New York City Real Estate | Blog

Let’s face it - no matter how comfy and nice our home is, from time to time, we all need to relocate to a new place. And this can happen for a variety of reasons, ranging from personal to professional ones. But regardless of whether you want to relocate for work, or you just need a change of scenery, you’ll need to do this in a sensible way. That’s why insuring your new home after moving in is one of the first things you’ll need to do, if you want to be safe and secure there. Don’t worry, though - we’ve got a couple of tips for you!

"Why do people get home insurance?"

Trust us, we know - relocating to a new home can be extremely cumbersome. First of all, you need to deal with a trusted real estate agent in the process of buying a new home. Which is everything but simple and cheap. And once that’s done, or sometimes simultaneously - you’ll need to plan your relocation, which also requires time, money and effort. You’ll need to find a reputable moving company, like Carmack Moving & Storage Virginia, and do a ton of other stuff. And once you start settling in, insuring your new home can seem like quite a chore. But that’s an even bigger reason to fully realize the importance of insurance.

Basically, your insurance policy is your first and only safeguard against unexpected troubles related to your home. And sure, thinking of the worst may seem like a grim mindset, but planning for every eventuality is definitely the smartest thing to do. Plus, depending on your insurance policy - you may also get insurance for property damage that happens to your personal items even outside your home. Imagine if your luggage got stolen on a trip and there was nothing you could do about it! But getting back to the topic - preparing for home-based damage is essential. After all, no one thinks such things might happen - until they happen to them!

Know what you’re getting into

Once you get into the process of insuring your new home, there’s one thing you’ll realize pretty quickly - most home insurance policies are quite complex. When it comes to legal matters, obviously, there’s no avoiding a lot of language that the average layman can’t easily understand. But if you’re thinking about just taking a quick look, signing the policy and crossing your fingers, we need to stop you right there. If you ask us, making such a huge commitment easily would be a grave mistake. Remember - you’ll be devoting a part of your resources to your insurance, and not an insignificant one at that.

The significance of insuring your new home

Before you start working on insuring your new home, you should understand the bigger picture. Or, in other words - know that a worryingly high number of people take their home for granted. In fact, if you take a look at the insurance industry statistics, you’ll see that they corroborate this. For example - a survey conducted a couple of years ago revealed that around 60% of homes in the US don’t have insurance. Trust us - you don’t want to be in this category. If something bad were to happen, you wouldn’t want to handle the costs of rebuilding all on your own.

So, yes - understanding the pure basics of home insurance is important. If you want to buy a policy that fully meets your needs, that is. With that in mind - know that a standard policy can give you coverage for the expenses of a liability, personal property, or dwelling loss. Apart from that, your policy may cover damages to other structures tied to your property, like a garage or a fence. Also, in the case that your home became completely uninhabitable, you could claim Loss of Use costs. These are the costs that you would need to cover your usual standard of living while your home recovers, like transportation, food, and temporary housing.

The devil in the details

Obviously, with such a complex matter - you’ll need to take a close look at the details while insuring your new home. And that means considering the specific circumstances of your home needs and tailor your policy accordingly. For example - a standard policy may not have stuff like coverage for earthquake or fire damage. But, depending on where your new home is located - that’s stuff you may want to think about including in your policy. So, make sure to discuss such details with your insurance provider before purchasing a policy.

Also, you may want to think about adding a wider replacement cost coverage for your household, or other broader umbrella policies. These could provide you with better coverage in case of a claim than a standard homeowners policy. And if you also need additional but unrelated insurance - perhaps your insurance provider has that as well? Bundling up something like life insurance with your home insurance policy could net you a sizable discount.

Keeping up to date

If you think that insuring your new home is done once you sign your policy, you’re only partially right. While the brunt of your work is complete, we definitely recommend reviewing your policy from time to time. After all, you may make some repairs or other changes to your home. So, if you make an addition such as a swimming pool, increasing your policy in according to that is a good idea. Missing out on this could mean the insurance company refusing your claim down the line - so it’s important for your policy to reflect the realistic state of your home.

On the other hand, if you’ve made some significant repairs - that could also decrease your premium. If you add a burglar alarm or fix your roof, these are all things that lower the risk of something going wrong with your home. Which means lower premiums you pay to your insurance provider.