Homeowners Insurance, Palm Bay, Florida - How much coverage do I need? Part 1 of 2

That’s an exceptional question that you should always ask your insurance agent, “How much coverage do I need?” And the reason that’s extremely important is because, what ends up happening in a lot of cases, people assume that the market value of their home, what they paid for their home, is how much they need to insure it for. And unfortunately, what you're trying to insure your home for is the cost to repair or replace it if it’s damaged. In 2004, all across the state of Florida, people suffered significant damages from hurricanes, and, as a result, the cost of building materials absolutely skyrocketed.

Shortages, too.

Shortages of building materials, and you have no control over that. It’s a completely variable cost. You have no control over it. And what that does is it increases the cost to replace the house that suffered damage. So, for example, a house that you bought 3 years ago could cost significantly more to replace today than you paid for it 3 years ago.

Oh, we heard stories about people that paid $5,000 for a screen enclosure, and now it’s $15,000.

Absolutely, and you hear those stories all the time, and that’s why using the market value as the replacement value-- you have to learn how to separate the two. It’s very difficult to do that because replacement cost is based on so many variable factors, and the way that we always recommend that you determine the replacement cost of your home is to talk to an insurance agent that has up-to-date cost estimation software. They have insurance companies that have cost estimation software that will help you determine, hey, what is it gonna cost to get this house back? If I lose this house what is it going to cost me to get this house back today? That’s why this question is extremely important.

Again, give your agent a call, review your policy, and if you’d like a second opinion, give us a call at the Insurance Center of Central Florida. Our number is below.



Insurance Center of Central Florida
http://www.TheInsuranceCenter.us/
1-888-363-4706