Posts tagged "Personal Belongings"

Homeowners Insurance Guide

Homeowners insurance covers damages resulting from most kinds of natural calamities. If a third party lender finances a home, it becomes important to obtain homeowners insurance, in order to cover the building and the material possessions inside.

Homeowners insurance is a package policy: This means that homeowners insurance takes care of both, the damage caused to the home, and the legal responsibilities involved. Homeowners insurance can also be used to protect the homeowner against injuries or property damage caused to other people, by the owner or his/her family members. This includes injury caused by household pets.

Homeowners insurance covers damage caused by most disasters except floods, earthquakes, and the lack of maintenance. Individuals are required to buy separate policies to cover the losses incurred due to earthquakes and floods. Maintenance related damage is not covered by any insurance policy.

Types of Homeowners Insurance

Following are the four types of coverage included in the standard homeowners insurance policy: -

Coverage For The Structures

This policy pays for repairing or re-building the house if it gets damaged because of fire, hail, lightning, hurricane, damage caused by vehicle or aircraft, explosion, windstorm or other disasters, according to the formulation of the policy. Most of the standard policies also deal with structures that are not attached to the house, like the garage or a gazebo.

Coverage For Contents Of Home

This policy covers personal belongings such as furniture, clothes, electronic goods and other household items that get destroyed by any of the insured disasters. Most companies offer coverage of 50% to 70% of the amount insured for the building. For example, if a homeowner has $200,000 worth of insurance on building structure, then he/she would have $100,000 to $140,000 worth of coverage on the personal belongings. The best way to find out whether this coverage is adequate is to carry out a home inventory, which includes the original cost of each item.

Protection Against Liability

This covers against lawsuits for any physical injury or property damage that the homeowner, or his/her family members, or pets cause other people. This liability policy covers a homeowner anywhere in the world. For example, if a homeowner’s children, or dog, or any other pet accidentally damages the neighbor’s furniture, or expensive carpet, or any other property, the homeowner is covered by this policy. But the homeowner’s own property is not covered by this policy, if the children or pets damage it similarly. Liability coverage generally starts at $100,000.

Additional Living Expenses Under Conditions The Homeowner Is Not Able To Live In The Home:

This policy pays for the additional cost of living away from home if it gets damaged by fire, lightning, hail, smoke, theft, storm, volcanic eruption or any other insured disaster. It covers restaurant bills, hotel bills and additional living expenses incurred while the home is being repaired. Generally, companies provide coverage for about 20% of the insurance on the structure of the house.

For example, if a homeowner has insurance worth of $100,000 on the structure of his/her house, then the additional living expenses coverage in case of damage will be 20% of $100,000, which is $20,000. This policy also reimburses the rent amount if a part of the damaged house had been on rent.

For most people, a home involves a large investment. Insuring it against damage due to some unforeseen calamity can protect you from bearing the burden of such losses.

Joseph Kenny
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/homeowners-insurance-guide-81597.html

Does condo insurance cover your personal belongings or just the interior structure of the building?

inletts, home insurance covers lots of different things. I’m not familiar with all the fine print of my policy, but my home insurance agent is always helpful. Try contacting your agent or a agent in your town. http://www.goodonlinedeals.com/Home-Insurance.html They will be able to assist you.

Will Condo Board take care of Insurance?

I am subletting my condo and would like to find out if there is a possible fire. I do have a condo owner’s insurance, but it seems to cover only personal belongings. What happens if there is a fire and the condo is damaged? Will the condo board take care of the damages and rebuild?

When you own a condo usually the association has a policy that covers the building itself (outer walls, roof, framing, plumbing, electrical) and the owner is responsible for (and hopefully has their own policy covering) the rest (paint, cabinets, fixtures, etc.) Your condo’s bylaws will spell out what the association is responsible to insure, but state laws (which have often changed to move more of the responsibility from the association to the unitowner) and different insurers can make that broader or more narrow.

