Insurance for the Homeowner

If you have a mortgage on your home the lender will insist that it be insured for fire, wind, smoke, etc. Where the insurance is purchased is for you to choose. We offer Comprehensive Homeowner policies.

• Your home can be insured at full replacement costs.
• Other structures on the property (pool houses, garages, etc.) can be included.
• Household contents can be insured for full replacement cost-both on and off the premises.
• Additional costs to live elsewhere if the house is damaged and cannot be occupied are included.
• Liability protection is a must for possible injuries to others.

More Sense about Contents

If someone steals your three-year old stereo, your homeowners policy would replace it. Right? Well, not exactly...changes are, your present homeowners policy is designed to pay only the depreciated value of the contents of your home if they are stolen or damaged. For example, the stereo you bought for $800 three years ago may have depreciated value of only $500 today. If your set were stolen, your present policy would pay that amount - $500. But, because of inflation, the set you paid $800 for three years ago could easily be selling for $1,000 today. This means it would cost you an additional $500 to replace your set with one of equal quality.

As you can see, considerable damage to the contents of your home, would mean considerable out-of-pocket expense to replace your possessions today. That's why we recommend "Replacement Cost" coverage for the contents of your home. If you had Replacement Cost Coverage, you'd be able to replace that stereo with one of equal quality.

The cost of this added protection for your possessions will increase your premium very little. But it means you'll be getting a lot more coverage- coverage that is very important today, especially when you consider the high inflation rate and growing incidents of theft.

A Special Word about Secondary Properties

Early season cold snaps can take property owners by surprise. It's not uncommon for pipes to freeze and break during those cold, early winter nights, causing water damage that may go undected until the property owner arrives.

Althought most insurance policies will cover water damage from freezing pipes, if you maintain "reasonable care," such losses can easily be avoided. We recommend the following:

• If your home is secondary, hire a professional house checker to check on your home at least every few days.
• Keep all rooms at 55 degrees, especially bathrooms, kitchen, and any areas where there is plumbing. Avoid "cold spots" by keeping cabinet doors under sinks open.
• Keep windows, vents, doors or other openings near plumbing fixtures closed during the coldest weather. But don't close vents intended to prevent asphyxiation.
• If you find pipes that have frozen but not thawed, call a plumber immediately- you may be able to prevent them from bursting.

These are a few suggestions, and you can probably think of additional precautions. At best, water damage is not pleasant to deal with, and we hope you'll never have to experience this type of aggravation.

Insurance to Value

If your house were totally destroyed by fire, tornado, or some other catastrophe, would you be satisfied with an insurance check that paid 70%, 80% or 90% of the cost of replacing it?

Of course, even that much reimbursement from your insurance would be a big help, no doubt about it. But why settle for 80% or 90% protection when it costs only a few dollars more for full protection?

Remember, the insurance company will appraise the value of your home at the time of loss. So the necessity to carry insurance to value is extreamely important, because the amount of the underinsured loss is out of your pocket! So, once you have 100% insurance to value, make sure your protection is upgraded annually.

"Nearly Enough" insurance is not enough...no one is safe from the threat of total loss. Don't be deceived by the fact that total losses often look like partial losses. Fires frequently start at night, or while people are at work, or away on vacation. Such fires are not reported promptly, so they quickly become roaring infernos that burn out the insides of houses before firefighters can extinguish them. It makes good sense to insure your house for full replacement cost.