Home owners and 1st time Home buyers

Home owner’s insurance and 1st time buyer’s important coverage options.
 
When buying a new home you are forced to purchase home owners insurance.  So what kind of coverage’s are important with so many options?  What does the coverage mean?  Let’s go over some of the main coverage options.  (These first 2 coverage options were the biggest issue for insured’s that lost their entire home in the wild fires a few years ago, some had to pay very large amounts of money out of their own pocket to rebuilt their homes.)

Replacement cost coverage on the structure.  You really should try to find a carrier that carries a guaranteed replacement cost or a carrier that has up to 150% additional replacement costs.  What does this mean?  The insurance company guesses what your home rebuild cost is in case of a total loss, this is dwelling value A.  Sometimes the rebuilt costs go over this amount by quite a bit.  If you have guaranteed replacement costs the insurance company will pay an uncapped amount over dwelling value A.  If you have a policy that has 150% additional replacement costs the carrier will pay 50 percent over the dwelling amount A.  Many policies have either no additional replacement or just 110% additional replacement costs.  This could cause an out of pocket expense in a total loss.

Building Ordinance coverage.  Very few know what this coverage is or how important it can be in a home claim.  The building codes and ordinance change over time.  Standard property coverage is for the actual physical structure and returning the building to the condition it was prior to the claim.  The extra costs for the new codes will either be covered under building ordinance or by you.  Many policies have no building ordinance or 10 percent of dwelling A.  Many people in the wild fires that lost their home complained this was simply not enough coverage.  Some companies have either 50% or even 100% coverage of dwelling A and you should look for these options on your policy.

Jewelry or fine arts coverage.  Most people don’t realize their home insurance policy or renter’s insurance policy has internal limits on Jewelry, fine arts, guns, furs, one time collectibles, and silverware.  Only after a claim is submitted the insured realizes they either will get a small amount or even nothing at all in a loss or claim.  For a reasonable amount you can schedule or even blanket coverage in some cases the items.  When you schedule an item no deductible usually applies and the coverage includes loss and breakage.  Some policies have stated value some do not.  If you do not have stated value coverage, the policy will try to pay the claim with the least amount possible by finding a jeweler that will reproduce the ring for much less than you may have paid for it. 
 
Other coverage options are available and If you would like us at Pacific Infinity to review or answer any questions you may have feel free to call or email me anytime!
 
Pacific Infinity Insurance Agency                                                                                                                                             Phone 503-926-2556                                                                                                                                                 Emaildale@pacificinfinityinsurance.com