Although you may be spending more for other types of insurance such as car insurance or health care insurance, home owners insurance can cost a lot of money. Getting a good deal starts with shopping around with different carriers or having a reputable insurance broker do the shopping for you.
Benefits are at least as important as cost. A cheap house owners insurance plan that won t cover you will is a bad plan at any premium.
Your house insurance plan probably offers benefits that you have never thought of. It can pay you if your house is burned down or if your things are damaged. It can also pay a third party if you injure them due to a negligent act. This is true even if that act takes place far from your home. It can also reimburse you for living expenses when you are unable to live in your home due to a covered event.
The benefit that most people focus on is the part that will pay you if your house is in a fire or is damaged by some other covered peril. This is probably the most important benefit . It is very important to get the adequate coverage limits for this aspect of your plan.
Determining the right amount of coverage is not as easy as finding out the current market value of your home. Your insurance company will not use the market value when deciding what to pay you to rebuild your home.
There are two reasons why the current market value is not important. This amount required to rebuild your home can be much higher or much lower than the cost to purchase a similar structure. The insurance company is not required to replace the land your house sits on.
The cost of the land and the location of your house are part of your market value. They are not a part of the calculations required to determine replacement value.
Another paramount benefit of a standard house insurance coverage is the benefit limits for your house s contents. Things like your couch, your stereo and other much of your other portable possessions are covered by the contents benefit limit.
Things that are difficult to detach from your residence are usually considered part of the house and add to the replacement cost for the house and are not considered contents. A wall to wall carpet will probably be considered a part of the house. A throw rug will probably be considered one of the house s contents.
You may have some latitude in determining how your personal property are covered. You may be given the option of having your contents replaced using their depreciated value or the replacement cost.
Typically you will not be asked to determine an exact dollar figure for this benefits. You may be given the option to have your personal property covered. 50 or 70 of the replacement value of the house.
Certain property like jewelry and cash will have limited coverage in the standard policy. However, you should be able to request additional benefits for jewelry.
Most of the other benefits of your house owners policy are not changeable by the consumer. They are part of the standard coverage.
Finding an excellent home owners insurance policy is a part of prudent long term planning. Make sure to shop around for both benefits and price.
Author Resource:
You can find West Virginia home insurance quotes on the author, Alston J. Balkcom's site. His recent blog posts include: https://1800insurancect.com/blog/2009/11/zero-deductible-health-insurance-with-cash-back.htm $0 deductible health insurance