Question by Mrs Captain: Can I ever get home insurance again if a previous one has been cancelled?
About 1 yr ago I cancelled my DD for my home insurance to cut costs. My bank then said as I never told them directly they have refused my insurance policy and that I would find it difficult to get another policy. I am now looking to start another home insurance policy but they all ask the question if I have been refused before? What does this mean? As it is obviously important to have it as you never know what will happen.

Best answer:

Answer by veg_rose
I am sure if you told new insurance company why it was cancelled then they would disregard why it was refused…..Refusal because of building defects or bad security is what insurance companies are looking out for not for petty spite reasons put forward by a bank..

What do you think? Answer below!

Question by : Is it standard procedure for home insurance agents to visit your house before they insure it?
I was told by my ex that a home insurance agent was coming to look at the INSIDE of my house. I was under the impression only appraisers came to look at the inside of your home. Do home insurance agents do that now too? What’s the cheapest home insurance?

Best answer:

Answer by ettie
Nope, they can look at the inside, too. They’re checking for certain breed dogs, they’ll check your electric box, they’ll check for unrepaired damage, and they use info like wallpaper, tile, vinyl flooring, to calculate the replacement cost of your house.

An appraiser doesn’t come out until after the claim. The agent is doing “front line underwriting” and establishing the value of your house.Try this site

http://best-home-insurance-comparator-usa.blogspot.com/

Here you can get quotes from different home insurance companies in your area, its the best way to find an affordable home insurance with a reliable company.

What do you think? Answer below!

Question by maria: Who pays for the home insurance when you let your house?
I ask this question on behalf of my friend, who lives in Malaysia. He wants to know what the law in England will be in this case.

My friend is gonna let his house to another, so that he can have some income. A question arises: They need to buy a home insurance in case there is an accident like fire. Apparently in Malaysia, a homeowner doesn’t have to buy insurance for his house.

So in this case, who should pay for the home insurance, the homeowner or the tenant? I mean, the rental period is 2 years, and the insurance, if paid, will cover for 2 years only.

Best answer:

Answer by paulina
whoever owns the house
duh
Check out this site, if you want to find the cheapest home insurance just in one minute,

http://best-cheap-home-insurance-usa.blogspot.com/

Here you can get free quotes from different home insurance companies in your area, its the best way to find an afforable home insurance with a reliable company.

Best Wishes,

What do you think? Answer below!

Question by rlou: Does home insurance cover when you rent out the house and the tenant causes a house fire?
Does home insurance cover when I rent out the house and the tenant causes a house fire (assuming the house completely burnt down)? If not, do I need to buy landlord’s insurance or ask the tenant to buy renter’s insurance? Thanks

Best answer:

Answer by Katie W
Homeowners policies vary; you’ll want to read the fine print on yours to see if it does or doesn’t cover such circumstances.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Question by Magnix2k: Whats the difference between home insurance and rental insurance?
for my rental property? Is it a good idea to switch home insurance to rental insurance when a tenant is living in my rental property just in case if they smashed some holes on the wall, or some damages on the property?

Thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by doinou
Insurance on your personal residence covers the house and contents. A fire policy on rental property only covers the structure, but not the tenant causing damages. That’s what the security deposit covers.

Give your answer to this question below!

Right Home Insurance Coverage to protect your financial assets

Purchasing a home is an exciting and responsible step in ones life. Whether it is your first home or one in many homes, owning a property is a person’s largest asset. When you purchase a house, you put your life savings into the down payment or the entire purchase of the property. The most important step after purchasing a house is to get it fully protected through homeowners insurance. There are many forms of California Home Insurance, all the way from being the owner to renting out the property to a tenant but the most important step is to get your property covered and protected against any and all losses.

Homeowners insurance doesn’t only consist of coverage for the structure, but there are many coverages that are a necessity to a home. For example, in case of a wild fire, if your home burns down, it is not only the structure your losing but also your personal property, time off work, stress and money. Why would you buy a house if you’re not going to protect it and have a peace of mind if something happens to your property? The importance of having insurance coverage on your property is without a doubt mandatory. Homeowners insurance consists of many important and commonly forgotten coverages. Homeowners insurance includes coverage for the structure, personal property, loss of use, other structures, personal liability, animal liability, and medical payments.

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Under homeowners insurance, you may schedule your valuable items and have a specified cash value in case of a loss. It is a very peaceful feeling when you know that the items you treasure are protected and can be financially replaced in case of a loss. Whether the damage is small like a minor wind loss or a big damage like a roof falling apart, your mind can rest assure when you know you are covered.

