Preparedness
HOW TO SAVE MONEY GETTING HOME INSURANCE!
“For me, FAMILY always comes first ; I would do anything to protect them!”, Mark Wahlberg
Home insurance is a real must for homeowners that have a mortgage. While it’s not a legal requirement like AUTO INSURANCE is for people.
Our Podcast this week with Derek Whipps, an Insurance Broker with Central Agencies Limited, was a very informative interview on many tips, tricks, and real savings with his wealth of knowledge!
Banks, Trust companies, and mortgage lenders will insist you have it as part of the lending application and approval process. They will require proof, before lending you the money to buy a home.
Renting your residence is optional because the Landlord requires the building or structure insured for loss and damage but the renters don’t have to be insured. On the other hand, renter’s insurance is contents only and is much less expensive for a policy than including the building or structures. Is it a good thing to have Contents insurance? Absolutely, because if you are not prepared for buying everything then it is a definite must. If your contents value is higher than $5,000 it’s probably a good idea to cover your contents. And if premiums are a problem, than raise your deductible so that the premium gets lowered. At least this way you are only on the hook for the deductible but are safe with having coverage for the worst case scenario.
Everyone looking for insurance needs to shop around for affordable premiums and consider your deductibles also when getting quotes. For example, look at getting quotes for your home with different deductibles, because the higher the deductible the cheaper the premiums get. Decide on how much you would feel comfortable with that deductible in place. Really consider can you afford to cover that amount if something were to happen?
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you’re shopping for home insurance:
- Shop around for the best premiums. It would be very beneficial if you could build a relationship with a Broker so that they can always shop around for you and that you can build that trust and feel comfortable in contacting them with any simple silly question that you may have.
- Understand your policy details, the exclusions, and the deductibles. And don’t forget to review the policy throughout the year so that you can update any changes to your policy so easily.
- Your Liability coverage inside your policy in case of any legal responsibility arising out of unintentional actions that could harm others coming into or onto your property. For example, if you have any type of hot tub, or swimming pool on your property, you definitely will need to have liability insurance.
- If you have expensive jewelry pieces , any collectibles, musical instruments, mechanical tools or construction tools, computers or a home business equipment , you may need additional coverage to be fully protected. Ask to have any small home business available coverages.
- Remember to keep your policy up-to-date. What does that mean?
KEEPING YOUR POLICY UP-TO-DATE
- Any renovations or updates that you have made within the year
- Roof alterations or new
- Hot water Tank update
- Furnace up date
- An annual Furnace inspection and maintenance
- Alarm system up date
- Chimney or Fireplace renovations or updates
- Electrical updates
- Swimming pool update or new construction
- Hot Tub updates or new addition
- Plumbing updates or new addition
- Window updates or new addition
- Patio updates or new addition
So I guess I can say that in our App, Your Backup Plan actually has a notification every 3 months asking if you have added or changed anything in your home.
- Know your limits in your policy
- Know your deductibles so that you can amend them when required
- Any recommendations from your Broker that they could suggest
- Check the water exclusions, some companies are changing these rules. What is your Overland Water coverage (Lakeside) or limits.
Read your policy, if you don’t understand something in the policy then ASK! Ask your Broker anything that you want to have more details about.
NOW SAVING MONEY!
- Now you can save quite a bit from your premiums on having a Good to Excellent credit rating! Imagine that! You can get some substantial discounts from a great credit rating.
- Getting multiple quotes from various companies. That is why using a Broker has a huge advantage over shopping yourself and then not knowing if you are comparing apples to apples and not oranges.
- If you have any removals of locations, such as a barn or a shed that you removed from the property.
- Any current discounts from any of the companies. Sometimes a company will offer discounts if you insure multiple items with their company.
- Changed rates, any fluctuation of rates
- Any changes or additions made from the Fire Hydrant on the street
You can even save money on your premiums for Business insurance or Car Insurance. Especially now during the Pandemic, COVID 19. Take advantage if you can keep your policy up-to-date for your business as well because there are some great advantages to that for saving money.
- Any renovations or additions made to your building
- Any locations removed from your policy. Perhaps you have removed or cancelled or sold other locations that were on your policy.
- If you own multiple vehicles when you have them insured, you may want to consider changing your insurance to FLEET coverage. Which will be less expensive, possibly easier to track your drivers using the vehicles as well as where the vehicles are parked at night.
- Any restrictions or additions
- Credit rating discounts
- Using a Broker would be very beneficial
- Any current discounts
- Any multiple policy discounts
STRATA PROPERTY
STRATA title is a form of ownership are multi-level apartment blocks or horizontal subdivisions – connected or not with shared areas. The key is common shared areas.
With Strata, the big difference is of course as it states above, the common areas. So when you purchase home insurance for your Strata property, the property will have a big BUT. You, insuring a Strata property will have to cover the difference! If your property was at fault for damages in the common areas then there will be a deductible that the strata property has coverage for. Whatever that looks like. The difference could be anywhere from $10,000-$250,000. So as a homeowner in this setting you should review your options for covering that difference. So the difference is for when your unit affects the common areas. This is the amount that you can add on to your home insurance to cover that difference. So that you don’t have to come up with that difference on your own. Make sure you review this concept with your Broker.
Last but not least that we discussed in our Podcast was the topic of Strategies for ownership.
So, the ownership of a vehicle can be 1 or 2 people. It depends on how you want the estate to look like. Because on passing, one of the partners can easily change the ownership of your vehicle to the other person. But, when you are only 1 on the ownership, it is very complicated in death because it automatically falls into their estate. So, make sure you have this conversation with your lawyer or attorney on what should your property be designated as. Remember when you run into a Car Dealership and purchase your vehicle it is very important on who you have on the ownership for that reason.
DEREK WHIPPS, CAIB Direct : 604-371-1390 Cell : 778-996-9610
Email: derek@brokerbc.ca
Enjoy our Podcast this week!!
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