Homeowners Insurance Advice – What you Should Know
Homeowners insurance protects your home and your personal property from loss. Here is homeowners insurance advice for any homeowner looking to save on their homeowners insurance without sacrificing necessary protection.
Buy the Right Amount of Insurance
Your homeowners insurance policy includes coverage for:
* Your home
* Your personal property
* Your assets
Your home – For your home, you need enough insurance to pay for rebuilding your home at current construction costs. To estimate this amount, multiply the square footage of your home by the building cost per square foot in your neighborhood. Do not include the cost of your land as you figure out your property coverage limit.
Your personal property – Your personal property limit is usually half of the property limit. To determine if this is enough, list everything you own and how much it would cost to replace. Also note that some types of personal property, such as jewelry, silverware, or computers, are only covered up to specified limits. Ask your insurance professional what types of personal property have specific limits so you can buy more coverage for these items if you need it.
Your assets - Personal liability coverage protects you if someone is injured while on your property. You should have enough liability insurance to protect your assets – savings accounts, CDs, stocks, bonds, etc.
Get the Discounts You Deserve
Insurance companies typically offer numerous discounts that will lower your insurance bill. Common homeowner discounts include:
* Non-smoker and senior citizen discounts.
* Discounts for safety features such as alarm systems, smoke detectors, and deadbolts.
* Discounts for placing your homeowners and auto insurance with the same company.
Ask your insurance professional about these and any other discounts you qualify for.
Raise Your Deductible
The deductible is the amount you pay out of pocket before the insurance company begins to pay. The higher your deductible, the lower your premium, so set your deductible as high as you can afford.
Shop Around
You can save a lot of money on your homeowners insurance by comparing rates on an insurance comparison website. You type in your insurance information and multiple A-rated insurance companies send you quotes.
On the best insurance comparison websites you can even talk with insurance professionals and get more advice on homeowners insurance and how to save money on your homeowners premium (see link below).
Visit http://www.LowerRateQuotes.com/homeowners-insurance.html or click on the following link to get homeowners insurance rate quotes online from top-rated companies and see how much you can save. You can also get more insurance advice there.
Watch the video related to Homeowners insurance
ENTITLE DIRECT segment – California consumers can now purchase title insurance directly, while also taking control of their real estate closings. ENTITLE DIRECT saves consumers 35 percent on their title insurance AND creates an “open closing,” significantly benefiting California homeowners. … title insurance homeowners real estate closings refinance
Help answer the question about Homeowners insurance
About Author
The authors, Brian Stevens and Stacey Schifferdecker, have spent 30 years in the insurance and finance industries, and have written numerous homeowners insurance advice articles.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Posted by American Car Insurance on September 11th, 2009 filed in homeowners insurance | 18 Comments »
Top incoming search terms for this post
18 Responses to “Homeowners Insurance Advice – What you Should Know”
Leave a Comment
-
Link Partner
September 11th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Forgot to mention the Dept. of children and families , individual states, CPS, private foster care agencies, and community health services robbing social security… while they rob parents of their children, money, and respect they line their pockets.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Americans need to stop letting private interest groups run our lifes. We need to take control of our country (unite) and save our agriculture, manufacturing industry, reinstate our constitutional laws and replace the useless puppets in gov with ppl who really are for the ppl. A plan to destroy this country has been executed and needs to be stoped. They are demodernizing our country n soon we will be like Argentina, Mexico and all others that have been conquered, viva la vida libre’
September 11th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
It depends on how the damage occurred.
September 11th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
1. As a resident relative of their house hold – you can not collect under either the medical payments coverage or the liability coverage of your parents policy.
If you lie to the insurance company to try and collect — that is insurance fraud — a crime.
2. You do not sue the insurance company — you sue the person who caused your injuries. That means – you would have to go into a court of law and tell the judge that your parents are negligent and their negligence is the cause of your injury. The law suit would read: Son Doe vs. Mom Doe and Dad Doe.
You sue your parents.
3. Your parents negligence has to have caused your injury. Just because you fell on someones property – does not mean you get paid for it.
I'm sorry you got hurt — but as a resident relative of your parents household — their homeowners insurance will not pay for your medical bills.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Your daughters injury claim should not be affected by the fact that your husband helped to light the fireworks. Even if you were guilty of not properly supervising your child – I don't think they would deny the claim. The injury claim belongs to your daughter and she is too young to be guilty of negligence.
I would talk to the insurance company and try to work directly with them. They will want to get an interview from all the witnesses that were there.
You don't need a lawyer on this one.
From a liability standpoint — it's largely a no brainer. That's why the lawyer is so eager– it's a big claim (probably policy limits) and he would not have to work that hard to get it. I would expect the insurance company to do the right thing. (At least the 2 companies I've worked for doing homeowners liability would).
At least, give them the chance to do the right thing. You can always hire a lawyer later.
I'm sorry to hear about your daughter. I hope she gets better soon.
**not legal advice…just my opinion based on the very limited information provided **
September 11th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
#1 the dog that killed all of these animals should be put down and will be put down if you call animal control. there is no reason that this animal should be "loose" or alive.
and yes i do care about animals very much.
#2 no. homeowners will not cover this.
#3 they, the neighbors, should cover the cost of medical bills
#4 if they do not cover the cost of the medical bills i suggest you take this to small claims court ASAP
this happened with my dog…well he got attacked…my neighbor immediately told us she would cover the vet bill…we gave her the reciept of the the bill and she paid in full.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:50 am
corporations are not “free market.” They are shielded from risk by the government.
Profit and competition are good. Profit can only exist in a free market if the needs and desires of consumers are being met. Competition allows those consumers to go elsewhere if their needs are not being met.
BUT when corporations are shielded from competition by the government, they no longer have to meet the needs of the people.
