5 Reasons Why You Should Get Home Insurance
Becoming a homeowner for the very first time is quite an exciting and new experience for most people, especially if they’ve lived in rented houses or small apartments all their lives. However, owning a home isn’t enough as you have to insure it, too. Just like car insurance, home insurance protects you, your home and your finances in case something goes wrong. Covering a number of accidents – from break-ins and fire to natural disasters such as flood or hurricane – this kind of insurance will cover all your costs and repairs, essentially fixing your home and giving you back the money you’ve invested in repairing it. And if you’re still unsure why this is such a good idea, here are a few more reasons for you to consider it.
A peace of mind has no price
Feeling completely safe and secure in your own home is something that, unfortunately, lots of people today can’t experience – with all the terrorist threats and natural catastrophes everywhere around us, we just can’t seem to catch a break, even in the comfort of our living room.
Nevertheless, with home insurance, you’ll feel a major difference: even if something does go wrong, you can be certain the damage’s going to be fixed and that you’ll get all your money back. And that’s certainly something that can make you fall asleep at night more easily.
Learn the basics
First, you need to understand what your insurance does and doesn’t cover because that’s the only way to be certain you’ll be all right in case something happens to your home. Usually, your average policy will cover all damage to your home, as well as all the things inside it – this is particularly useful in case of theft – but it can also be extended to insure you and all your family members.
Finally, if you wish to protect any possessions you may have outside the house, you can do that as well with a homeowner’s policy. However, there are a few things your insurance won’t cover – jewelry, fur coats, musical instruments, artwork, coin or stamp collection, etc. – unless you pay extra attention to that when creating your policy.
Cover your most valuable possessions separately
Speaking of priceless possessions, this is something you need to be very careful about as these can be covered, but usually only under special circumstances. Since insurance companies can never know exactly how much cash or valuable things you have inside your home – after all, nobody but you should be aware of this – they generally don’t issue a standard policy in certain cases.
That’s why you need to talk everything through with your insurance agent very carefully and let them know what you need to have insured and why. Being able to trust your agency is quite important in these matters, and that’s the reason why more and more people with valuable possessions consult Youi from New Zealand, as their experienced agents know how to handle delicate situations concerning your priceless possessions.
Preventive action
A thing that might surprise new and inexperienced homeowners is just how easy it is for them to reduce their premiums without even realizing it. Taking some preventive steps, such as installing a burglar alarm or smoke detector, seems like the most reasonable thing in the world and while these might actually make a difference between life and death in potentially dangerous situations, they won’t do any good to your home insurance policy. The reason for this is quite simple, though – these things reduce your liability risk, so insurance companies just won’t pay you money for actions that essentially lowered their premium.
Filing claims right away
Even though most people don’t enjoy filing claims to their insurance company and instead prefer patching things up in their home first, filing claims as soon as possible is actually quite important. Every insurance company has a fixed time limit when it comes to reporting claims and if you fail to do so quickly enough, they might not be obliged to take your claim into consideration at all! Of course, this is something you need to find out when signing your home insurance, so be sure to consult your insurance agent about this.
Other concerns
Some of the other things you must pay attention to when getting a home insurance include keeping your records during a loss, getting a car insurance at the same time, learning who to call should a problem arise and, finally, finding out your property’s market value, just in case you decide to sell it.