6 Home Insurance Tips for First Time Home Buyers
- IS CHEAPER COVER BETTER VALUE? PROBABLY NOT!
What do we as property owners/buyers when all the bills are piling up? Solicitor & Surveyor fees, taxes! It’s all very daunting. It’s important not to choose the wrong type of home insurance cover. Quite often the cheapest might be the most desirable. Most insurers will insure against perils like fire, flood, storm and theft. Some insurers will also cover accidental damage.
- DO YOU KNOW YOUR CORRECT REBUILD COST?
When working out what you want your sum insured to be, consider exactly how much it would take to complete a full rebuild your house and to replace all of your contents. Your mortgage lender should carry out a valuation in between the stages of “sale agreed” and loan approval. This valuation will advise on the rebuilding cost of the house and the minimum amount to insure it for.
If you want more info, visit this website www.scsi.ie. You’ll find a comprehensive guide on how much to insure your house for.
- DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE BENEFITS OF COVER?
It is so important to get your contents adequately insured. You can learn more about what’s covered under contents here.
You will be able to extend cover for high value items like laptops, jewelry etc.
- KNOW YOUR EXCESSES
An excess is the amount of the claim the policy holder will be responsible for when making a claim. Policy excesses vary for different risks. For example the excess for fire might be €250-€500, but the excess for a burst pipe or escape of water could be up to €1000.
- UNDERSTAND WHAT IS EXCLUDED
Check your policy booklet and familiarize yourself with what’s excluded.
It may be that if you’re house is unoccupied for more than 2/3 weeks, you might need to turn off the water and heat supplies in order to be covered.
- LETTER OF INDEMNITY
It is a pre-requisite for home insurance to be in place on all mortgages.
When taking out the cover, you must state that your bank is an interested party and your insurance provider will send you a letter outlining exactly what is covered. This is then passed on to the bank in order to ensure a satisfactory conclusion to the purchase of your first property.
