Insurance For Your New House

By Alston Ballkcom

When you have just purchased a new house, insurance is probably not what you have in the forefront of your mind. This is to be expected. You may need to get your kids into new schools. You have contracts to understand and sign. You need to find a grocery store. There are plenty of things to think about when buying a new home.

Insurance is a boring but important subject. We tend to think about insurance only when we really need it, which can be a mistake. Knowing a little about the way insurance works can save you a lot of headaches when it comes time to purchase a plan or file a claim.

To a homeowners insurance company all of us are just a bunch of statistics. They make decisions based on numbers and tables. This is all that matters when calculating your rate. The information they have about you such as your job and where your home is located come into play when a company provides a quote for you.

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Before asking for a quote from any insurance broker, you really should know the value of your residence, and that means the replacement cost, not just what the bank appraised it for during the financing process. A home builder in your area may be the best source for this type of valuable information. Knowing this figure will help you begin the process.

Shopping for insurance is like any other service you may need. It can pay to shop around because premiums from companies will vary. Also, shopping by the lowest price alone, while tempting, may be a mistake. For instance, some companies may have a poor track record when it comes to paying claims. A few minutes of basic research can keep you from making a poor decision based solely on price.

New home insurance is something the bank will require you to have, but their only concern is that you have enough coverage to protect them for the amount of the loan. Remember that a basic contract may not even cover the replacement cost for your house. Even though it may be boring and complicated, it will be in your best interest to read all your insurance documents carefully to be sure you have enough coverage should disaster strike.

Home insurance contracts protect you in many ways, such as from damage due to falling trees, or even if pipes burst and you incur damage. Another coverage, called liability, can protect you if you accidentally hurt someone. Speak to your house insurance broker if you have any questions regarding coverage amounts and types of insurance you might need.

Although a homeowners insurance is a robust contract, not everything is covered. However you can personalize your coverage to cover jewelry and other items. Ask your broker about riders you can add to your policy.

New home insurance can be difficult to understand. Just take your time and make sure that you understand your options this way you can make the right choice.

About the Author: You can find homeowners insurance prices and information on the author’s website. Alston J. Balkcom’s has also written about house insurance on his blog.

Source: isnare.com

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The World Of Real Estate Is Changing, The Emergence Of Rent To Own And Lease To Own

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By Bob Mandel

The new economy is bringing together more sellers who can’t sell their houses today and buyers who can’t buy today. Selling a home is like any type of sale where there are two parties trying to make a deal. If one door is shut another one can open or it’s a no deal. This is giving birth to the Rent to own option.

This week I have been confronted with sellers or Buyers 6 times interested in this option. We did one yesterday. The scenario was a seller who has been on he market for 8 months. They were listed previously with a full service company with no offers and moved out of state where they bought another house. Their house was modestly priced but they still could not get anyone to buy it and take advantage of the tax rebate program. Every month that went by they were laying out $1100. They were considering renting and then an opportunity arose this week.

A qualified couple indicated that they wanted to purchase the home but needed to sell their home in Washington. They proposed renting until their home sold and then would close on ours. My seller agreed to do the deal even though they would lose $200 a month on the rent.

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The math worked. If they take the house and close in 5 months that is equivalent to 1 month of $1100 that they would have to lay out and now they have a buyer instead of a vacant house which costs more to maintain and riskier to watch over from out of state.

There is always a down side to Rent to owns as far as risk of a tenant that messes up the house, or that you have to evict for not paying the rent.

So, what type of Rent2Own person doesn’t have credit problems? Young people who have good credit but don’t have 2 years of employment history coming out of college with good jobs like Nursing or Teaching or other professions with student debt. Young people who have no history of credit that always paid cash. Divorcees who are getting a significant divorce settlement. People who are waiting for an inheritance or lawsuit settlement are part of the people that would be looking for the Rent2Own option and are great candidates in a tight market. There are also people who can gifts from family, but do not have the employment history yet. Another possibility is a Rent2Own person who has a co-signor on the option agreement assuring that the person occupying the home will be guranteed to get a loan within the defined period of time.

In a perfect world this would not be the best option for the seller. But, our world is far from perfect. The Subslimers have made our world harder to sell homes and flexibility is they key to come up with the next best solution if you can’t sell. Holding on to a house can cause foreclosures, and bankruptcies, which will affect property values. Rent to owns are better then renters as they have a vested interest to keep up the house since they will lose earnest money if they can’t perform. With the low interest rates of today, many more people will be seeking out this option

About the Author: Bob Mandel is a Broker and Advocate for change in the real estate industry. Bob is passionate about assisting buyers and sellers and is an advocate for Columbia SC Rent To Own deals that benefit both parties.

Source: isnare.com

Permanent Link: isnare.com/?aid=590074&ca=Real+Estate