Protect That Payment

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Protect That Payment

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The purchasing of a new home means you need some additional insurance. Something you should consider is Mortgage Protection Insurance.

Mortgage Protection Insurance is like life insurance protection for your home or property. It pays your mortgage in situations like death, loss of your income source or job or become disabled.  The cost of Mortgage Protection Insurance varies from one person to another. There are other factors taken into consideration by insurance providers in assessing your insurance cost. Some of the factors include your type of work, your age, health status and value of the property and your mortgage payment among others. The mortgage protection Insurance is relatively easy to get and providers usually ask few questions on the application form, which means that overwhelming majority of home owners can get this insurance. It is beneficial to people who may be deemed uninsurable or for those considered “high risk” which generally carry higher rates. People who work in situations deemed as high risk occupations or people with health issues may also benefit from buying a Mortgage Protection Insurance.

Whether you choose to get this additional insurance or not, there are serious benefits to consider and you should always prioritize protecting yourself, your family, and your home.

 

Keeping Your Home Safe

Our previous blog was about protecting and keeping your children safe on Halloween.  There is something else you need to keep safe as well – your home.  Whether you stay home to h and-out c andy or join your kids in the neighborhood, you still need to take steps to keep you home out of harm’s way as much as you can.  It is unfortunate that property crime increases on Halloween, but you can still try to decreases the incidences.

Start by reviewing your insurance.  You want to make sure you are covered in the event of v andalism or burglary – the two mist popular crimes on Halloween.  If something happens, you will want that policy to be updated well in advance.  You also want to review your car insurance policy. If you park your car outside, it is worth it to make sure you are protected from v andalism to your vehicle.

Don’t turn-off all your lights.  Some people do this to let other know they aren’t h anding out c andy.  Other do it when they leave to take the kids out.  Either way, leave a light and television on to make people think someone is home.  A couple of rings of the doorbell might be annoying, but not as much as a break-in would be.  Yes – break-ins happen all the time on Halloween, because there are so many people walking around that hardly anyone notices what is going on. KEEP LIGHTS ON!

Stay off of social media.  Announcing where you will be and when gives criminals the perfect opportunity to find you or your empty home.

We hope you have a safe and happy night!

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New Home

In the market for a new home? How about your FIRST home? This is both exciting and stressful. However, to elevate some of the stress and confusion, there are lots of things you can do to help make the house hunt easier and the entire process less stressful.

–        Make sure you are saving/have saved for a down payment, closing costs, taxes, and insurance.

–        Constantly work on improving your credit score

–        Calculate exactly what you can afford and don’t go over budget

–        Get pre-approved to see if it matches your budget

–        Choose a realtor

–        Make at ‘wishlist’ of what you want in a home

–        Visit homes – hopefully find your dream home and make an offer

You also want to make sure you look at safe neighborhoods. While crime happens in all areas, moving to an area that is less prone and already has a low documented crime rate will give you peace of mind.

Don’t forget to add in other costs as well – utilities, l andscaping, remodel/renovations. You might find an amazing deal on the house with a mortgage you can afford and then go WAY over your monthly budget, because of all the extras.

Take your time and don’t rush. Purchasing a new home – especially your first home – should be taken very seriously with a focus on every detail.

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Flood Preparation

Flooding is the most common natural disaster in the United States and can happen anywhere at any time.  It may happen with only a few inches of water, or it may cover a house to the rooftop. While it can happen without notice, there are some areas that are more prone to flooding.  The physical damage caused by flooding depends on the speed and level of the water, the duration, terrain, and environment.  It can cause fatalities and serious injuries, wreck transportation routes, cause power outages may be disrupted, contaminate drinking water, and collapse homes and buildings. Even a few inches can cause thous ands of dollars in damage.

There are steps you can take to prepare for flooding and to minimize your losses.

 

Safeguard your possessions and start by creating a personal flood file in a waterproof deposit box or container. Be sure to include:

A copy of your insurance policies

A household inventory for insurance purposes

Copies of all important documents, including finance records or receipts of major purchases

 

Prepare your house by making sure you always have battery operated back-up to all electronic items, keep your home and gutter clear of debris, raise all electrical components, move all valuables to a safe place.

 

Most importantly, you want to develop a family emergency plan.  Always create a kit to include water, canned food, first aid, blankets, a radio, and a flashlight. Be aware of all emergency contact numbers, plan an evacuation route, and be sure to have a plan for your pets as well.

While you are at it- -update that flood insurance policy!

