Never Let Nature Take Away Your Home: Insurance Can Protect Your Family

It doesn’t matter where in the US you live, there’s a distinct possibility that you’ll have to deal with at least one or more natural disasters or severe weather events. Depending on where you are, everything from hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, snowstorms, hail, floods, earthquakes an increasingly, a terrifying combination of calamitous weather can threaten your home. Consequently, home across the US now are keen to increase insurance protection for the biggest asset they own.

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It’s Important to Check that you are Fully Insured

When you first take out homeowner’s insurance, you choose the level of cover that is most appropriate at the time. However, things change and as we’ve all witnessed in recent years, natural disasters and severe weather events are on the rise. It’s easy to assume there’s adequate cover in place for your home although it’s more likely that your policy would not stretch to protect against whatever disaster that potentially threatens your property.

According to United Policyholders, a San Francisco-based advocacy agency, more than 65% of US homeowners would currently find themselves underinsured if there were a serious geological event in their neighborhood.

So what is the best way to ensure that your most expensive asset doesn’t evaporate in value if it’s ever hit by a tsunami, wildfire, high winds or an earthquake? Here are a few tips:

Standard homeowner’s insurance policies do not provide for fire, earthquake damage or destruction as a result of severe weather. The kind of things covered in the average policy include things like water damage as a result of leaky pipes and expressly exclude any kind of weather event or flooding that could potentially cause similar – if not worse – damage to your property.

Not knowing what may or may not happen with the weather where you live means its even more important to protect your family and home from these events with the right kind of insurance. Should the worst thing happen, you’ll be able to rebuild your asset should it be destroyed by any kind of natural disaster or severe weather event.

By taking the right precautions, you and your family can get back to normal faster after a significant event and without as much financial loss as you would otherwise experience.

To ensure your home is protected from these events, it’s first essential to identify the risks you might face by asking yourself the following questions:

• Has my area been identified as vulnerable to natural hazards?
• What is the frequency with which they are likely to occur?
• What assets do you hold that could be affected?
• To what extent would you be financially disadvantaged?
• How would you rebuild your life without any insurance cover?
• Can disasters in your area be predicted or mitigated?

This is the best way to get the most appropriate insurance policy to protect your property and also the peace of mind that all preparations are in place to take care of things should the worst happen. We have all witnessed an alarming increase in natural disasters in the US and whether your home is in a flood or hurricane zone or not, it’s as important to keep your DIY resources well-stocked as it is to take out the most comprehensive homeowners’ insurance to prepare for any eventuality.