Last week, I introduced 5 home insurance options home owners should consider, but that barely scratches the surface. Depending on the insurance company, there may be up to 2 dozen options, and what would life be without options?! Since no home policy covers everything, these options help tailor the coverage of a policy to the individual needs of each home owner. Here are 5 more options worth knowing about!
Loss Assessment: If you own a home where there is a home owner’s association, which is usually the case for condominiums, some town home developments, and many of the planned communities, this coverage can be invaluable. Loss assessment provides coverage when the association policy pays for a loss due to a claim and in turn assesses the homeowners to help cover what the association policy doesn’t. Examples include a hail claim to the office and community center, wind damage to covered parking, a car running into the wall that surrounds the development, and more. Coverage is usually specified in dollar amounts such as $10,000, $25,000, etc.
Building Ordinance or Law: How old is your home? Mine was built in the mid-1950’s, so there’s a good chance, it’s not up to current Dallas building code standards. When this is the case, building ordinance or law coverage provides increased coverage to help bring the home up to code as a part of the repair or demolition of the home following a covered loss.
The example I give, is I had to replace my water heater a couple of years ago. The code had changed and required a pan be placed under the new water heater, resulting in me buying a pan to bring the new water heater up to code. Had this been a home insurance claim, the pan would have been covered by this option.
Identity Theft / Fraud: Having your identity stolen can be a nightmare of a problem resulting in credit cards or large loans being opened in your name, fraudulent tax returns being files, and even the intermingling of medical records (see http://50.87.248.161/~wiseinsu/identity-theft-anthem-data-breach/). Resolving this can take a large amount of time away from work or your life. This coverage helps compensate for the time spent getting your identity back, as well as provide a case worker to help, and coverage for child or elder expenses incurred.
Home Business: The number of people operating a business from home increases each year. The types of business include photographers, web designers, graphic artists, sales people, bloggers, realtors, project managers, consultants, and more. Home business or business pursuits coverage provides protection for business personal property (computers, printers, furniture, and equipment), merchandise, other structures used for storing business property, and in some cases, limited business liability coverage.
Theft of Building Materials: If you’re considering remodeling your kitchen, master bath, or some other project, some home insurance policies provide optional coverage if your building materials are stolen. This coverage applies to materials and supplies used for a remodeling, reconstruction, renovation, or repair of your home and includes lumber, cabinetry, flooring, windows, appliances, etc.
Knowing what your options are, helps you select just the right coverage to fully protect you and alleviate any unwelcome surprises. Next week, we’ll look at several more options that may be of interest to you. If you have a question, comment, or experience you’d like to share with us, please post it on our Google +, Facebook, or LinkedIn pages! I’d love to hear from you!
