Planning to spruce up you home this spring?

Well Spring has officially Sprung!  Many of us in the east have been enjoying unseasonably warm weather for several weeks now and are thinking about sprucing up our homes!

If you plan to remodel or put an addition on to your home, you should call your homeowner insurance agent.   Homeowner insurance is based on replacement cost, but if you change your home & the company isn’t aware, you could be underinsured.  If you are simply replacing with “like” materials, you shouldn’t need to increase your coverage, but if you add or upgrade, you will want to increase your limits. 

 If you plan to hire a contractor to do work at your home, ask for a certificate of insurance.  There is no charge and this will provide proof of insurance as well as coverage limits, so if there’s a problem, (now or in the future), you’ll have some recourse. 

And if you haven’t reviewed your coverage for awhile, it may be a good idea to discuss your coverage and find out about several new coverage options available now:

v    ID fraud (not just financial, but driver license & health insurance too) has become an issue and most homeowner insurance policies offer an endorsement. 

v    Personal injury has also received more attention recently with so many electronic communication options (texting, tweeting, facebook…) and attorneys & courts are paying attention! 

v    And with April Showers approaching, you may want to consider flood insurance.  Flood is excluded on homeowner insurance, but is available from your agent through National Flood and several companies provide the National Flood policy.  But that’s not the only option!  In many cases, the Backup of Sewer/Drains endorsement may be a better option, but you’ll want to discuss it with your homeowner agent.