Home Insurance: Where To Start?

Home Insurance: Where To Start?
Can you think of anything in your life, outside of your family, more worthy of protection than your home? When it comes to feeling secure, it’s not just the bricks-and-mortar market value of your house that matters, but the huge personal attachment you make with your home. Think of all the time we spend hunting down somewhere that fits the bill perfectly. So much consideration goes into the process of finding the dream home - location, size, and an unquantifiable ‘wow’ factor – that it’s hard to imagine a more devastating blow than suffering significant damage to your home or its contents. All this makes home insurance a top priority.
There’s really no such thing as a standard policy - and it’s important to thoroughly research all the options before committing to such an important investment - but let’s have a look at the two principal types of cover: Building Insurance and Contents Insurance.

Building Insurance
Building insurance covers the main building and any outbuildings such as garages and sheds, as well as gates, patios and fences. It’s important to clearly set out any exclusions or clauses. Make sure you know exactly what’s covered and what isn’t.
Don’t over-insure yourself; the sum is usually the cost to rebuild rather than what the property is worth. Also take into account the likelihood of rebuilding costs increasing over time, especially if you make any modifications.

Contents Insurance
Once again it is important to be certain that you are insured for the right amount. It may seem like a lengthy process to assess the correct value of everything but it really is worth compiling a comprehensive check list. It’s quite possible that your insurer will put a limit on individual items. If this is the case and a single item is worth more than an imposed home contents limit try to negotiate an increase or, failing that, insure it separately.
Check precisely what your contents are insured against. Theft and fire should be standard but you should also look to include cover for additional threats like storm and flood damage.
Check out the possibility of combining building and contents cover with the same insurer, this will obviously save you time and hassle, but could also get you a discount. Don’t just plump for a combined deal because it’s convenient; a good contents policy could be teamed up with a less impressive deal for the building or vice-versa.
Above all, research your prospective insurers thoroughly to make sure you find a suitably policy. Many firms specialise in particular markets – RIAS, for example, supply house insurance for the over 50’s – so don’t just go with the first attractive-looking option or your mortgage-lender.