Five things Every Home Owner must know about Home Insurance in NJ

Insurance is a great way to protect against unforeseen circumstances such as medical problems, car accidents, and sometimes emergency home repairs. It is essential for protecting some of life's biggest assets. It is necessary to insure a house against many different calamities that could befall it such as theft, fires, floods, etc.. The measures of insurance exist to protect a homeowner from homelessness and helplessness in these situations. A great degree of homes exist on the New Jersey shoreline and it would be most important for a homeowner to insure based on the risks that the location of their property attracts

The five things every homeowner must know about homeowners insurance in New Jersey are:

Coverages: This part of the policy will tell you what it actually covers. Will it pay for property and possessions in the event of fires, theft, fire or vandalism? Similar to renter's insurance, it should contain liability coverage. If someone else gets hurt on your property, it protects you the homeowner, against suits and covers outsiders. The insurance must cover not only the inside of the house, but the outside as well.

What is typically not covered: Standard policies will not cover certain incidents such as landslides, sinkholes, and earthquakes, government action, faulty zoning, poor repair, nuclear hazard, defective maintenance causing flooding etc. Windstorms are typically covered although some companies will exclude this coverage in high-risk areas. Proper maintenance on a property is essential, as payouts will be equivalent to the value of the item and the value of the condition of the item and/or structure.

How to reduce the premium: There are ways that a consumer can reduce their premiums and by quite a significant amount, one of which is to increase their deductible amounts. In the short term, this provides a relief on those annual premiums, but you must have a lot of cash on hand in the case of an emergency situation.

Replacement cost vs. Market value: The replacement cost of a home is always going to be higher than the market value of the home. Why? If your home is worth $160,000 and your insurance company wants you to insure it for $300,000, it is not just taking the value of the property into account. There are costs involved in rebuilding your home and the insurance company is going to assume that in the construction of a new home, in the event of an accident, the costs will include builders, electricians, equipment AND the total value of the property when construction is complete. There are people to pay when building a new home and the insurance covers the total construction costs.

Keep a record of everything you own: Appraisals are everything and ultimately determine the payout amount of an insurance claim. Insurance companies rely on the appraisal of a home, and the contents held within, to determine an accurate payout. Without receipts and proof of the value of your belongings, it's your word against theirs and they will payout only what they can ascertain is the absolute value of the item in their books. Or, they may not pay out at all.

Originally published at medium.com/@njinsurors