Homeowner Insurance Tips and Questions to Ask
1) Make sure you have the proper amount of homeowners insurance coverage for your home. Don't rely on your agent or your mortgage lender to pick the right amount of coverage.
2) Check your home's replacement cost amount at least once a year.
3) Update your policy. Make sure you have building code and ordinance coverage on your policy.
4) Don't be too conservative in your estimate of the replacement value. It's better to have more coverage than you need than to end up paying later.
5) Get a home appraisal or inspection if you can afford it.
6) Don't let your initial policy expire. If you fail to renew your policy, your lender or mortgage servicing company will probably buy a policy for your property, which could be more expensive without providing the same broad coverage as most initial or introductory policies.
A major catastrophe is not the only way for a homeowner to find out they are under-insured. Anyone who suffers a major fire, earthquake, water or other loss may discover that they do not have enough coverage to repair, or worse case scenario to rebuild, their home. If the loss is substantial enough to require major reconstruction of the home, the homeowner may find that due to inflation, building code changes, location of the property and other factors, that they simply do have enough coverage to rebuild their home. That is not a pretty picture. Make sure you are aware.