I agree with you, that we need to stop spending money that doesn’t exist.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
this kind of stuff gives me a head ache and chest pains. and i’m only 20. it is important to hear this stuff though.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Please google “Great Myths of the Great Depression”. The article written by Lawrence W. Reed is enlightening. May I recommend John Flynn’s The Roosevelt Myth as well? Nice video.
September 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Call a local independent agent. Look in the yellow pages and you want a larger one that has property & casualty (home & auto) & a financial services (or Life & Health) department. They should be able to get you what you need. You will probably speak to 2 people because in most larger agencies, the sales people do not have both life/health & property/casualty licenses. They specialize in one or the other.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:27 am
yeah….and denis k just signed away our 18th amendement…..slavery in the us again
September 13th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Well, contrary to popular belief, board members are not always looking for kickbacks when making changes to HOA procedures. That is the sensationalist, uneducated, and unproductive response to board actions. I happen to have several years experience working for the largest and most respected HOA management firm in the state, and I now work for one of the largest and most respected homebuilders in the country, so I have a bit of experience to speak from. I will get to your specific question in a minute, but first I urge you to get involved with your HOA. Go to board meetings, learn what is going on. So many uneducated people are so willing to sit back and take stabs at the board of directors, when in truth they are usually just homeowners like yourself volunteering their time to try to do what is best for the community…and they do so in the face of accusations like the ones we saw in previous answers. Sure, there are bad board members out there. However, there are also bad cops, doctors, teachers, priests, etc. Support your neighbors (board members), become involved. Don't accuse from afar.
On the specific topic at hand, I have seen this issue come up time and time again. There are usually several factors at play when this occurs, and it usually occurs for the benefit of homeowners at large. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you live in an attached home (condo or townhouse) as opposed to a single family home. I'm making this assumption because this issue typically does not affect detached homes. When an HOA buys a policy for attached homes, it can be VERY expensive. It is not uncommon for a policy premium for 150 attached homes to be in the $30-40K range per year. Now, often times, attached homes have water leak issues (from sinks, water heaters, roofs, slabs, etc) and claims get filed for such issues. Insurance companies hate this, because they are expensive, especially if they involve mold. So, insurance companies often will increase a premium as much as 100-300% if a community has a history of such claims. This means that an association that used to be paying $30K per year, now could be paying up to $90K per year. That is an additional $60K per year that needs to be divided among the 150 (for the sake of argument) homeowners. That is about $33 per homeowner per month additional just to get coverage. Plus, the HOA will often have to accept a deductible of $5-10K versus $1K just to be able to get the premium down to $90K. So now, a homeowner who used to have coverage at $16 per month with a $1K deductible through the HOA, is now paying $50/month for the same coverage with a much higher deductible. The new coverage is much more expensive and essentially useless to any homeowner that doesn't have $5-10K sitting in the bank to pay the deductible. So, what is the solution? Well, often times, homeowners can secure their own individual policy for as little as $15-20 per month with a deductible in the $500 neighborhood. And, when all homeowners have such coverage, the association's insurance carrier will often reduce the association's insurance premium. This way, everyone is covered, less premium dollars are spent, and deductibles do not skyrocket. This is only one example of a logical reason for such a policy change, but it proves that the explanation is not always kickbacks.
As far as civil code 1357, that applies to the notice required to be given when an operating rule changes, it does not address property (casualty) insurance requirements. In fact, the law does not specify a level or scope of coverage that an association must maintain with regard to property (casualty) coverage, only the other types, such as liability, etc. The place that you would find the specific requirements that the association had to maintain (if any) would be your CC&Rs. Assuming that the CC&Rs mandated certain coverage by the HOA, then the board would be unable to change that without a vote of the membership. Additionally, often times such a vote of the membership requires a super-majority approval and can require the approval of mortgage holders as well (the banks).
In summation, seek first to understand why they are trying to make the change. Then, check your CC&Rs to determine if they can make the change. Work with them, not against them.
I hope this helps, good luck.
September 13th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Do you live there?
Did you need emergency treatment?
Were you drunk?
I'm just trying to figure out how you can get a really serious burn sleeping on a heating pad – I always wake up when it starts getting uncomfortable.
Anyway. If it's not serious, get over it. If you were hospitalized with serious burns, you're likely not going to be able to sue ANYONE, as the instructions on heating pads say don't sleep with them. I don't think your fiance was any more negligent than YOU were, and if you live there, you can't collect under his policy anyway.
My advice is, don't sleep with heating pads. And don't blow dry your hair in the bathtub, either.
Your health insurance is going to cover the doctor visit.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Yeah there should be a limit to wealth because like most peoples chances at a casino usually the casino ends up with most of your money and you wind up having to re economies although they are worse than a casino because when you sit on money and do not recycle it back into the social structure it is like drowning people. Greedy corporations like that are even worse than a drug cartel. They are sitting on a hill of money so people bow down to them. Wealthy criminals!
September 14th, 2009 at 5:50 am
I'd recommend getting some referrals from friends and family so you can find a broker who comes recommended to you. They will be able to help you assess what you need. If possible, insure your home with the same company you have your car with, that way you can get a combination discount.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:12 am
If your agent is a good agent, they should be able to sit down with you and answer any questions you may have. remember the money you are paying is paying their salary, so ask all the questions you want.
September 14th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
If you have a complaint send it to the offices of Dennis Kucinich bitch!
September 14th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I’m looking them over. But TBH the economics is purely semantic to me at this point. The ecosystem is being destroyed by modern industrial ideals. FMC, socialism, even fascism, none of these systems matter any more. The only real money human beings have ever had, our ecological wealth, is going up in flames; and no amount of economic tinkering is going to put out the fire that is currently sweeping the globe.