House Insurance Coverage
Know How Much You Need

Like many people, you have home insurance. You feel protected in the event of some disaster. What you probably don't think about is if you have enough home insurance. People believe that once they have paid for their home and have established the value of the home that is all they need to do. The years go by. You upgrade your kitchen cabinetry, put in a new fire place, upgrade your windows, or even add a room or section addition to your home. After all you want to make it your home and style it according to your wishes. Did you forget to have your home's value re-assessed after you finished your basement? If not, you may find that your home is insured for $15,000 less than it should be (for that example).

Getting adequate home insurance coverage.
The main problem causing the shortage of home insurance is that the home owner doesn't make it clear to the insurance agency of all the features that may be unique to the home. Does the home have for example a Jacuzzi, a marble fireplace, customized porch, special wood trimmings inside or outside and other such items. Don't forget the finished attic or basement. Those are all factored into figuring out how much your policy should cover. Your premium will be higher for the additional $40,000 or whatever the amount beyond the base coverage is. But, would you rather lose all that value up in smoke should a fire or other unforeseen incidents happen? Most will agree that an additional $50 or $75 a year (other other figure) is well worth the extra protection you get to replace your loss should it happen. It's not a pleasant thing to think about. However it will be far less pleasant if you lose $30,000 in upgrades if a disaster strikes.

Here are some home items that you'll want to ensure are covered under your home insurance policy and to ensure that their value is covered:

• Home customizations
• Oak flooring
• Special bathroom appointments (Jacuzzi, special tiling, gold fixtures)
• Upgrades of interior and exterior wood trimmings
• Costly window upgrades
• Roofing upgrades
• Room additions
• Finished basement or attic
• Kitchen upgrades
• Solar panels and other energy efficient upgrades
• Built-in Ethernet system for whole house connectivity
• Hot water heated floors

There are of course many other home upgrades that you could list here. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what to look for to include in your home insurance policy. Thorough housing insurance coverage will save you from added headaches in the event of fire damage, storm damage, tornado destruction, and/or flood.

Don't forget to also include all your indoor valuables (furniture, stereo, computers, antiques) and valuables in your garage (tools, garden/lawn tractor, expensive grills).

Other home insurance issues to factor in.
Be sure that you get a policy that will compensate for inflation and that it will cover current costs associated with replacing expensive home upgrades. Also be sure to take an inventory each year of all your personal belongings. That will help ensure that you don't get surprises if the inevitable happens. Have you bought new sculptures or paintings recently or rare antiques? What about your precious jewelry or expensive wrist watches or costly fine clothing? Ensure that they get insured under your home insurance policy.

If your current insurance agent won't help you with some particularly important costly item(s), you'll need to locate a home insurance coverage policy from another insurance company that will cover your home valuables and your house itself.

It's also a good idea to get extra coverage for your cleaning person or groundskeeper. It's also good to have some coverage for visitors in the event they get hurt while visiting you. You never know when someone may want to sue you for damages. In this day of lawsuit-crazed people, it's good to be a bit prepared.

Talk with your home insurance agent to identify deficiencies in your current home insurance policy. You'll have that peace of mind afterwards.