Sheri and I had dinner Saturday night with a friend. It was a delightful evening as we caught up with what has happened in each other’s lives. Our friend had a couple of questions about her home and car insurance and was concerned her home may not have enough coverage to cover a total loss. After all, prices for homes in her part of the metroplex have risen sharply in the past few years.
In early October, Equifax announced another 2.5 million consumers’ data was stolen bringing the total to 145.5 million people. The data stolen includes names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and in some cases driver’s license numbers. Chances are, most adult Americans were victimized by this data theft. Let’s look at what’s changed, what to do, and how this relates to your home and car insurance.
A friend of mine who’s in the water, fire, and smoke damage servicing business asked me to talk with one of his client’s last week. The client was a first-time home buyer and needed some advice on how to deal with a home insurance claim for 6 leaks beneath his slab foundation. His homeowner’s insurance policy was woefully inadequate to deal with the claim as it didn’t have the right coverage added to it.
There are several dog breeds home insurance carriers will decline to write a home or renter’s policy for. These breeds may also result in the insurance company canceling or not renewing the policy if they are acquired after the policy goes into effect.
Over the past two weeks we’ve examined how you and your home impacts what you pay for home insurance. Your home policy also impacts what you’ll pay, so let’s delve into four common areas that lower or raise your rate.
Last week we looked at how you, the buyer and homeowner, impact your home insurance rate. The second broad category impacting your home insurance premium is your home itself. There are several factors and none of them include your home’s purchase price, what you could sell it for, nor what the local appraisal district sets the value at. Let’s look at what does count.
Most people don’t realize there are many factors which impact their home insurance rate; some are related to the home and some are not. In fact, you may have as much to do with what your home insurance rate is as your home does. There are three broad areas which impact your home insurance rate including you, your home, and the insurance policy itself. This week, we’ll examine four ways how you, the homeowner, impact the rate and examine the other two areas over the next two weeks.
I am occasionally asked by a new or existing client whether their home insurance policy covers an air conditioning compressor or water heater that’s going bad. In most cases, the answer is no, unless it’s caused by an event justifying a claim such as a lightning strike, a tree limb that fell on it, etc. Two home insurance carriers offer a coverage option worth considering for their policy holders called Equipment Breakdown coverage and it may provide an attractive option worth adding to your policy.
Many people are surprised to learn their home insurance rate will change from year to year. Many times, there will be an increase as we’ve seen in the past few years, and sometimes there will be a decrease. Rates fluctuate, so let’s examine why!
Summer’s here and while our hail storms are probably behind us, its impact continues to unfold for homeowners in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex and San Antonio. Home insurance companies paid an unprecedented amount in claims and tallied up losses from the storms. The impact goes beyond insurance companies balance sheets, it’s being felt by homeowners and buyers in both north and central Texas as insurance companies consider their options. The responses include moratoriums, increased deductibles, increased rates, and coverage shifts.
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