Owning a home is a tremendous responsibility. Not only do you need to deal with the monthly home loan installment and other costs such as water and electricity, but you also have to be ready in case of an emergency, a robbery or other tragedy! Just imagine if you had to lose all the assets within your house or if the entire house is destroyed through a natural disaster. how will you ever be able to recover from such an event?
The solution comes by means of homeowners insurance!
Homeowners insurance can typically be split up into home content insurance which provides coverage for the actual content inside your house and home structure insurance or building insurance which takes care of the structure of the property. Most finance institutions will not even consider funding your house if the structure of your house is not insured.
You will need to compile an exact household inventory. You need to supply an insurance provider with a detailed overview before your insurance policy and premiums can be determined. Ensure that you complete this inventory as thorough and meticulous as you can. There is truly no other way to establish the actual value of lost or damaged property and you could end up being underinsured if you try to take shortcuts with your insurance cover. It’s even better if you can keep the slips and invoices of new things you buy - this will guarantee complete accuracy. Better yet, photograph each room within your house, making sure that the most precious objects are clearly visible and also send this through to your insurance provider so that they can keep it on file.
Don’t assume all homeowners insurance policies will offer the same type of cover. In some instances you will need extra policies to cover your home against events such as hailstorms and bomb explosions while other damages such as storm damage, fire damage and leaky plumbing might be included in the policy. Naturally the more extensive the cover required, the more costly the actual insurance policy.
You have to realize that nobody is untouchable. Just because you reside in a secure neighbourhood with 24hour security and a vicious guard dog, does not necessarily mean that you will never need homeowners insurance. As mentioned previously, you also need to insure your home against elements such as fire, theft and storm and no amount of security measures will be able to shield you from these kinds of catastrophes!
As with all varieties of insurance policies you are only harming yourself if you lie on your homeowners insurance application. If you don’t have an alarm system installed or stay in a complex with a security guard at the gate, don’t pretend that you do in order to try and save on your monthly payments! If it’s time to claim and an assessor is sent to your home, your little white lie can mean that the insurance provider will reject your claim!
To conclude: No homeowner is untouchable! Be sure that you have contents insurance and building insurance in place - then you can sleep sound through the night!
For more information about homeowners insurance visit the website http://www.isureins.co.za