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Tips on buying homeowners and Life insurance
Everybody who owns a home should get insurance on their property, and everyone who has a mortgage on their home MUST get an insurance policy. The lender will force you to carry a policy that covers fire and hazard insurance in order to protect their investment. In places like the Caribbean you will also be required to take out windstorm insurance (i.e. protection against hurricanes). If you don't take out your own policy, the lender will take one out for you (which will be more expensive than the one you would have gotten) and bill you for it.
The Homeowners insurance policies are broken into two parts, property protection and liability.
The property portion reimburses you for damage to the home and contents. You are not required by lenders to get contents insurance because they don't really care what happens to your stuff inside the house as long as it doesn't devalue the home. The amount of insurance coverage is usually based on the estimated cost of replacing the entire home.
The liability portion of the policy covers medical bills that occur as a result of people being injured on the property. For example, if a neighborhood kid trips on your property and breaks his leg or is bitten by your dog you could be held liable. Your liability coverage will protect you against this type of expense.
When shopping for homeowners insurance you should get a price quote from at least 3 companies. If you really don’t have the time and prefer someone else to source the information for you, Insurance Brokers act as the ‘middle person ‘ between yourself and the Insurance Company. The Insurance Broker assesses the risk, seeks the best rate from insurers and handles the claim settlement on your behalf.
Some insurance companies may give you a price break if you have both your homeowners and auto insurance policies with them. You should inquire about this
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