10 Most Common Homeowner’s Insurance Claims

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

If you own a home, you probably have homeowner’s insurance.  That’s because you need to protect one of the biggest investments you’ll ever make.  While owning a home has its benefits, if storm, fire, or flood happens to hit your home, you could suddenly find yourself in dire straits.  That’s where homeowner’s insurance comes in handy to help you weather the storm and make your property whole again.  If you were wondering which homeowner’s insurance claims are the most common, here are the top-10.

Come Hail and High Water

 By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

Thunderstorm season is right around the corner in the deep south.  With it will come torrential rain and frozen projectiles that can ding cars and roofs with abandon.  Hail and water damage are some of the most prevalent insurance claims during the long, hot Florida summer.  If you’re unfortunate enough to be under the center of a thunderhead during an afternoon gulley washer, don’t be surprised if you wind up filing either a homeowner’s or a comprehensive claim in the next few months.  To help you avoid the worst of the damage that hail and high water can accomplish, as well as to let you know what to do if you need to file a claim, I’ve come up with a top-10 list you’ll want to peruse.

Is Basic Homeowner's Insurance Basically Inadequate?

 By Catherine Powell

Owning a home is for many of us the single biggest investment we’re likely to make.  Even if you only own a 1-bedroom condo or starter home, you probably want to make sure that it and everything contained therein is protected against any unforeseen calamity.  Should a fire, storm, flood, or other act of God damage or destroy your home, wouldn’t it be nice to know that your policy will be sufficient to repair or rebuild it to the current building codes?  You bet it would.  Wouldn’t it also be a blessing if you were able to replace all the furnishings as well as your possessions if you were the target of thieves or a pipe broke only to cause major damage inside your dwelling?  You better believe it.  If all you currently carry is basic homeowner’s insurance, you could find that you have less protection than you really need.

What Makes Replacement Cost Coverage Irreplaceable?

By Catherine Powell

The reason most people buy insurance is to make themselves whole again after disaster strikes.  Whether the disaster comes n the form of a fire, a theft, a broken pipe or an act of God is immaterial.  When something totals your car, a thief steals something you prize, or a fire burns your home or RV to the ground, most folks assume that their insurance will pay to replace what they lost with something of equal value, or give them the cash equivalent.  The problem is that it's not always how the story goes as you’ll discover in this week’s blog.

How to Deal with Animal Invaders

By Catherine Powell

The first sign of animal intruders could be the sound of tiny paws scurrying overhead.  Or, you 
may come to find their droppings in your home.  Perhaps, as it happened to me recently, you will come find that something other than your pets has been gnawing at the cardboard boxes stored in your garage.   Anyway you slice it, discovering that your home has been selected as a home for vermin can be disquieting to say the least.  It can also be the source of fleas and pathogens for you, your family and your pets.  An even more shocking discovery is that these pests aren’t always so easy to get rid of.

Perfecting Your Pool’s Protection

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy pxfuel

They say some like it hot.  But if that’s the case, then the people who say it probably weren’t in Florida in July and August.  Between the heat and the humidity, both of which hover in the mid-90’s for weeks on end, most of the residents and tourists brave enough to venture outdoors in the Sunshine State during the dog days only do so to go from the comfort of their air conditioned car or an air conditioned mall.  The only exception to this rule is when they dive into the surf or the cool comfort of a swimming pool.  If you own a pool or are considering adding one to your property, there are a few things you need to know if you want to keep your pool from becoming a bottomless pit for lawsuits.

All About Home Warranties

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy picpedia

Now that I’ve found myself working from home for the past few weeks, I have to admit I’m spending more time watching TV than usual.  While I try to tune out most commercials, one that caught my attention was for a home warranty company.  The ad makes the case that if you own your home, the last thing you want to do is wind up plunking down a big chunk of change when any of your major appliances go on the fritz.  When you consider the cost of washers, dryers, water heaters and dishwashers cost hundreds of dollars, refrigerators and ovens can cost $1,000 or more, and central air conditioning systems cost multiple thousands to replace, then insuring them might be a good idea.  Especially since your homeowner’s policy doesn’t cover these items for normal wear and tear.  So, I thought I’d look into the matter and provide my loyal readers with some food for thought.

