NY Houses 4 Sale

THINGS TO DO TODAY: Check on Your Homeowners policy..

When a new homeowner is about ready to close on their new home the one major piece of paper that the buyers have to bring with them to the closing would be a fully paid homeowners policy.  Without this - you simply can not close. 

But what happens to people who bought homes 2,5 or 20 years ago?  I am sure that their policy is still in effect and most likely the premiums are paid via escrow, so most homeowner don't think of the policy anymore unless a catastrophic accident happens.  Which I know would be true for me.

Until Now..

Why you should check on your homeowners insurance.

Let's just make this clear - the policy is not based on the MARKET VALUE but more like the cost that would be incurred to rebuild or replace.  If a homeowner invested 50,000 or more into their home, most likely the homeowner did not up the value of their home with their insurance agent.  So, the policy will be less than what the home will cost to rebuild.  This includes any renovations, repairs and upgrades that a homeowner has completed.   Today to build a quite modest house in Queens could cost you more than you have on your policy. 

Another reason why you should check on your homeowners policy is because the insurer could have changed your policy.  Insurance companies are always changing and "updating" policies - sometimes not for the benefit of the homeowner either.  So the homeowner might think that they have flood insurance, because they bought the policy with it, but unknown to the homeowner the insurer stopped writing policies with flood a long time ago. So homeowners need to pay close attention to what's in their policies.

Make sure you add this to your "Honey Do list".     

I am insured - and NOW you have to get insured..

The past few months I have been seeing more and more landlords requesting Renter's Insurance from their prospective tenants, and I have to tell ya most tenants are thrown off by this request, because the tenants feel that the landlord is covered through his homeowners insurance.  Which maybe true for the most part.  But the homeowners insurance does not cover YOUR stuff or bad actions that YOU or your roommates did.    Get real - accident's happen and by your landlord requesting this extra insurance from you is not implying that he/she thinks you are destructive, it just means that he/she wants to protect his investment and your "stuff".   When you look at it from a win-win situation I would have to imagine that for a measly $10-$20 more a month everyone can rest easy knowing that both the tenant and the landlord are protected. 

In an article from MSN Real Estate "the scoop on renter's insurance", it clearly states "In most cases, a landlord's insurance covers only structural damage to the building itself—and many landlord policies don't even go that far if the damage is caused by a tenant. If you leave the tub running and it turns your floor into cardboard and dribbles downstairs, damaging your neighbor's couch, you may be liable for the whole drippy mess. If your building went up in flames, your landlord's coverage would include repairs, but only to the building, not to the possessions of tenants".  Let's face it your security deposit WILL not cover a 1/8 of the damage.

Some companies like Geico, AllState,  State Farm and CountryWide are now offering renter's insurance and you can get a quote online!