When purchasing a California Home Insurance policy make sure to review your coverage every year. As the economy changes so does the market value. Home prices appreciate and depreciate, make sure to stay on top of your coverage to get the best coverage and price for the market value of your home in case of a loss.

At the very end, on top of all your coverages, you may purchase an Umbrella policy not to only cover your home but all your watercraft, autos, home business and personal liability. Just remember Flood and Earthquake coverage are not included in homeowners insurance. These coverages must be purchased separately.

Question by Moon Walker: How can I buy home insurance if I use one room for my business?
Hello there! I am a freelance web publisher so basically I work from home using my laptop. My husband and I just bought our first home. The other day I was shopping around for home insurance when an agent told me if I run my home business many carriers will mark me as “not eligible” for home insurance. Is this true? How do I get around that? What’s the best home insurance company?

Best answer:

Answer by it’s me
Do you meet clients at your home? Do you have people coming and going throughout the day in relation to your business? If yes, then you may have a problem, but only with restrictions on your policy (ie, possible theft clauses). If you don’t have business related visitors to your property then you really shouldn’t have a problem finding insurance.

What do you think? Answer below!

Important coverages left off Texas home insurance policies

Is The Cheapest Texas Insurance Quote Always The Best?

Free online Texas homeowners insurance quotes and information.

DUDUCTIBLES:

Today many agents are using substandard deductibles. For example in order to reduce the total premium a 2% or even 5% deductible will be placed on the policy. (Sometimes unknowingly to the consumer)
Example: If you receive a quote for a home insured for 5,000.00 with a 5% deductible; your responsibility would be ,750 before the insurance company would pay a penny.

CONTENT REPLACEMENT COSTS:

In order to lower the quoted premium significantly some agents are not including Replacement costs as part of the home owner’s policy.
If you suffer a loss do you want the insurance company to pay you the amount it takes to replace your loss at today’s cost or at the lower depreciated amount? Replacement!

IMPORTANT COVERAGE LEFT OUT:

Windstorm and Hail Coverage

We have seen quotes from a major carrier actually leaving out wind and hail coverage in homeowner insurance policies.
Living in Texas would you want a policy without Texas windstorm and Hail coverage? NO!

Discharge of Water

Discharge of water is also a coverage that some agents are leaving out of home owner policies.
Do you want the damage covered, if your hot water heater or a pipe bursts in you home causing thousands of dollars in damage? YES!

Back Up of Sewers and Drains

Are you covered if water backs up through a sewer or drain, or overflows from a sump pump?
Water backup can be caused by:
Blockages Due to Tree Roots
Blockage of Sanitary Main
Cracks in foundation leaks water into the basement

Foundation Coverage

Do you want the damage covered, if a waterline breaks under your foundation causing the foundation to sink
The foundation coverage endorsement is the most commen coverage left off Texas home insurance policies.

The internet is a great way to buy and sell products, but in this highly competitive market many agents will cut corners to quote the cheapest price. The problem is you may not realize that until it is too late.

Ask these questions before you purchase a Texas homeowners insurance policy:

How long has the agency been in business?
How many companies does the agent represent?
What kind of claim service does the company offer?
What deductibles is the agent quoting you?

Find more information about Texas home insurance

Is Home Insurance so Important?

For many that would mean financial disaster. Home Insurance avoids such risks.

Clearly, not many people are faced with seeing their home burn down but damage and loss to your home can occur in many ways. Storms, gas explosion, vehicle accident and flood may spring to mind. But don’t forget that a thief will probably damage your house whilst gaining entry or might cause damage to your doors or decorations whilst ransacking your home. They may even try to steal the strangest of items – yes your toilet could even be on their shopping list!

If you have a leak, you’re responsible for having the leak repaired, but the structural damage caused by the leak will be covered by your Home Insurance. Often the cost of repairing a leak is small compared with the cost of repairing the damage caused. For example, a big problem can occur in the winter if the owners go away and a burst develops because of the cold. If the burst is in the roof, ceilings will come down and the water will damage a large part of the house. This happened to someone we know who returned after a Christmas break to find a stream of ice cascading from their front door. The house took two months to repair.

What else is covered? Falling trees, crashing cars, an aircraft landing on your house (or something falling from one), rampaging farm animals, earthquakes, explosions and lightening? Yes if your house is damaged you’re insured.

What about damage by vandals (insurance companies call them “malicious persons”) or a riot? Yes the structure of your home is well insured.

