homeowners – Susman

November 11, 2016

Protecting What’s Valuable

When you look down, so you see a beautiful, sparkling diamond on your finger? Perhaps there is an amazing piece of jewelry hanging around your neck? Maye you have heirloom earring that always catch everyone’s attention? How about one-of-a kind fur coat, silver serving utensils, or unique patterned china?

Maybe your most prized possessions differ from that list, but regardless of what they are, they need to be insured. I am sure you would be devastated to lose any of those items, but knowing you have at least some protection will provide you with HUGE piece of mind.

Don’t just consider getting valuable items insurance – actually get it!

Okay – you might be thinking to yourself that you already have homeowner’s insurance and/or renters insurance. That is great and you should have those policies, but often times even those policies have limits on coverage – especially if there is theft. A major dispute can erupt between you and the insurance company if your home gets damaged and the property inside, including the valuables, aren’t properly documented and inventoried. While you can’t replace one-of-a-kind items, there is still opportunity for you to receive some sort of financial payout for the valuables lost.

This type of insurance offers additional protection for your most valuable possessions – diamond rings, fin art, collections, and more. The coverage provides the protection you need if there is loss through theft, accident or natural disaster. There is usually some type of coverage for such items offered for personal property under the typical homeowner’s policy. However, that inclusion to the basic policy may not cover some types of loss that may be important to you. Most homeowner’s policies set dollar limits on the amount of protection offered. It is optional to you to get add-on coverage to the homeowners and exp anded protection for special property.

You can get Floater Insurance – A type of insurance that covers property that is easily movable and provides additional coverage over what normal insurance policies do not. This can cover anything from jewelry to expensive equipment. You can also look at getting Blanket Insurance which is a single policy on an insured property that covers more than one type of property at the same location, the same kind of property at more than one location, or two or more kinds or property at two or more locations.

If you still feel like your valuable items aren’t protected enough, then you need to seriously speak to your insurance agent (SUSMAN!) about getting a specific policy for those items.

August 23, 2012

Considering the Cost of Home Insurance Before You Buy

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The National Association of Realtors and the Insurance Information Institute strongly recommend that homebuyers obtain information on a home’s condition through reports such as "CLUE" and "A+." These reports provide a history of home loss history reports for the previous five years and help determine the amount of your home insurance premiums once the property is purchased. In other words, the projected cost of insuring your new home in Toluca Lake should be a key factor in choosing which property to buy, not just a final detail to be taken care of before closing.

All parties are said to win with loss reports. The seller is helped to demonstrate full disclosure, the buyer knows the property history and estimated insurance costs and insurance companies are helped to manage costs and keep rates stable.

Get a proposal and more information here.

May 21, 2012

Finding the Best Homeowner’s Insurance

Buying homeowners insurance can be confusing. If you are in the market to protect your home and possessions, you may want to do some research before committing to a policy or one specific insurance company. Ask questions and find an agent you trust that works with a company that has a good reputation for keeping their clients happy.

Your home is your castle and your possessions represent not only your past, but your present as well. You have worked hard to be able to live in the fashion you have become accustomed to, so it is in your best interest to make sure things can be replaced if a tragedy or accident occurs. When buying a policy make sure you know what it will cover. Some policies may focus more on the replacement value of a house or specific possession instead of its actual cost. Knowing the difference between these two amounts will affect how much you will want to ensure the property for and how the much the premium for the policy will be. For example, a 2 story, 4 bedroom home may be valued at only $65,000, but to build the exact same home at today’s prices, the replacement value may exceed $100,000. It will be up to you what you decide to insure the property for. If you would replace your home with a smaller one that would cost less to build then insure the property for its actual value. If you want a house similar to what you have now, bit the bullet and insure for the replacement value.

Many homeowner policies cover a variety of things including roof and fire damage, theft and various forms of liability. Liability can be anything from your dog biting the mail man to you cat Skippy tripping the neighbor lady as she walked to the front door to trade the daily dose of gossip. Most insurance policies have liability clauses that cover all types of accidents that occur on your property.