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Home Owners Insurance Rates – Get Low Rates And Save Money

Wouldn’t you love to know how insurance companies come up with your home insurance rates? Maybe you wouldn’t after you underst and what all is involved. The whole concept of insurance started as a benevolent community partnership. Life insurance was the pioneer. When a member of the community passed away the friends and neighbors of that community would drop some money in a hat to help the deceased family give their loved one a proper burial. All insurance is based on the combined giving of local communities. The communities are bigger today and the hat has now become the insurance company. Home insurance rates are calculated by fiduciaries. These folks will add up all of the premiums remitted to the insurance company from a community and will compare it with the number of claims paid from that particular community. These geographical areas are called territories by most insurance companies. When the claims are less and the cost to recover a claim is stable then your rates will be lower. When claims are high and the cost to rebuild and recover is high then your rates will be higher. That is the simplified explanation of how home insurance rates are derived. There are investment factors and many other variables that raise and lower rates also.

Why Shop for Better Home Insurance Rates?

1. Comparing is Easy – It’s not difficult to get a homeowner’s insurance rate. Make sure that you have your declarations page so that you get the apples to apples quote.

2. Comparing is Smart – The worst thing that you can discover is that you have good rates with your present company.

3. Comparing is Leverage – If you like your present insurance company and your agent then a comparison quote from another company will make them work that much harder to keep your business.

There is no better buy in the insurance market than the home insurance policy. Shopping online for rates is one of the easiest methods for comparing rates. Take the time. You will learn a lot the first time shopping online.

Home Owners Insurance Online – The Internet Proves To Be The Cheapest Source For Insurance

Shopping for home insurance online is easy. There are a ton of websites that make it so easy to enter the proper information in order to give you an accurate quote. The home policy has less required information than the auto policy. Auto insurance depends so much on extensive driver and vehicle information. The homeowner policy depends on some basic information. The most important calculation is the actual square footage of your home. When you shop online they will want this information.

Insurance companies need this because they use various calculators to determine building costs per square footage. The online quote has a questionnaire that needs completed that will ask you some other valuable information that helps determine the replacement value of your home. Air conditioning and fireplaces increase property replacement values. The size of your deck or patio is also considered when determining the insurance amount. There are questions about your garage location. Finished basements increase the replacement value and the online quote will often ask you the percentage of your basement that is finished.

Prior insurance is important when shopping for insurance coverage for a home that you have been residing in for a while. You will be asked about your present insurance. Having insurance is a must when comparison shopping because it is stability and credit factor that will make the risk more acceptable for the insurance company. If you want personal items insured on a rider of some kind then you will most likely need proof of their value. Jewelry riders require recent appraisals and or receipts to prove their worth.

The online quote process may reveal something about your present coverage that you were unaware of. You may find that after you complete a replacement cost estimator with several companies that your home is either under insured or over insured. This is one of the great benefits of shopping online. It enables you to do some of your own research. Shop for homeowner’s insurance online. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Home Owners Insurance – Learn More And Save Money

The family insurance portfolio usually always includes some form of property insurance. The homeowner policy has been around a long time and is purchased every time a family purchases a new home. Homeowner’s insurance is very comprehensive coverage but is very often misunderstood. The typical homeowner always has some kind of maintenance problem. These kinds of problems are sometimes submitted as claims on their homeowner’s insurance. That is where the misunderst anding begins. Homeowner’s policies protect you against losses caused by perils. Maintenance and deterioration problems are never covered by your home policy. Your homeowner’s policy would become unaffordable if that were the case.

Perils Insured Against – Fire or lightning, windstorm or hail, explosion, riot and civil commotion, aircraft, smoke, v andalism, theft, falling objects, the weight of ice sleet and snow, accidental discharge of water or steam, freezing, volcanic eruption, and more. These are the basic perils covered by most home policies.

Homeowner Policy Structure

Section A – The Dwelling – This provides coverage for the dwelling and any structures attached to that dwelling.

Section B – Other Structures – This provides coverage for detached structures like garages, storage sheds, flag poles, fences, and swimming pools.

Section C – Personal Property – Personal property provides coverage for personal property owned by the insured anywhere in the world. There are limitations on certain types of personal property

Section D – Loss of Use – This coverage refers to the additional living expense that the insured incurs when the dwelling becomes uninhabitable because of a peril covered in the policy.

The perils and the policy structure are the essentials that you need to study when purchasing a homeowners policy. Replacement cost verses actual cash value is the next consideration. These are the two methods that insurance companies use to settle claims. The actual cash value method will rebuild your dwelling or replace your property by taking the replacement value and subtracting the depreciation. Replacement Cost will replace your dwelling or personal property with material of like kind and quality without depreciation.