Are you covered for landslip, land heave or subsidence? Yes, and these can really cause major damage to your property. You are insured against all these perils but your insurer will want to know if your house is in an area known to be at risk from these problems. If you are, then these higher risks will be reflected by a higher premium.

Your Home Insurance cover allows you to claim for the cost of repairs or even the complete reconstruction of the property if it is damaged or made uninhabitable. If your home is rendered uninhabitable, most good policies will also allow you to claim for alternative accommodation during the repairs works.

When you consider the risks, no matter how remote some of them may seem, and the impact they’d have on you and your family, it’s best to be safe and insured.

And finally, if you have a mortgage, your mortgage provider will make it a condition of their loan that the property is insured and the insurance is maintained at all times. If you fail to do this, then they will probably require immediate repayment of the whole outstanding mortgage.

Please specifically check out what your proposed policy includes. Conditions and levels of cover do vary between insurance companies.

Texas Home Insurance Renewal Premiums Are On The Rise

Are you getting sick of your Texas home insurance premium increasing with no idea why?

This article explains some of the factors that can affect your homeowners insurance in Texas.

There is going to be a surprise waiting for you in your mailbox and it is not the kind of surprise that you are going to like. Texas home insurance premiums are going up this year at a pace I have not seen for more than 20 years!

Not every one is going to get hit with big rate increases, but if you do get hit, there are ways for you to minimize the overall impact to your budget and still keep your coverage. But before we get into that, lets try to figure out what is happening here.

Providing the best Texas insurance quotes online.

Are the Rate Increases Caused by Natural Disasters?

To a certain degree, yes. I have to believe that some of the increase can be traced to the catastrophic losses of 9/11 Attack on the World Trade Center. It is estimated that the total losses from the tragedy will go over Billion Dollars, that is ,000,000,000. There is no question that the money necessary to pay for the destruction and losses will come from almost every insurance company in one way or another. But the premium increases forhome insurance had started long before that fateful day.

Insurance Premiums on Homeowner Policies Have Gone Up Less Than 2% Per Year the Past 10 Years.

I am sure you are saying, How can that be, it seems that my rates have gone up every year? You are partially right. The total premium may have gone up, but the amount of coverage has also gone up to keep pace with the increasing cost of construction and materials used to rebuild houses. Inflation has continued to increase and push the cost of replacing homes and property higher year after year. Your policy adjusts the coverage on your home each year in an attempt to make sure you have enough coverage in the event of a catastrophic loss.

It’s a Fact: Insurance Companies Made a Lot of Money in the Stock Market During the 1990s and That Was Good For You.

Insurance companies invest their money just like everyone else. During the 1990′s they made money on their investments just like everyone else. In fact, many home insurance companies were willing to write insurance at a loss because they knew they could make it up on investment income.

For most of the 1990′s, insurance companies were able to keep your premiums lower than they would have been because investment income they earned more than offset the losses they paid out. As consumers, we really shouldn’t have a problem with that, part of our premium is offset by the insurance companies investments, resulting in lower premiums.

Then…the Stock Market started to fall apart in the middle of 1999.

All of a sudden, the investment income fell off, but the losses didn’t. Insurance companies were now faced with the prospect of mounting losses if they kept the rates at the low level. One of several options was to increase premiums across the board and increase they have.

No Loss Discounts and Loss Surcharges Affect Your Premium

Clients that do not turn in claims make insurance companies lots of money and should be charged lower rates.

Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the rule works the other way, too. Insurance companies are going out of their way to give clients without losses discounts and premium credits to reward them for not having a claim.

If you have a claim or two, you can expect to pay a higher premium for a few years. We know no one plans to have a claim, in fact it’s a real pain to go through the process, but it’s no different than auto rates going up if there is an accident.

One other problem is the size of losses have gone out of sight! We have seen the average size of closed claims in our office go from ,350 in 1993 to over ,425 in 2002. The fact is that it just costs more money to make repairs to houses today than it used to.

Big changes are happening in the insurance market.

Deductibles Can Save You BIG Money!

Back in the days when I first started in the business, homes were insured for ,000 and the policies had a deductible. In the late 1970 the value of homes headed towards ,000 and the deductibles went to 0. By the end of the 1980′s a 0 deductible was standard on almost all policies written for homes valued over 0,000. Today, with the values of many homes costing more than 5,000 many of our clients are using 0 to ,000 deductibles to keep the cost of their insurance down.

If insurance companies want to reduce your premium for not turning in claims, you might as well save even more money by increasing your deductible. While you wont save enough to make up the deductible in one year, you will be surprised how much you do save over a few years.

