Summer is a hot time (pun intended!) for the housing market and many families buy their first home during the summer months. But moving involves a lot more than just packing up your dishes and toys – between the financials, insurance, and the process of settling a new home, buying a house can be overwhelming.
Ann Anderson of Anderson Insurance Agency can’t necessarily solve all of these problems for you (although given her generous personality, she probably would come over and help you pack or bring you freshly baked cookies given the opportunity!), but she can help you navigate the sticky waters of homeowners insurance, especially for first-time homeowners.
We tapped into her expertise to help summer buyers – and especially first-time homeowners – learn some of the tricky basics about homeowners insurance.
Homeowners Insurance 101
What exactly is homeowners insurance? Homeowners insurance (or “home insurance”) is financial protection for your house in the case of a catastrophe. Sounds boring, right? WRONG. Homeowners insurance may become your most exciting friend if (when?) disaster strikes.
Homeowners can cover anything from fires to floods to wind and hail damage, depending on your coverage (FUN FACT: in general, homeowners insurance almost never covers floods or earthquakes and these require separate specific policies).
While most mortgages require proof of some kind of home insurance, coverage can vary widely, costing wildly different amounts and protecting (or failing to protect) a homeowner from a variety of different things.
Risks vary by region, neighborhood, etc., so your local insurance agent is the best expert on the best insurance at the best price for you.
Home insurance generally covers the loss of property due to some kind of a disaster such as a fire or a flood, but can also provide relief after events like a burglary.
Homeowners insurance can include liability insurance and can financially protect homeowners if someone is injured on their property; it also often helps offset the costs of living elsewhere if the home is uninhabitable for a time as a result of a disaster.
Like auto insurance, different kinds of coverage cost different amounts and some coverage options are more necessary than others.
So what happens after a disaster?
After a disaster strikes and you call Anderson Insurance Agency or another local agent, an insurance adjuster will assess the damage.
The amount that you receive to cover the damage will depend upon the limits you selected for your policies, the deductible that you owe before coverage kicks in (i.e., the minimum you have to pay before the insurance turns “on”) and whether your policy covers a depreciated cash value reimbursement for your property or an actual replacement of the missing items.
As you can see, so much of the benefit of homeowners insurance is determined by the decisions you make before you ever actually know what you might need – and this is where the expertise of an experienced LOCAL agent makes all of the difference between a stressful crisis and peace of mind.
Discounts
A final crucial aspect of homeowners insurance involves discounts – homeowners insurance is notoriously eligible for multiple discounts. For instance, installing a security system on your home or having a high credit score could mean that you qualify for reduced premiums.
Only a trustworthy local agent can tell you exactly how low the rate of protecting your home from disaster is or whether you're currently wasting money that you could be spending on something more interesting than insurance. Hop on over to Anderson Insurance Agency today to begin your worry-free journey.
The post What Every First-Time Homeowner Should Know About Insurance appeared first on lifestylefrisco.com.