How Does Your Roof Rate?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy pikrepo

A roof is one of those things that most people take for granted until water starts dripping through their ceiling or a water stain appears like magic after a sudden storm.  Being out of sight and out of mind, hardly anybody ever thinks twice about their roof until it starts to leak.  And that’s a shame, since the roof over your head does a lot more than keep the rain off.  It literally protects you, your family, your furnishings and all your expensive electronics from wind, rain and the ravages of the sun.  It also keeps the wooden bones of your home from rotting.  If properly maintained, a roof should last between 20-30 years on average. 

How is Your Insurance Rating Calculated?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy picpedia

If you’ve ever compared your auto insurance rate to that of a friend, you may come to find that even though you’re both the same age and use the same insurer, what you pay could be quite different from what your friend pays.  What most consumers don’t realize is that insurance rates aren’t the same for everyone.  That’s because insurance is based on risk.  Insurance companies calculate risk by using a number of factors, including how old you are, where you live, what you drive, how many tickets you’ve had and where you park your car for the night, just to name a few.  If you’ve ever wondered how insurance rates are calculated, today’s blog should help take the mystery out of the process.

What You Need to Know Before You Rent Your Home

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy picpedia

Whether it’s due to retirement, relocation or divorce, there comes a time in every homeowner’s life when they are forced to make one of the toughest decisions: sell or rent their home.  Depending on their situation, a move might be only temporary, a relocation could only be speculative, or a retirement could leave the homeowner with an option to rent that could return a tidy income if the house is paid off.  The question in all these cases comes down to what do I need to know before I rent my home? 

Making a List and Checking It Twice - Why you should create a home inventory.

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy Pixabay

Three of the crises that most homeowners dread most are fire, flood and storm.  That’s because these are the three quickest ways to lose all their possessions in one fell swoop.  Especially in hurricane-prone Florida, having a total loss isn’t that much of a stretch of the imagination.  Not by a long shot.  While you can have your home and your property insured for all of the above, the secret to getting your money’s worth in compensation is to be able to document the value of your possessions.  To do this right takes a bit of forethought and effort on a homeowner’s part, which many fail to do only to come to regret it later.

How Smart is Smartphone Insurance?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy flickr

Whether you're a Millennial or a Baby Boomer, one thing is certain; You never leave home without your smartphone.  Part communication device, part entertainment center, part research assistant, a smartphone puts the world at your fingertips.  You can read a book, watch a TV show or a movie, order a pizza or a taxi and converse with your friends and family six ways from Sunday wherever and whenever you choose.  If it did the dishes and the laundry, you’d probably marry it, right?  That’s why you can’t afford to be without your little oblong friend.  While the model I carry retails for around $100, this is considered the low end of the smartphone pool.  Springing for a Samsung Galaxy S10 will set you back $700, while an iPhone can cost more than a grand.  With prices like those, it should come as no surprise that I’m asked about smartphone insurance from time to time by my customers.  To keep from repeating myself, I created a handy blog that will gives you the ins and outs you need to consider before deciding to buying an extended warranty or insurance for your phone.

The Perils of Patios

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy wikimedia

There’s nothing like a summer barbecue or pool party to entertain young and old alike.  That’s the upside of having a backyard patio.  The downside is that it’s also one of the places that’s most likely to involve an accident likely to send you or yours to the hospital.  Before you, one of your kids or a family member winds up in the emergency room, here are a few facts of which you need to be aware concerning patios.