How Much Homeowners Coverage Should I Have?

So how much insurance should you have? Basically, unless you want to pay some of the costs yourself, you should insure your home for what it would cost to rebuild it if your residence were destroyed.

How do you find this out? In the home construction world, building costs are calculated on a square foot basis. We can calculate the estimated replacement cost for your home. Give us a call and we will be glad to update our records and send you a copy for your review.

Your possessions are also insured on a replacement cost or actual cash value basis. Again, unless otherwise specified, the coverage in your policy is actual cash value.

Homeowners policies also have limits on coverage for such items as jewelry, fine art or collectibles.

For example, the standard policy will provide a maximum of ,000 coverage for your jewelry if it is stolen. If you have lots of jewelry, fine art or collectibles, you should consider purchasing a special personal property endorsement or floater that provides the coverage you need.

8 Ways to Save Money on Your Insurance Year After Year

Now that we have given you the bad news, here are 8 ways you can pay less for your texas home insurance.

In many cases, you can get the same level of coverage for fewer dollars.

Take advantage of multiple policy discounts! Do you have a Houston auto insurance policy?
Texas home insurance policies.
If so, is it with the same insurance company that provides your homeowners insurance?
Many insurance companies offer multi-policy discounts.
Usually, these discounts are at least 10% and at the most 27%.
some insurers apply the discounts to both the auto and the homeowners or any other Texas property insurance policy.

Raise Your Deductible The deductible is the amount you pay before insurance kicks in if you have a claim. For example, if you have a 0 deductible and you file a claim for ,000 in damage to your home, you pay the first 0 and your insurer pays the balance, 0.

The higher the deductible you choose, the more you pay out of your pocket.
However, the higher the deductible, the less you have to pay for your policy.
Depending on the insurance company, you can save between 12% and 37% if you change a deductible of 0 to ,000.

Newer Homes Are Rated Better Insurance companies really like newer homes.
Recently built homes equals lower premium because there is less likelyhood something will go wrong with the electrical, heating and plumbing systems.
In addition, the structure itself is in better shape.
Insurers offer discounts of as much as 8% to 15% if your residence is new.

Insure the replacement cost of the house itself not the land. There have been times when mortgage companies want us to increase the amount of insurance to be equal to the mortgage on the property.
You want to insure the rebuilding cost of the house and without including the value of the land in the in the total replacement cost.

Don’t insure more than you own. If you have made a major purchase, you will want to increase your limits of coverage, but what if you sell something? You don’t need as much coverage.
Pay particular attention to items that are covered by endorsements or added floaters to your policy, items such as jewelry and computer equipment.

Do not leave your house unprotected. Smoke detectors, burglar alarms and deadbolt locks are usually worth discounts of at least 2%.
You can get even bigger discounts, 8% to 10%, if you install a sophisticated sprinkler system or an alarm system that rings at the police station or a security company.
Before you install one, check with your insurer to find out what type of system qualifies for a discount and how much you would save on your premium if you installed the system.

If your dog bites, beware of lawsuits. If you have a dog or dogs, particularly if it’s a more vicious breed, you will pay more for Texas liability insurance coverage.
More and more dog bite claims are being presented, which has some insurers not exactly eager to provide coverage to homeowners who have. for example, Rottweilers, Pit Bulls and Dobermans.

If you are considering getting a dog, keep this in mind: If you own dogs of certain breeds, your premium will probably go up.
Your insurer could decide to cancel or non-renew your policy.
For that matter, if your dog is likely to bite someone – of any breed – you are risking higher premiums and cancellation

Keep Your Credit Score in Top Condition Insurance Companies are relying more and more on credit scoring to determine insurance premiums.
They have found that people with low credit scores have almost three times the losses than people with top credit histories.
Get rid of unused credit cards and pay your bills on time. It will pay off in the long run.

I wont kid you. There is more to this insurance game than saving money. In fact, while it’s nice to lower your insurance costs, it’s probably even more important to make sure you, your loved ones and your assets are covered adequately. It’s not a pleasant thought, but insurance is about worst-case scenarios. It’s also about peace of mind, knowing that you have the worst-case scenarios covered.

Do you have Texas insurance questions?

We are here to help you manage your insurance protection. We promise that we will be honest with you and try to get you the best insurance coverage for your dollar. We cant always have the cheapest rates around, but I can guarantee you that we will do everything possible to make sure that you are getting all the discounts you deserve and have your insurance with one of the top insurance companies doing business today.