In this difficult economy, we need to save as much money as we can. If you want to learn more about lowering your homeowner’s premiums, here are some tips:
1.Make upgrades – oftentimes, renovating or upgrading your home, especially systems to connected to home safety such as installing sprinkler systems, additional smoke detectors and deadbolt locks.
2.Make your home safe – insurers often look at the risks of injury present in your home. If you have a pool or trampoline, installing a cover or fencing can keep children away from these areas and lower the risk of injury. If you have a “high risk” dog, a cage or enclosed doghouse may lower your premium.
3.Insure for the replacement cost – because of inflation, your home will probably cost more now to replace than the original price.
4.Review your policy annually – check which coverage you still need, and what you can do without.

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Home contents insurance is taken out by home owners in order to safeguard their possessions through accident, theft, fire or any other misfortune that should happen. It will help you to replace the items and for this you pay a monthly set premium to the insurance provider you take the policy out with.

However as with any type of insurance it is never always easy to understand and there are often many hidden exclusions within a policy, which can mean that you wont be able to claim on the policy for certain things. An important factor to take into account when it comes to home contents insurance is that even if you are renting the property, insurance it is still advisable because this cover is put in place to protect your belongings not the shell of the property. When taking out a mortgage the lender might insist that you take out insurance for the shell or outside of your home but the contents insurance is down to you.

by: Christine Zafra

If you feel that your kitchen is getting smaller with all the new appliances you buy every month (let’s say, Home TV Shopping is fun), and wish to expand it, don’t just rush to your local contractor and tell him or her to do this and that. Or better yet, there are some owners who wish to save on contractors and do the renovation by themselves (i.e. kitchen sink). Let’s take the kitchen sink for example. You want to replace your sink in the kitchen so you started whacking the sink edges and the underside. Now, you busted a pipe that wetted the floor and some of your appliances. You cannot file a claim to your insurance provider about the said damage because the SOP is for you to inform your insurance company before you do something to your house.

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by: Christine Zafra

If you have a HO-3 or a HO-5 type of policy and you read or your agent told you that it is an “all risk” type of policy, behold—do not celebrate yet. You have to know whether what “all risks” covers. There are certain types of damages that are not covered by your insurance company such as mudslide, earthquakes and sometimes, flood. Before engaging with a certain insurance company you have to read the terms and conditions, or perhaps, the limitations of your insurance so that you’ll know whether damages incurred by some rather unconventional disasters are covered by your policy.

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by: Christine Zafra

Insurance companies offer clients and future clients a lot of options to choose from. They offer flexibility in terms of what insurance type they need, how much they can afford and so on. Here are the most common insurance types offered by today’s insurers:

1. HO-1: covers objects specifically mentioned under the policy (i.e. paintings and valuables).
2. HO-2: covers areas of the house and the things inside it (i.e. kitchen and the china cabinet that contains silverware).
3. HO-3: covers the whole house and the things inside but the liability is limited (i.e. fire, flood and earthquake ONLY).
4. HO-4: covers the apartments of the renters (i.e. any damage or injury within 150 feet).
5. HO-5: similar to HO-3 but the range of damage included is wider (i.e. riots, fallen objects etc.).
6. HO-6: similar to HO-4 but this policy is for condominium residents.
7. HO-7: policy for mobile home owners.
8. HO-8: covers old houses and the replacement costs that the owner will incur.

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by: Christine Zafra

Take a look at your insurance policy. Your policy may seem to be easy to understand after you have glanced at it, but to tell you honestly, insurance policies are a lot trickier than you think. Take this for example.

If your policy includes flood insurance in it, do not rejoice yet. Some insurance companies are wiser than you think. If your house has been damage by mudslide due to the heavy rains that has been pouring for three days in a row, your insurance company might not consider it as something caused by “flood” per se. Most insurance companies consider that as the movement of tectonic plates and not flood related. Be wiser than them. Ask your insurance agent about things.

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Most of us are sleeping on a goldmine in our house. The kids have computers and high-definition TVs. But those homeowners who are in their fifties and sixties are also at a great risk. This is because they have made their houses comfortable for them to live in, plus the fact that they have probably accumulated a lifetime of fortune during their working years. For example, they might have no idea that the piece of artwork that they bought ten years ago might now be worth more than what they have paid for it. It is important to ensure adequate insurance cover for these things.

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The ideal thing to do is to choose a policy that will really suit your needs, and not to get the lowest insurance quote that you can find. Although monthly premiums may be a real issue, it is quite common that you can avail of discounts if you are starting with a new insurer. Also, many insurance companies will reduce the premium each month if in the event of a claim you will be liable for a greater participation fee.

Overlooking the replacement cost of possessions is a big mistake that many people make. If you are choosing a policy, you must realize that you need a provision for the increase in prices of your possessions when they need to be replaced, which is called Replacement Value Policy.