Thursday, December 10, 2009

Using a Homeowners Insurance Calculator


By Stacy Fox

You need to ask yourself some key questions before you begin to use a homeowners insurance calculator.

The first homeowners insurance calculator question is how much will it cost to rebuild your home if it was completely destroyed. Remember, bad things happen. Your home could burn down in a fire taking with it all your possessions. You could be hit by a tornado destroying not only the house but all of the outbuildings and fences. Take all of this into consideration. You need this much protection to recoup your losses if the worst thing happens.

You also need to figure out how much it would cost to replace the contents of your home if a burglar were to steal everything. Even if the home itself isn't destroyed, you also need property insurance.

Keep in mind that there are two types of insurance for possessions. One is replacement value and the other is actual value. If you bought a couch for $900 would you want to be able to purchase another $900 couch or would you be satisfied with the actual value (what you could sell the couch for on Craigslist)? Remember, actual value policies tend to be quite a bit cheaper, but you'll be re-furnishing your home from garage sales if something were to happen.

Next, you will want to decide how much you can set aside to cover a deductible. This is the amount you have to pay before the insurance kicks in. If you get a high deductible, you'll pay a lower amount each year in insurance premiums.

Floods, hurricanes and earthquakes tend to not be covered by your typical insurance policy. The final piece of information you will need before using a homeowners insurance calculator is what riders you will need. All homeowners are advised to get coverage under the National Flood Insurance program, Californians should get earthquake insurance, and Floridians should consider hurricane protection.

So those are some of the things you need to know before using a homeowners insurance calculator.

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