How Much Home Insurance Do You Need?

Home insurance is something you should never be without. While it comes in handy for smaller problems, it means the difference between rebuilding and losing everything should your home suffer catastrophic damage. While there are different types of insurance for protecting your homes in Grand Forks ND from specific weather-related acts of nature, basic home insurance is something everyone should have. The next part is determining how much to ensure you will be reimbursed properly without paying too much in the long run.

Realistically, your mortgage lender is going to require you to purchase insurance to cover the complete replacement cost of your home should you suffer total loss, which is when your home is destroyed beyond repair, such as in a fire or significant act of nature. This value will vary by home and by area, depending on the finishes in your home, it’s current price value, as well as construction factors, such as the costs of materials and labor to rebuild the home from scratch. The best way to find out the amount of coverage you’ll need is to talk to an insurance company or agent, as they have reconstruction cost tools to help determine the amount.

That covers your home itself, but you’re still going to need insurance on the items inside your home. In theory, most insurance covers what is inside your home. However the reality is that many things aren’t covered or it depends on the cause of loss. These “named perils policies” usually only cover a specific list. For greater protection, you want an open perils policy that covers almost everything except a specific list of exclusions.

Basic home insurance isn’t really that basic. You inevitably end up with multiple quotes from the same provider, based on how much you want covered. Other factors that come into play include deductibles and coverage limits. Obviously the higher the deductible, the lower the monthly payments. Similarly with coverage limits, the higher or lower you go will affect your monthly payment. Also, if you have items that are particularly valuable, such as jewelry, art, or other high-value collections, you may want additional riders to protect the value of these specific items and that will, of course, add to your costs.

Ultimately, you need to look at the various coverage plans and see what you can afford, keeping in mind how much you have in savings, what is most valuable in your home, and how risk tolerant you are. Fortunately, if things are tight in the moment when you purchase your home insurance, but you anticipate a new job or promotion resulting in more money, you can always start with a more basic plan and then change it when you can afford more coverage. Most companies are certainly happy to work with you in upgrading your plan.

The best bet is to get quotes from multiple companies — an agent can often help with that — and determine what best suits your current financial situation and your comfort levels. One of the perks of buying one of the brand new homes in Grand Forks ND is that you probably won’t have as many costly repair issues for the first few years or more. The age of your home is sure to play a part in how much insurance you may need, so a new home can give you additional peace of mind and lower prices.

Categorised in: Finance Tips, How Much Home Insurance Do You Need?, Selling Tips

This post was written by Crary Real Estate