Your home is likely your single largest investment. Protecting it properly is critical to your financial security. If you’ve only been guessing until now, then guess no longer.

Insurance for your home need not be a shot in the dark. There are
simple ways to determine EXACTLY how much insurance you should have.

Even though insurance has been part of our culture for over 100 years, to most people – It’s still a just a mystery. And because they don’t understand it, a lot of people think they’re being “ripped off” by the Insurance Industry; aka “The Club”

I want to end that for you.

I'm an industry "insider": A licensed member of “The Club”
I’ve been inside the insurance business for over 25 years and I know it like the back of my hand: From policy to claims and back again.
I've sold insurance.
I've studied it.
I've discovered what makes "good insurance" -- and what makes "bad insurance".

I know that not all insurance is "created equal".

If you’re not properly insuring your home you could be either wasting needless premium money on excess coverage or you could be setting yourself up for a severely UNDERINSURED loss that could cost you tens of THOUSANDS of dollars or even MORE!

I’ve been around the insurance business for a long time and I’ve seen it all.

• I’ve seen people standing next to smoldering ashes that just hours before was their home and everything they own.
• I’ve comforted those who have just received a 50-page lawsuit because their sprinkler flooded their neighbor’s yard or their dog bit a friend’s child.
• I’ve reassured clients that they have coverage after their toilet flooded their house over an entire 3-day weekend.
• I’ve seen clean-up bills for just water damage in excess of $100,000.

And I’ve been able to pay all these losses for these very frightened people because we made sure that their insurance was right for them – That it would be there to “write the check” should these shattering losses happen to them!

Homeowners insurance, when purchased properly, can give you the security of continuing life as you know it in the event of a catastrophic casualty or liability loss.

WOW, you say!
That’s quite a list.
Yes it is…and there’s MORE…
Yes, there’s a LOT more…
But before we get to that … the WHAT and HOW TO BUY Homeowners Insurance,
let’s talk about the WHY!!
Why would anyone need or want Homeowners Insurance?

Well, in most cases you’re required to have it by your lender. Now you could get just about ay old insurance company to insure your home to satisfy your lender. But…

Here’s a question for you…
WHY would you want to trust your biggest investment to
just any old insurance company ?
And hopefully your answers is…
“I don’t,”

You’re sitting outside on a cool October night. You have a warm, wool blanket wrapped around you and around you is the sound of people working, cleaning, the hum of a diesel engine. The blanket was given to you by a firefighter, the people working are firefighters , and the hum of the diesel engine is the fire truck that’s just dumped 30,000 gallons of water on your, now black and flattened residence.

You’re just a little freaked out but you’re ok. So is everyone else who was in the house with you. All that is ok, but EVERYTHING YOU OWN is toasted to a crispy black residue that’s still smoldering from the heat of the fire. It’s all gone: your home, your garage, your favorite chair, your entire wardrobe, big-screen television AND THE REMOTE (now I’m starting to sweat), stereo system, all the dishes in your kitchen, furniture, bed linins, towels, silverware, blender, your Xbox, your digital camera and last, but not least…. your treasured iPod

You see, here’s the problem with all those ASSETS…. You probably saved over a long periof of time to purchase your house. You bought your stuff just a little at a time. You know, a CD here, a blender there, a couple of jackets somewhere else. Then, before you know it, it’s all there cluttering up your drawers, your closet and every other space in your place.
Would you buy scuba or skydiving equipment from “Jimmy’s Discount Dangerous Sport Second-Hand Equipment Store?” Of course you wouldn’t. You wouldn’t trust your life to used, junk equipment.

You also wouldn’t buy it without thoroughly understanding how it works and making sure it would work to your specifications and your individual needs.
Properly structured Homeowners Insurance provides protection for your house, your personal property,
AND Protection in case of a liability lawsuit.

“WHAT?!?!” you say. “Lawsuit ! !”
Yep, lawsuit. Could it happen to you? The answer is…
Of course it could ! !

But we’ll talk about that in a minute. So….

Let’s talk about the nitty-gritty of Homeowners Insurance. There’s certainly not room here in this report to cover all of it, but I promise, that when you’re done you’ll know more about homeowners insurance than 95% planet. (Unless they’re already insured in my office… We make sure people understand their coverages. It’s the only way to best prevent problems and surprises at claim time.)
There’s three main parts to your homeowners coverage: 1. Coverage for the house 2. Coverage for your stuff 3. Liability coverage

Let’s take these on one at a time.

COVERAGE FOR YOUR HOUSE (the structure)

This is probably the least understood of the three. And the biggest question is HOW MUCH? How much coverage to I REALLY NEED to properly and reasonably cover my home?

It’s really a simple answer. This is probably worth the entire time you’d spend reading 10 of these POSTS.


