Recent reports from the FBI and the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) indicate that home burglary rates have dropped in the United States. The FBI Crime Data Explorer shows a 7.6% decrease in burglary for 2023 vs. 2022. The CCJ’s…
What is considered Other Structures on homeowner’s insurance? You’d expect homeowner’s insurance to cover your home from damage, theft and liability. And it does. Your homeowner’s insurance can also offer protection for Other Structures, which include more than guest houses…
When should you contact your insurance agent/broker or insurance company? Of course, you need to contact them to file a claim or when an event may lead to a claim. There are also many times that you might not think…
Paid off your mortgage? Congratulations! Your monthly mortgage payment probably included extra funds for property taxes and insurance. Of course, you’ll still have to pay taxes. But now that you don’t have a lender requiring insurance, can you drop your…
If you’ve ever purchased—or simply researched—property insurance, you’ve likely encountered the terms “contents” and “structures” coverage. In a nutshell, “structures” refers to the insured building and other structures, and “contents” refers to what’s inside. But this is insurance—no answer is…
You may not have considered homeowner’s insurance policy gaps. You own a home. You buy homeowners insurance. Simple, right? Not always. There are a number of situations a standard homeowner’s policy doesn’t cover. Understand the gaps in a standard policy…
It isn’t just sharp knives and overindulgence in cooking wine that makes kitchens dangerous places. According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), cooking fires are the leading cause of home fires and home injuries. From 2017-2021, the organization reported,…
Homeowners often wonder why their home's replacement cost differs from its market value and how those two numbers should affect homeowners insurance decisions. Your home’s replacement cost reflects what it would cost to rebuild your home from the ground up…
Nothing strikes terror into a homeowner’s heart like coming home to water flooding the basement. Unfortunately, climate change has made basement floods increasingly common. It’s not only a pain to clean up, but a flooded basement can damage or destroy…
Not unlike home inventories, many people don’t think about creating and maintaining a home safety checklist. Fortunately, most of us feel safe in our homes, and we don’t spend much time thinking about the many things that can go wrong—until…