Are You Out of Your Trees?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy wikimedia

Fortunately for all us northern Floridians, last year’s hurricane season went by without a hitch.  That’s good, because the two years previous gave the area a brutal one two punch.  Aside from tearing shingles of many homes, hurricanes Matthew and Irma caused a great deal of flood damage and lots of downed trees.  While shoring up your home against rain and flood is something that I can’t really help you with (other than providing insurance coverage), when it comes to keeping you from having any undue anxiety over your trees, I can give you some advice.

Trees can be a blessing or a curse.  When the dog days of summer hammer us with months of 90+ degree temperatures, shade trees can help us keep our cool.  They can also save you money by lowering your electric bill, since a shaded house doesn’t require nearly as much power to cool as one that has to take everything the Florida Sun can throw at it.  The bad news is when the high winds associated with squalls and hurricanes make the rain blow sideways, sometimes the strain is too much for trees to take and they come crashing down.  If they hit your home or your vehicle, the damage can be extreme, especially if the tree falls in the middle of a storm which can cause extensive water damage after the fact.

Does Your Insurance Need a Little Spring Cleaning?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy of flickr

Only in Florida do people start thinking about Spring cleaning in February.  That’s because as I write this blog, the temperature is in the 70’s with the weekend forecast for 80 degrees.  Spring is the time of year we Floridians start to straighten up around the house and yard to get a jump on home and yard maintenance before the gully washers and named storms begin to head our way in the summer.  With an average temperature in the low to mid 90’s, summer is the last time to start clearing out the dead leaves or working to seal cracked weather-stripping.  The time to perform home and yard maintenance is while the weather is mild. 

While most Florida residents routinely roll up their sleeves in February and March to get started on Spring cleaning, I thought I’d take the time this week to address another kind of Spring cleaning that has nothing to do with leaf blowers and rakes.  I’m talking about Spring Cleaning for your insurance policies.  Just as our homes and yards tend to get cluttered and weather-beaten if we aren’t careful, so too can our insurance policies.  Face it, modern life is fast paced.  Everything from our earning ability to our living arrangements can and do change from year to year.  When it comes to insurance coverage, what may have worked perfectly last year may be off the mark in the new year.  While you and your family get ready to head outside to spruce up your home and yard, I thought it was high time that I gave you a few facts to consider when it comes to weather-proofing your insurance coverage.

Home Security is Nothing to Sneeze At

By Catherine Powell

image courtesy of flickr

As it so happens, I’ve been spending much of the past two weeks lying flat on my back staring up at the ceiling.  That’s what happens when you come down with a bad head cold or catch the flu.  While I’ve been lying in an over-the-counter drug stupor blowing my nose endlessly while watching more TV than I can stand, it also gave me the time to think about my home’s security.  Every afternoon as I hear the postal carrier drop the mail into the box outside my front door with a clank, I pause to think of just how easy it would be for a burglar to try to jimmy the door or any of my windows.  While I consider my home to be burglar-resistant, it never hurts to put oneself in a thief’s shoes to assess just how impregnable your home really is.

Bulletproofing Your Bling

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy of Max Pixel

When it comes to insuring your jewelry there are two things you need to know:

1.      It’s the second thing thieves are after when they break into a home.

2.      It’s quite possible your homeowner’s policy isn’t going to cover the loss in full.

Are You Out of Your Tree?

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy of flickr

Having a live Christmas tree can be one of the joys of the holidays.  Nothing beats the aroma of pine or spruce greeting you and your family as you gather in the living room to exchange gifts. For many Americans, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without a tree.  With that being said, you also need to understand the responsibility and potential liability you take on when you keep a cut tree in your home for a month or more.  Statistics tell us that annually there are more than 250 home fires started by Christmas trees. Of those, more than a dozen deaths and two dozen injuries are caused when the tree goes up in flames.  To help you keep your family safe during the holidays, I thought I’d dedicate this week’s blog to Christmas tree hazards.  If you would like to get a free instant competitive liability quote click here.