Home Owner’s Insurance Policy – Learn More And Save Money

We buy insurance all of our life. We sometimes do it indiscriminately. There are times when people will buy a home and the homeowner’s insurance policy is just something that is needed to make the closing run smooth. The home policy protects the largest asset that most of us will ever purchase and so it makes sense to learn the basics. The Homeowner’s policy has multiple benefits and features and is probably the best and most affordable policy that we will ever purchase. There is clearly a misconception about what homeowner’s insurance covers and what it does not cover. The homeowner’s policy protects us our home against perils. Perils are unforeseen events like fire or explosions. The home policy does not cover maintenance problems. This is where the misunderst anding begins. Deterioration or poor craftsmanship buy a tradesman is not covered under the homeowner’s policy. That kind of blanket coverage would make the homeowner’s policy unaffordable.

The homeowner insurance policy is very comprehensive. It protects all of your personal property along with the dwelling. Most policies are written on a replacement cost basis. That means that in the event of a total loss that your home and all of its contents will be replaced with like kind and quality of materials. Shopping for a homeowner’s policy is so much easier. Make sure that you have your current declarations page. You can either go online or contact a local agent. It is better to combine an auto and home quote to get the multi-policy discounts available.

There are a lot of additional riders that you can purchase on a homeowner’s policy. If you have items like jewelry, fine arts, and collectibles then you can schedule them with an all risk type of coverage. There are a lot of new endorsed benefits like identity theft and home day care coverage. The homeowner insurance policy is one of the most important insurance purchases you will ever make. Don’t sell yourself short. Explore all the possibilities when covering your assets. Use higher deductibles to lower the overall premium so that you can cover some of your most valued assets with scheduled riders.

Home Owner Insurance Company – Some Hints And Tips And A Couple Of Recommendations

The insurance market is very competitive. Insurance companies are trading policyholders every year. A lot of people are upset with their rates and so they begin to shop in the insurance company jungle. There are the familiar names and the not so familiar names. Insurance companies have a tremendous responsibility and their margin for profit is always under siege because of the cost of doing business. How does the average consumer evaluate a homeowner insurance company? The answer is that you can’t. That is somebody else’s job. Insurance for us is very personal. Insurance companies try to make it personal but sometimes that is impractical and impossible. The best way to choose an insurance company is to first determine how you want to do business. Do you like personal service and consultation? If you do then you need to purchase your insurance from an insurance agent. If you like the speed of online and telephone purchases then by all means use the cyber world and the 800 number insurance companies.

The insurance company to most people is the agent. The agent is their connection and representative. Most people will either love or hate their insurance company based on their experience with their agent. Companies still love to do business with agents. It’s hard to do business without an agent sometimes. They usually have a staff that assists them in servicing their policyholders. They are involved in the same community with their customers and so there is a bond between them. If you want to do business with an agent then compare home insurance companies that use agents. Ask around. Get a recommendation.

There are more and more folks that want to bypass the agent and do their business on line or with customer service representatives at call centers. If this is your preferable method then you need to compare insurance companies that operate strictly online or by telephone. There are rating guides available that will help you determine the financial strength of each company. The AM Best insurance resource guide is probably the best.

Home Insurance Rates – They Are Not Getting Any Cheaper

With more and more home insurance rates increasing dramatically, homeowners are wondering if the costs are even worth the coverage. The fact is that you should always keep homeowners insurance. Your home is likely your largest investment. Therefore, it is extremely important to make sure it stays insured. You would never drive around in your car without insurance, so don’t live in your home without insurance. Tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes are things that are rarely predicted with much warning, so home insurance is vital. To get better home insurance rates, consider these tips.

Anytime you do things that will protect your home more, your home insurance rate will likely decrease. You don’t have to do anything drastic to get the decrease, but you do need to prove to your insurance company that your improvements are helping to protect your home better. One thing many people choose to do is install a home alarm system. Most home insurance companies will lower your rates if you have a working home alarm system. You can get one installed professionally, or visit your local home safety store for a do-it-yourself kit.

Another thing you can do is update your home’s structural components. For instance, if you live in a hurricane zone, you may want to consider adding a hurricane roof to your home. These safety roofs are designed to hold up much better during natural disasters. Your home insurance rates may decrease after adding something like this to your home.

If you are thinking of improving your home in order to get lower home insurance rates, you might want to contact your insurance company before you make any changes. Find out what improvements will allow your rate to decrease and focus on those changes. Your insurance company will be happy to work with you on planning the most appropriate changes. After all, they want to see your home stay in shape as much as you want to.