Change of Address: 10 Ways to Insure Your Home Against Disasters

10 Ways to Insure Your Home Against Disasters

What would happen if you had a party at your home and say someone had a little too much to drink and takes a tumble down a flight of stairs? What if you didn’t know them very well? Are you insured against those types of injuries in your home? If not or if you don’t know, you might want to check your policy to find out how much coverage you have (most homeowner’s policies are limited in this type of protection). There are other scenarios that you may not have thought of as well so I put together this brief list of 10 ways to insure your home.

Homeowners insurance – If you have any insurance at all on your home and you own your home, you will have this one. This generally will cover your home for damages from fires, theft, storms, and lightning. You need to read the fine print on your policy to make sure you have all the coverage you think you do and that you don’t need specialty insurance for some of the items listed above (fires, burglary, etc.).

Renters Insurance – If you do not own your home but are renting a home or an apartment then you really should get renters insurance. Renters insurance covers your possessions inside the home (furniture, electronics, clothes, etc.). It is generally very inexpensive insurance coverage and well worth it if you ever need it. Actually some landlords will require you to get renters insurance before giving you the keys.

Mortgage Insurance – Again if you own your home (or are buying your home more appropriately). If you have a mortgage and especially if the amount you owe is above a certain percentage of the value of the home you will be required to have mortgage insurance. Mortgage insurance though is generally good to consider as it will protect you from the inability to pay your mortgage due to disability or even death (impacting family members).

Flood Insurance – You really need to verify if your home is in a flood plane and if it is, you definitely need to consider flood insurance. It will protect your home from flooding that most homeowner’s policies will not cover. It’s basically like a pre-existing condition in health insurance if you chose to buy a home in a flood plane then the homeowners insurance company is not going to take a flood risk, that’s on you. Here is an interesting news release from FEMA on why you need flood insurance: http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=47480.

Personal Injury/Liability – This is the type of insurance that you need to protect yourselves from that person that stumbled down your stairs mentioned above. In general you will have some protection in your homeowners policy but you may want to consider more especially if you have people over to your home a lot.

6. Title Insurance – Okay title insurance may seem like an odd item to throw into the discussion as you normally only deal with title insurance when you go to buy or sell a home. However, it is something to consider having because you never know about possible claims that may get attached to your property. Here is a great article on the subject: http://www.trulia.com/blog/john_barry/2009/10/20_reasons_to_obtain_title_insurance_on_your_property.

Hurricane Insurance – While most homeowners insurance policies do cover damage from high winds, they only cover water damage that is a direct result of rain entering via a wind-damaged area of the home. It won’t cover the types of flooding that are common with hurricanes. Here is an interesting article and video on hurricane insurance: http://www.chiff.com/personal_finance/insurance-hurricane.htm.

Earthquake Insurance – If you live in an area of the country that is likely to have earthquakes then you should definitely consider earthquake insurance (no it wasn’t something Woody Harrelson made up in the movie Doc Hollywood). Here is an article in wikipedia on earthquake insurance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_insurance.

Farm Insurance – If you live on a farm, it’s important for you to protect your home as well as your land and crops with farm insurance. Again, portions of what you would need to protect barns, sheds, equipment, etc. won’t be covered by any of the other policies we have discussed. Here is an example of the type of insurance I am talking about: http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/other/farm.asp.

Household Insurance – yes, this is different than homeowners insurance even if it doesn’t initially sound like it is different. This is much more similar to renters insurance than it is homeowner’s insurance as it covers more of your property. You can read more about it here: http://www.superpages.com/supertips/household-insurance.html.

Of course, there are plenty of other types of insurance that most of us need to have including health insurance, auto insurance, and life insurance. There are many different ways to make sure either you, your property, or loved ones are protected. It’s always a good idea to do at least an annual review with your insurance agent to make sure you stay on top of all types of insurance that may apply to you. When was the last time you talked to your insurance agent?