Advertisement
When you’re looking to buy a home, it might be a new home, but it can also be a new-to-you home. In either case, you probably have your mind focused on the mortgage payments and how well your home will work for your family. However, you also need to keep in mind expenses like home insurance that might cover the ways your home could occasionally fail your family. Knowing five tips for home insurance shopping in 2022 helps you get the best coverage without overpaying.
5 Tips for Home Insurance Shopping in 2022
Shopping around for most kinds of insurance usually pays off in the end. Use these tips when doing shopping for home insurance this year:
Ask About Discounts: Anything from security systems to automated leak-detecting technology installed in your home might make claims less likely for your insurance provider. Given that, many of them offer discounts for knowing you have such things.
Do a Home Inventory: Make a list of everything you own, and then mark prices or values for all of it. You might need this to make sure you have enough home insurance to replace it all. You might even need documentation or photos of everything to file claims in the event that they are lost.
Worry About Natural Disasters: You might assume your home insurance protects you from a lot of natural disasters, but many of them are actually excluded. Find out which ones you are and aren’t covered for, and then get add-ons or amendments for the ones you want coverage for.
Be Sure You Have Flood Insurance: The insurance industry estimates that only 1 in 6 homeowners has flood insurance, despite the fact that 99% of all local counties in the country experience flooding at some point. Whether you get it through the government or your private insurer, be sure that you have it and enough of it.
Look for Coverage for Spiked Repair Costs: Fires and other events might cost you your entire home. Your home insurance should cover the costs of rebuilding your home based on local home values and labor costs. However, some home insurance also covers guaranteed or extended replacement costs. These might apply if a tornado devastates your whole community and drives up the replacement costs of all homes.
About Arizona Home Insurance
The state government does not require you to have a home insurance policy in Arizona, but you will probably be required to have it if you have an active mortgage on your home. It’s still a good idea to get it anyway, given the weather extremes in this state. The low temperatures with cold weather are quite the drastic swing from the highs involved with hot weather. Given the desert climate of much of the state, these temperature swings can happen from day to night and vice-versa on top of seasonal changes. This can put quite a strain on AZ homes, and damage is always possible. Home insurance helps you prepare for such eventualities.
What Does Home Insurance Cover?
The short answer is that home insurance covers whatever is in the policy. The longer answer is that base policies usually cover certain things but not others unless they are included with an add-on, extra, amendment, or umbrella coverage.
U.S. News says that home insurance is basically designed to cover the replacement and repair costs for your home in the event of damage. This usually includes fire, theft, wind, rain, hail, and trees that fall on your home. You’ll likely also get coverage for liability purposes if someone is injured on your property. You might even have coverage for living somewhere else if you are temporarily displaced.
There are things that basic policies usually don’t cover without modifying the policy. These can include termite damage, earthquake damage, identity theft, and loss of collectibles such as jewelry and artwork.
Don’t Skimp on This
Having home insurance coverage is a must. Not only do you need it to protect yourself and your family but you might be required to have it as a condition of your mortgage. Many people end up thinking that disasters and accidents are something one only reads in the news. The truth is, accidents can happen to anyone, and the newsworthy stories are of ordinary people who didn’t prepare properly and were caught off guard. Make sure that you not only have coverage but also the right coverage and enough of it.