If you’re looking into buying a new house, congrats! But now your mortgage bank is asking you how you’re going to protect it. This is their investment too, and they’re not taking, “We’ll just be really, really careful,” as an acceptable answer. So, it’s time to look for home insurance.
Dislike boring forms? Get a quote over chat right now.How much home insurance do I need?
But how much do you need? And if you’re shopping by yourself (and not with our agents. Tsk tsk.), coverage can be pretty expensive. So, how much do you really need?
Well, think of it in this scenario: You’ve invited a couple of friends over and your gas oven explodes, leaving your friends with some pretty bad burns. At a minimum, you’re going to want coverage that can:
- Repair your kitchen (what were you cooking in there anyway?)
- Repair the walls to your kitchen (Seriously. You should’ve considered a new oven before now.)
- And pay for your friends to get their burns taken care of.
While insurance can’t help you with the awkward conversations you’ll have afterward, the home insurance you want to look for is:
- Personal Property coverage – enough to replace your oven and other house-y things
- Property damage coverage that can help you rebuild the structure to your house. This one can be tricky because there’s a difference between market and replacement cost value for your home. The replacement cost value helps you rebuild your home from the ground up if it were destroyed by something like a fire – it can include things like the cost of the building materials and construction worker rates.
- Liability – To help your friends out with those hospital bills and help you with legal fees if they decide to sue. (Again, jerks.)
How much of each of those should depend on how much you bought your house for and how much you think a worst-case scenario medical bill would be. (Hint: It’s not cheap.)
BUT if you’re afraid of the price tag on that type of coverage, don’t be. Our agents can find you enough home insurance coverage to help you put out literal and metaphorical fires for a price that won’t hurt your wallet. To start getting quotes, click on Hazel on the bottom right-hand corner, and she’ll connect you with an insurance agent who’ll take good care of you.