Do you have enough homeowner’s insurance?

Water Damage Restoration Services - does home insurance cover water damage?
There are few things worse than suffering a significant disaster to your home. It affects all aspects of your life. Your daily routines are disrupted, you may need to find a place to stay while repairs happen, and there is no doubt, you will need to take time away from work to handle all the issues that arise when repairing your home. It gets even worse when you realize that you do not have enough of, or the proper insurance to repair everything that is needed.

As you are all aware, construction costs in Whatcom County and across all of Washington state have seen huge increases over the last 5 years. There are many factors that lead to these increased costs such as inflation, changes in the building codes, supply chain issues and the cost of labor. On top of construction cost increases we are seeing huge increases in food, clothing and all household items.

These changes in our economy are leaving some people with the short end of the stick. They suffer a fire damage, wind damage or large water damage and realize that the amount of coverage that they have is not enough to repair or replace everything damaged in the loss. Here are some tips and recommendations to help you avoid landing in this trap.

  1. The most important thing you can do is review your homeowner’s insurance policy every year. I would recommend sitting down with your insurance agent and really discuss all aspects of the policy and the special circumstances you might have with your property.
    1. Was your home built prior to 1978? do you have lead or asbestos containing materials in your home?
    2. Does your policy offer full replacement cost?
    3. Does it cover code upgrades?
    4. Do you have detached structures (sheds, pool house, garage, mancave)?
    5. Have you done any improvements that may have increased your properties value?
    6. Do you need any special coverages for natural disasters like flooding, forest fires, earthquakes.
    7. Review all the exclusions and see if you can get special coverage for unique items
    8. Review your content coverage and discuss how depreciation is factored into your policy. Do you expensive items that might require a special rider?
    9. Do you have adequate coverage for temporary housing while your home is being repaired?
  2. Do some research and call some contractors or speak to a building official and get a sense of current construction costs in your area.
  3. Do a yearly audit of all your personal belongings. There are some great software programs now that can assist you in putting together a complete inventory of everything you own and assigning values to those items. You will be surprised how much stuff you have and more surprised at the cost of those items. Here is a challenge for you. Just open a sock drawer or a kitchen drawer and add up the value of items in that one drawer. You will be shocked.

In conclusion,

Take one day a year and review your policy, review your personal belongings and meet with your insurance agent. It could be the most valuable thing you ever do.