Do You Know How Much Your Home is Worth?
Do you know how much your investments are worth or how much money you have in a savings account? How about how much money you have in your wallet or how much your car is worth? The same should be true for your home. In fact, knowing the value of your home may be more important because it has an impact on how much insurance coverage you should carry.
Look, if you lose money from your wallet or from your investments, it is gone. If your car is damaged in an accident or totaled, your insurance company will use book values to help determine its worth when paying a claim. But with your home, you can quickly become woefully underinsured if you don’t know its value and don’t keep your coverage updated.
The key is knowing, at least on some level, how much your home is worth. You can then compare that value with the limits of your homeowner’s insurance policy. You may be coming up short. Today, it is easier than ever to determine the estimated value of your home.
If you have a high-value property, it may be worth paying for a professional appraisal every few years. This will provide you with a written, detailed property appraisal that you can use for insurance purposes. Most, however, will choose one of several no-cost options.
You can use your county property appraiser’s website with the understanding that value will likely only be a percentage of its true replacement value. You can also contact a real estate professional to look at comparable properties, or the recent sales of homes like yours in the area. You can also view a number of real estate websites to see what other homes similar to yours are listed for in your neighborhood. There are now a number of home buying services that will give you a cash offer on your home, although it likely will be on the low end of its real value.
The point is you should also at least have an idea of the value of your home at all times and make sure your homeowners’ insurance limits reflect that value. We can help.
If you have a reasonable idea of the value of your home and are interested in getting a quote on your homeowners’ insurance, contact one of our independent agents. We can search out a policy to fit your needs and budget. Don’t allow your homeowners’ insurance to become outdated. Choose to have your coverage mirror your home’s value, and we can help. Contact us today.
