After the Marshall Fire devastation in December, it may be a good time to make sure your coverage would be sufficient in a similar circumstance. One Local Farmers Insurance agent shares how important it is to understand your options for insuring your home and everything in it.
Michael Plaia and his family live, work, and play in Broomfield. As an agent, he strives to protect local families, businesses, and their assets. Michael seeks to build solid relationships with his clients and review their policies annually, either over the phone or (gasp!) in person.
Dwelling Coverage:
Your insurance coverage should step in and supply sufficient monies for either a repair or full rebuild. With material and labor costs on the rise, make sure your home coverage limit is sufficient and is updated annually to pace inflation. Look at adding an extension of 125% or 150% for a full rebuild scenario.
Personal Property Coverage:
Look around your home. If you have to replace everything -everything- what would the cost be? Do you have enough coverage? Consider the valuable things that are stored away and not often thought of. Best practice: take photos and either save them to the cloud or email to yourself. (Don’t depend solely on your phone/computer hard drive!) If you have expensive jewelry, be sure it is "scheduled" on your policy.
Loss of Use Coverage:
When your home is inhabitable or completely lost, loss of use monies are available to help pay to live elsewhere temporarily. Most policies have a 12-month limit and 10% of the Dwelling Coverage for the dollar limit, which would be insufficient if you need to rebuild. Opt for 24-months and look at 20%-30% or higher limits.