensive, so usually insurance companies give out reasonable discounts if you have these systems attached permanently in your home.
• Non-smoking Household. If everyone in your home is a non-smoker, you just don’t save your lungs but also some bucks from your insurance policy.
• Organization Affiliation. Many insurance companies offer discount if you are affiliated with some organizations. These organizations ranges from fraternities and sororities to credit card unions.
• Credit Rating. Insurance companies do check your credit records. A bad credit is never good. If you have bad credit, try to find insurance company that do not check credit records.

There are quite several ways that you can save great deal of bucks from your insurance policy. Here is a short list:

• Home/Car Discount. If you insure both your home and your car with same company, you will have what they call package discount.
  Deductible. Raise the deductible to lead substantial savings.
• Security Systems for your Home. Burglar alarms and surveillance systems prevent losses to your party, therefore making your property less insurance risky. Having a security system attached to a local fire and police departments gives you most discount.
• Dead Bolt Locks. To enjoy this discount, you have to have all your doors bolted with dead bolt locks. The cost of putting these locks is far less than the discount that you will save.

*continued on next post