Owning your own home is one of the biggest investments you’ll make and protecting your home and its contents is imperative. The finer details of your home insurance policy may get pushed to the back of your mind until needed but understanding the ins and outs of your policy is crucial to ensure you’re covered in any worst case scenarios.
As in-depth and complicated as it may be, coming to grips with your homeowner’s insurance policy will give you peace of mind that you’d be able to rebuild your house if needed and that everything in your home could be replaced. Whether your home suffers fire or water damage or you become a victim of theft; your policy should cover you in all of these eventualities.
The first aspect of your policy covers the cost of rebuilding your home or repairing it. This usually covers damage caused by lightning, hail, water (excluding flooding), wind, fire, riots and explosions. It should also cover you for the expenses you have while rebuilding your home (e.g. alternative accommodations). Approximately 20 percent of the property insurance should be dedicated to these issues.
In these cases, your provider will cover the costs involved in restoring your house to its original condition; i.e. having fire damage repairs carried out through a preferred insurance contractor. Additional coverage for emergencies like sewer backups, earthquakes and floods are something that will be provided separately, so check if your property’s location requires this coverage.
Important: When taking out a policy, check insurance provider’s maximum payout. Confirm that this is enough to replace the entire structure of your home and that it isn’t just your mortgage’s balance or the market value of your property.
Around 50-75 percent of the overall insurance amount on your home will account for coverage of its contents in case of water damage, theft or other disasters. When taking out or updating your policy, conduct a home inventory to check that the amount you’re covered for is enough for all of the belongings in your home. If you have expensive items such as jewelry, you may need to take out a ‘floater,’ which will provide you with additional insurance against these items.
Going through your insurance policy with a fine-toothed comb at least once a year will identify if there are any gaps that need filling in. A yearly insurance check-up could be the difference between you being able to afford to rebuild your home and replace your belongings, and not.
At All County Environmental and Restoration, we are preferred insurance contractors for many companies and we offer an extensive range of emergency services, including Orange County, CA, abatement, water damage and fire damage repair. If you want to learn more about just how we can remedy an emergency in your home, contact our team today.
