Understanding Insurance Issues

Four Features to Look For When Choosing a New Homeowners' Insurance Plan

Are you in the market for a new homeowners' insurance plan? Here are a few features to look for when deciding which policy to go with.

Temporary Living Support

If you do end up facing a house disaster and need somewhere else to live temporarily while you repair your home, you should be able to apply for temporary living assistance when filing a claim with your homeowners' insurance company. In addition to providing you compensation for repairs, your homeowners' insurance policy should include rental cost coverage for a specified period of time. This will help ensure that you don't have to worry about how you'll cover your rent and mortgage costs every month while your home is being fixed. 

Replacement Coverage

Another feature the homeowners' insurance plan you choose should offer is replacement coverage. While you shouldn't expect to have all of your personal belongings replaced after a disaster happens at home, you should be able to have the valuable stuff replaced. Whether you lose a piece of heirloom jewelry worth thousands of dollars in a fire, or your brand new 42-inch flat-screen television is ruined in an earthquake, you should be able to get some compensation for those things so you can replace them.

Flexible Payment Options

It is also a good idea to choose a homeowners' insurance plan that offers flexible payment options to ensure that you can keep your coverage even as your circumstances change in the coming years. You may be able to pay an entire year's worth of insurance coverage upfront now, but what if someone in your household is injured or loses a job in the future and you can't make such a large payment upfront? Make sure that the coverage you choose will allow you to change payment terms, such as switching to monthly or quarterly payment plans as your needs change.

Claim-Free Incentives

It can seem unfair to pay years' worth of homeowners' insurance payments only to never file a claim. After all, what do you get in return for your payments if you never have to file a claim with your homeowners' insurance company? Well, the truth is that you can get rewarded for making no claims if you choose the right homeowners' insurance policy to invest in.

Some policies include incentives—such as getting cash back, future discounts, and lower overall insurance costs—if you pay for the policy for a certain period of time and make no claims during that time. So look for a policy with claim-free incentives to make sure that your insurance investment is worth it in the end.


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