Three Reasons Why You May Need To Make Changes To Your Home Insurance Coverage

When you initially buy your home insurance policy, you buy it based on coverage for your home's current age, state, value, and any outlying buildings such as a detached garage. Over time, you may make a few changes to the property, some of which are very subtle while others require major construction. If you are not making changes to your home insurance to cover remodeling or rebuilding, you could lose quite a bit more in the event of a fire or complete loss of your home. Here are three reasons why you may need to make changes to your home insurance coverage.

You Added An Expansion

Adding on to your home, whether it be an extra sunroom or an entire downstairs wing, is reason enough to increase your home's coverage. You will need to change your policy to reflect the additions and their fair market value in the event of a loss. Otherwise, you may be in for a rude awakening when you file a claim for the loss of these rooms or the total loss of your home and the insurance only covers the rebuilding and construction costs of your home's initial value.

You Remodeled Or Bought A New Outlying Building 

If you want your newly remodeled garage to be fully covered by the home insurance, you have to report this updated building to your insurance company's underwriters. Likewise, any additional outlying buildings that you place on your property (e.g., a workshop, an artist's studio, a gazebo, etc.) also should be reported, or these buildings will not be covered if they are destroyed. You can either add them to your existing policy and increase the amount of coverage or buy an umbrella policy that covers the loss of everything on your property.

You Purchased Adjacent Property

If you have purchased property adjacent to your own, thereby annexing the property/land to yours, then you need to make changes to your home insurance for this reason as well. Even if you never build on the extra land nor develop it for some other purpose, there are many things that can happen to the land that would not be covered if you do not have it listed on your insurance policy. Floods, mudslides, erosion from windstorms, debris cleanup after a tornado are all expensive losses to property, and your insurance can help cover some of those expenses to recover your land. 

For more information, consider contacting the professionals at AZBY Brokerage Inc


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