Home Insurance

Section 1

Your Home

For many, the home they buy is their biggest investment. Making sure you have the right amount of coverage to rebuild, repair, or even replace your home is critical.

Many people do not know what is covered on their home insurance, As a result, when it comes to purchasing their home insurance, they opt for the "cheapest" policy which is often times the worst policy.

Your home insurance is broken into five major categories. Each category is has its own unique job and coverage amount.

The categories are:

Dwelling
Other Structures
Contents
Loss of Use
Liability

There are other optional, ancillary coverage’s that are provided by your home insurance, however, these five pillars are always present on each policy written.

Dwelling

Your dwelling coverage, AKA “coverage A” is the coverage that protects your actual home structure.

It also provides coverage to anything permanently attached to the structure like solar panels.

If your home was to burn to the ground, or suffer any damage, it would be this portion of your policy that would pay to replace or repair the damages.

Other Structures

Your other structures coverage, AKA “coverage B” is the coverage that protects any sort of unattached portion or structure.

This coverage is typically found to cover items such as a pool, a fence, a shed, or a detached garage.

If you have a separate structure that houses someone, you’ll want to discuss that with one of our agents to make sure it is covered correctly. – Get a home insurance quote here

Your contents coverage, AKA “coverage C” is the coverage that protects your personal belongings.

The amount of coverage the policy provides is a percentage of the “Dwelling” coverage.

Home insurance policies typically carry certain sub-limits for specialty items such as: jewelry, art pieces, collectibles, and firearms.

If you have a collection of any item, it’s our advice to consult with your ThriveSure Insurance agent to discuss ways to add these items to your policy. – Get a quote here.

Loss of Use

If you have to be relocated or are displaced from your home due to a claim, then your home insurance will offer coverage’s for your reasonable living expenses.

This can include: hotel lodging, clothes and food.

Your home insurance will afford coverage one of two ways. Either it will be a dollar amount, which is a percentage of the “Dwelling” coverage, or it will afford a time period. Typically 12-24 months is the standard amount of time an insurance company will extend coverage.

Liability

Your liability coverage is what will pay out if another person injures themselves on your property, and you are found negligent.

Dog bite claims are often the number one reason claims are filed. Another common instance is if someone is injured or drowns in your pool.

If there is any sort of litigation, your liability policy will pay out up to the limits on the policy.

At ThriveSure Insurance, we are strong advocates for having high liability limits. Most companies do not offer any levels above $500,000, so we always make sure all of our quotes and proposals include that amount as the liability limit.

Section 2

Claims

The home claims process is different than the auto claims process. Both are subject to deductibles, but the way in which they are paid and treated vary.

When considering your home insurance, make sure you have the deductible that meets your needs from a planning and budget situation.

You might be familiar with how a deductible works on your auto insurance. But do you know how it works on your home policy?

Let’s say you have a home deductible of $2,500. That deductible is not an out of pocket expense. Rather it is money that is held back from the insurance company during a payout.

Let’s assume that you have suffered a large catastrophic loss at your home. If the reconstruction costs are $450,000 and your deductible is $2,500, then the insurance company will write a check for $447,500.

Your deductible is not a dollar amount that you pay up front prior to the claims work starting.

Our suggestion when determining which deductible plan you should opt for is to determine your ability to save money, and or your ability to fix minor to medium size issues on your own.

Home claims are treated much different than auto insurance claims. On your auto insurance you can have multiple claims before a company decided to “non-renew” your policy. On a home claim, some companies may decide to non-renew you after the first claim depending on the severity of that claim.

It is for this reason, our common advice is to go with a $2,500 deductible. Studies show that with a higher deductible, you are less likely to file a claim for minor incidents, thus protecting you from getting your insurance policy cancelled.

Also, there seem to be sizable price breaks when going from the $1,000 deductible level up to the $2,500 deductible level.

The cost savings can range anywhere from 20% – 30%. So if you are not someone who files many home claims, and or are confident that you can fix issues yourself, then going with a higher deductible may make the most amount of sense for you.

Section 3

Get Lower Rates

As inflation causes home reconstruction to rise and home insurance to rise with it, it's important that you always shop your home insurance annually.

Since most people have their home insurance paid out of their mortgage, many are unaware that their rates keep going up.

The best way to make sure you’re getting the best home insurance rate is to make sure it is combined with your auto insurance.

Dealing with an independent agent who can shop for and package your two policies together will ensure you’re getting the best possible deal on all of your insurance.

At ThriveSure Insurance we seek to help our clients understand their home insurance and how it can protect them and their biggest financial investment.

Get started today and experience the difference in working with our team of dedicated independent insurance agents.

Get a quote on both your auto and home insurance now by clicking on this link