A family’s possessions can also be replaced if an itemized list of valuables is included within the policy. The contents of the home that have considerable value, such jewelry and works of art, should be listed in great detail within the body of the policy.

One of the biggest areas of confusion when purchasing a homeowner’s policy is the phrase “Act of God”. Many policies claim that “acts of God” are not covered. This can include damage to due ice and wind or other natural disasters. In recent years, people have discovered that water damage caused by flooding can sometimes be a gray area when it comes to insurance. Most companies offer a “Flood Insurance” rider that is attached to the policy and covers several types of water damage.

Never buy insurance without reading the fine print. Know what you are signing up for and what a policy will cover. Making sure you have the answers to help you make an informed decision is the best way to cover your assets in this type of situation.

March 23, 2011

Understanding the Importance of Insurance

An unexpected occurrence, such as a death, disability, or other personal loss, is certainly not the type of event for which you can easily plan. Yet the financial ramifications can be staggering—not only to you, but to your family as well. Therefore, it is important to make a risk management plan part of your overall financial strategies.

Insurance, in all its varied forms, is quite simply a method for h andling risk. In order to plan an effective insurance program, you need to consider the risks to which you and your family are exposed and how financial loss could affect you. For each risk exposure, the key elements to consider are the severity and frequency of loss.

All Risks Are Not Created Equal

Insurance is oftentimes required in certain situations: For example, some states require a driver to obtain auto insurance in order to receive or maintain a license, and some lending institutions will not approve a mortgage application if the potential owner does not also purchase homeowner’s insurance. In these situations, while a base level of coverage may be required, you, as the insured, still may have choices as to the amounts and levels of coverage purchased, according to your specific risk needs.

Some risks may be so negligible that you may decide to accept more responsibility for any potential loss. In insurance language, you “self-insure” for risks you choose to accept. For example, it is rarely cost-effective to carry a large amount of collision coverage on a ten-year-old automobile. Since collision coverage generally pays actual cash value, and since a ten-year-old car may have little current fair market value (FMV), it is common to self-insure a larger portion of collision coverage in such cases. In making this choice, you assume more responsibility for any accidental damage to the vehicle that you might cause.

In contrast, in other situations, the risk is so large (or the cost of self-insurance so great) that the best strategy is to try to avoid the risk entirely. You practice risk avoidance in daily life when you invoke the phrase “not worth the risk” to describe your decision not to participate in some events. In addition to required coverages, you may oftentimes customize insurance to protect against certain extras according to your needs. For example, it may be wise to purchase a policy rider for your homeowners policy if you own an antique art collection that is worth more than the value of more st andard coverage.

Sometimes, for instance, risk can be reduced by taking extra measures to control the potential conditions that may lead to loss. Installing an automobile anti-theft device or a home security system may reduce the chances of burglary to your car or home.

Risk Transfer and Risk Sharing

Buying insurance is the process of transferring risk you cannot afford, or choose not to accept. Since you may be unable to afford to rebuild your home and replace all its contents in the event of fire, you may choose to transfer that risk to an insurer by purchasing the appropriate amount of homeowners insurance. However, even in situations of risk transfer, it is quite common to share some of the risk. For example, the deductible on an automobile or homeowners insurance policy is a form of risk sharing—you accept responsibility for a small portion of the risk while transferring the bulk of the risk to the insurer.

Taking a closer look at the different types of risks that are faced on a daily basis can help you answer questions such as the following: What is my risk level and how much of that risk can I afford to shoulder? What types of insurance, in addition to required coverage, might I need? And, how much coverage should I purchase? The fundamental rationale behind all forms of insurance is to determine what risks can be transferred on a cost-effective basis.

This article appears courtesy of Karl Susman. Karl Susman is a representative of the New Engl and Life Insurance Company. He focuses on meeting the individual insurance and financial services needs of people on the West Coast. You can reach Karl at the office at (424) 785-4337. New Engl and Life Insurance Company, 501 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116

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Protecting What’s Valuable

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