Why Is It Important to Reassess the Insurance Policy for Your Home Yearly?
It’s always wise to set aside at least one day a year to take care of record keeping. This is the day you want to reexamine your will, make sure your life insurance is adequate for your family’s needs, make sure the taxes are sorted out for the year, and verify that your home owner’s insurance is up to task.
Getting in the habit of doing this yearly sets a great precedence and insures that potential problems or inefficiencies in your policy are dealt with sooner rather than later.
The bottom line is that you don’t want to allow too much time to pass before revisiting the insurance on your home to make sure you can rebuild your home if the need ever arises. These are a few reasons it’s in your best interest to take a second look often.
Building Codes Change Constantly
Local, state, and national government agencies are always looking for new ways to make citizens safe. That’s often seen in the form of new discoveries for building standards and codes. Once these new codes and standards are realized, they’re often adopted in order to help make new homes built in the area safer.
If your home is destroyed completely, or in part, the new construction that replaces the damaged or lost parts of your home, must be up to current building codes and standards. These unexpected upgrades add up fast and can cost you dearly (out of pocket) if you do not have adequate insurance coverage.
The Value of Money Rises and Falls
Some might say the value of the dollar turns on a dime. At any rate, these changes in value rarely happen in favor of the common workingman, or woman.
What they do mean though, is that the amount of items your insurance dollars would have replaced five years ago is not equal to what they will replace today. You need more coverage in order to guarantee the replacement of the same amount of items.
You May be Due a Few Discounts
Finally, not all news on the reassessment front is bad news. If you’ve made certain replacements or updates in your home, you may warrant a reduction in monthly fees. These changes include things like:
- Installing a new alarm system
- Updating deadbolt locks on the door
- Buying a new roof
- Installing exterior lighting system
The more often you revisit your initial plan, the faster you’ll see how changes affect you and how often it’s time for you to consider an update. Contact Joe DiCesare today and let him put his experience in the insurance industry to work helping you keep your policy up-to-date.