Owning a home is a huge milestone in our society and is a huge source of pride for homeowners. But often, once we’ve purchased our home, selected an insurance policy, and settled in, we tend to think we’re totally set, safe and secluded in a paradise we can call our own. The truth is that it’s important and necessary to regularly re-evaluate your homeowner’s insurance to ensure it is protecting your home and investment thoroughly. If it’s been awhile since you updated your coverage, here are some things you can do to enhance it:
Add protection for your valuable items
Your possessions are covered by your homeowner’s policy, but usually only at 50 percent of the policy’s value. You can negotiate to increase this percentage, with little effect on your insurance premium. For valuable items such as artwork, jewelry, antiques, and collections, you should consider insuring them separately or adding additional coverage for each item to your existing home policy.
Get your home appraised
You might think that you know what your home is worth, but home value can change drastically over time. Also, you need to ensure that your home is thoroughly and accurately valued, using not only the square footage and number of rooms, but by accounting for the unique circumstances of your home, including a complete inspection, evaluation of the neighborhood, and calculations of building labor and material costs specific to your area.
Make strategic improvements
There are many improvements that you can make to your home to increase its security and value while driving down your insurance premiums. Replacing an old roof, reducing the likelihood of storm damage and the need for repairs, can reduce your premium, as can installing a security system or even just installing deadbolt locks on the entrances to your home.
Increase liability coverage
It is possible that someone may be injured or suffer injury or loss of their possessions on your property, and you could be held liable. Beefing up your liability coverage can protect you in the event that such a thing happens. Even though your current policy will have some liability coverage, in today’s litigation-happy climate, you could be sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond the basic homeowner’s policy liability coverage.
Your home is where you live, and protecting it is of the utmost importance. Implementing some of these home and policy improvements, along with regularly evaluating your insurance policy and insurance needs, can greatly improve your homeowner’s insurance coverage and better protect your home.
Think it’s time to reassess your home insurance policy? We can help!
