Is Home Insurance Really Necessary In Todays Tough Financial Environment

One of the major expenses that homeowners have each year is their home insurance premiums. Many homeowners especially in economic slowdowns start to contemplate whether or not carrying an insurance policy on their home is really necessary. They begin to think that the money being spent on the policy could be better spent elsewhere. This can be a dangerous way to think.

An insurance policy is one of those items in life that you could care less about until you need it. For example if your home was completely destroyed by a natural disaster how would you replace it without insurance? So the answer is every homeowner should carry a policy especially those who live in disaster prone areas like Florida with the hurricanes or the plains where tornados are quite frequent.

The type of policy you may need depends on where you live in the country. For example a homeowner's policy in Florida has a special section referred to as a wind policy. This will protect you for damage done to your home by a hurricane but it has its own deductible separate from the other parts of your policy. Home insurance is also a requirement for those who have mortgage on their homes.

Your lending institution wants to make sure that their collateral is protected so they require you to carry a policy. Most of the time the lender wants you to cover the amount on your loan so if your home is destroyed their debt is taken care of. Most lenders will require you to include your monthly premiums on your payments. This is then held in escrow and the bank pays for your renewal each year.

An insurance policy is also necessary for other reasons. It protects you from being sued if someone should get hurt while at your home. For example if you are having a pool party and one of your guest slips and falls and breaks a wrist on your patio you can make a claim on your policy and your insurance company will reimburse your guest for most of their medical expenses, after you pay your deductible.

Having a policy also protects your belongings. Your policy will have a content provision in it which insures everything in your home up to the limits of the policy. So if you and your family are on vacation and come home to find that you have been robbed your content coverage should help you replace almost all of your items. With this specific part of your policy make sure that your coverage covers the replacement cost of the item, not just what it is worth.

For almost every homeowner it is essential to have a good insurance policy on your home. This protects you from catastrophic losses such as those incurred by natural disasters. It will help protect you from lawsuits due to injury on your property and will protect your belongs from theft. To not have home insurance is taking a very high risk on your most valuable asset.