Your own individual condo unitowners policy should cover the parts of the building that you are responsible to insure (building coverage, or additions and alterations) and your contents (plus other coverages like Personal Liability). Most unitowner policies have very small limits for building coverage (usually under $10000), so you have to increase that coverage to reflect your own rebuilding costs. (Personally, I carry $50,000 because in my community I’d have to even rebuild my staircase!)

Because you’re going to be renting out your unit you need to:

1. First check if there are any restrictions in your bylaws about renting out the policy.
2. Check with the insurance company for the association to see what the deductible is. If the total amount of your loss is less than the association’s policy deductible it obviously won’t pay, even if it is a covered loss.
3. Check with the company that has your individual policy to see if they will endorse the policy to allow you to rent it out, and if they will cover the association’s policy’s deductible (subject to your own) if there is a fire, etc. (they usually will) .
4. Adjust your own policy to reflect your new needs. For example, if you’re moving out all of y our furniture you don’t need as much contents (personal property coverage).
5. Increase your liability coverage to at least $300,000. As the owner you can be sued over the actions/negligence of the tenant.

So, the bottom line is that generally the association will rebuild for a fire, but unless it is a major fire it’s likely going to fall onto your shoulders, so make sure you are properly covered. There are so many variables you need to do your homework first.

Condo Insurance in Chicago

Chicago ranks third in the nation in terms of condos that are expected to be completed this year, with 8,533 more units to hit the market. A condominium or condo for short is a legal term describing a type of joint ownership of real property in which portions of the property are commonly owned and other portions are individually owned. The condominium consists of units in a multi-unit dwelling where each unit is individually owned and the common areas like hallways and recreational facilities are jointly owned by all the unit owners in the building. Condo insurance protects the owner from expenses that may be incurred because of this joint-ownership aspect, as well as other common things related to home ownership.

Condo insurance in Chicago is different than any other type of insurance, because you have both common and individual insurance needs. The condo association is responsible for insuring the exterior, while you have to cover your personal property and liability damage.

The responsibilities of your condo association are described in the master insurance policy. Usually covered are the outside of the building’s structure, including the roof and common areas such as pools and sidewalks. The master policy does not insure the inside of your unit or any of your personal belongings. And this is exactly why you need condo insurance in Chicago.

Chicago condo insurance covers your personal belongings, personal liability, additions, alterations, wall fixtures, floor and ceiling of your unit. Have in mind that all condo insurance policies are not alike, so you must have a good understanding of the matter.

Condo insurance provides two types of coverage-actual cash value and replacement cost. With the replacement cost coverage the contents of your condo are covered up to the amount that it would cost to replace your belongings with items of like kind and quality. Of course, this type is more expensive. With the actual cash value coverage, your house or property is covered for the depreciated amount, based on the actual value at the time of loss.

The important thing is to make the right choice between thee two types of coverage. The idea is to hit the correct balance because don’t want to be under-insured, but at the same time you don’t want to pay for insurance you don’t need. Consult with an insurance company, ask them for assistance with determining how much condo insurance you need. Check what parts of the interior are covered by your condo association’s insurance and what items are your responsibility. Liability coverage is always needed, because the master policy does not provide any liability coverage for your unit or your personal exposures.

The purpose of condo insurance is to cover the gap between your condo association’s master policy (which insures property owned by all unit owners) and your property and personal liability protection.

A condo insurance policy can include:
-Personal property coverage-furniture and personal possessions
-Optional property coverage-such as special coverage for important items
-Personal liability protection-in case you are sued for accidentally causing other people distress or damaging their property
-Additional living expenses-covering the expense if you have to move out of your condo while it is being repaired.
-Additions and Alterations-for changes you have made to the condo
-Loss assessment coverage-if commonly owned property is damaged
-Deductibles-applies to property losses only.

Dave Badge
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/condo-insurance-in-chicago-64532.html