Here’s what you DON’T NEED! You DON’T NEED to insure it for its market value (what you could sell it for). You also DON’T NEED to insure it up to the LOAN AMOUNT. Both of these numbers have NOTHING TO DO with the cost to rebuild your house.

If you determine that you need $200,000 to rebuild your house and your lender tells you that you have to insure it for $300,000 because that’s the amount of your loan. You tell them that you know different! If you can’t get this through their thick heads, call me. I’ll take care of it for you. There’s a law I can cite to them that will cool their jets in a hurry. (And I’ve done it many times in my 3 decades of helping my policyholders)
The cost of lumber can fluctuate wildly depending on the season.
So how much do I need to rebuild my house?

That’s the magic question, for sure! The answer is that you calculate it by using cost per square foot. You’ll need to know how many square feet of living space you have. Generally, an appropriately sized garage is included in the cost per square foot. For example, if you live in a 800-1000 square foot house, you’ll likely have a 1 car garage. If you live in a 4000 square foot house, you’ll usually have a 3 or maybe even a 4 car garage.

Ideally you’d like to get a licensed contractor to your house to estimate that for you. Get one who is currently building houses in your area. Believe me, he knows the cost.

Remember though, EVERY HOUSE IS DIFFERENT!
I have several contractors insured and I keep up with them on the current cost of construction in my area. I hesitate to just give you a number here as it changes all the time and you need to tweak it a little based on the configuration of your house. For example, if your house is a track house, (one that was built among a bunch of others that are about the same) your cost of construction will probably be less than if you lived in a custom house. You have to ask questions like these:

• Do I have carpet or marble tile?
• Do I have a central vacuum system?
• Do I have a composition shingle roof or concrete tile?
• Is my kitchen standard or custom?
• Do I have central air conditioning, ceiling fans, custom wood stair rails, or granite counter tops in the kitchen?

With just a quick phone call to my office, we’ll be happy to help you determine your cost per square foot.

Another common point of confusion is that people think they need to insure their house for it’s market value. NOT SO! Your house is (almost) always going to be worth more than it takes to build it. Remember there’s value in your land, neighborhood, schools, view, etc. All that is unaffected by the loss of your home. And remember this….

NO MATTER HOW MUCH COVERAGE YOU PUT ON YOUR HOUSE, THE INSURANCE COMPANY WILL ONLY PAY YOU WHAT IT COSTS TO REBUILD IT.

So here’s how a typical house can look. Remember there’s 3 key numbers associated with your house: Market Value, Amount of your Mortgage, and Rebuilding Cost.

If your 2500 square foot home has a market value of $650,000 and your local building costs are $200/square foot, your rebuilding cost would be $500,000 (2500 x 200). Your mortgage could be $120,000, $400,000 or $0. Regardless of the loan amount or the market value, you’d want to have approximately $500,000 of insurance on that house. There’s some tricky thinking here that you need to consider.
The cost of construction isn’t static, it’s always changing. Lumber cost changes almost daily, as an area builds more and less through changes in economy, the cost of subcontractors will fluctuate. At the end of this report you’ll see a special feature that my office offers you to help you be sure that you don’t get caught short as construction costs rise and fall. Look for this picture in PART 2. -->

Usually your house has what’s called ALL RISK coverage. That means that, except for a few exclusions, anything that happens to your house is covered. If there’s a loss to your house, the adjuster looks at the list of exclusions and if what happened isn’t there… it’s probably going to be covered. Remember that all insurance companies are different and it’s the policy contract that decides, not what I say here!

Some common exclusions include flood, earthquake, riot, freezing of pipes in an unoccupied, vacant, or under-construction building, vandalism and malicious mischief if the building has been vacant for more than 30 days, normal wear and tear, intentional damage, damage from animals, birds, or fish, and war. These are just a sampling of exclusions. See your policy for your actual exclusions.

Equally as important as the coverage for your home is your coverage for your stuff – Your Personal Property.

In PART 2, we're going to be getting into YOUR STUFF....  Your iPod, couch, dishes, rugs, baseball card collections, etc....  See you then....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It's a Good Life !

Dennis Volz Insurance Agency
10783 Jamacha Bl, Suite 1, Spring Valley, CA 91978
OFFICE: (619) 670-1000 - FAX: (619) 670-1121 - Cell (619) 339-1339
Email: http://mail%20to:%20dennis@dennisvolz.com/
Websites: Company Site:  DennisVolz.COM, Client Convenience Site: 6701000.com

Spring Valley Auto Insurance Quote, Renters Insurance Quote, Homeowners Insurance Quote 

My 'Other Blogs'

The San Diego Insurance Blog

Working by Referral

Musings from California 

 

This post contains only a general description of coverages and is not your insurance contract. Details of coverage or limits can vary. All coverages are determined by the terms, provisions, exclusions and conditions of your policy along with any endorsements.