Homeowners Insurance

Every winter, the holiday season prompts homeowners around the country to set out decorations. While Christmas lights and similar items are the most popular decorations you’ll see in your neighborhood, a close second is that of Halloween decorations. From ghostly white sheets hanging from trees to the ever-popular jack-o-lantern displays, there are a lot of options out there that help your house stand out from other displays on the block. While Halloween is a season filled with tricks and scares, one scare that you should never have to contend with is a homeowners insurance claim on Halloween. Before the popular holiday hits, let’s look at how to avoid claims on Halloween.

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If you’re a Colorado resident, hail damage has absolutely impacted you in the past couple years. Wait, you say you were lucky enough to avoid any damage or insurance claims as violent hail storms have hit the state? Unfortunately they have still impacted you, at least your auto and homeowners insurance rates. If you’re a Colorado resident, there is no denying that you have to grapple with the risk of hail storms every spring. We also have to come to grips with the fact that the costs of each hail season are soaring. Most estimates place damages around 10 billion each year for the last decade. Let’s dig deeper into why hail damage costs continue to rise and what homeowners can do about it.

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Homeowners insurance exists to cover a variety of claims. These include liability claims like dog bites or property loss claims like those sustained after a burglary. However the biggest claim any homeowner hopes they’ll never have to deal with is that of damage to their home after a disaster. This can come in many forms from fire to flood or other circumstance. Whatever the disaster, it’s important to always keep in mind that you can recover. Let’s look at how to recover after a disaster and key steps of the process.

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Insurance claims are an inevitable part of owning a home, and part of evaluating homeowners coverage is determining how often on average you can expect to file a claim. While we certainly don’t have a crystal ball when it comes to claim frequency, we do have the history of previous claims to draw upon. These estimates can give you a rough idea of how often you can expect potential claims to arise. This in turn can help you determine your ideal insurance deductible. It can also be helpful in long term financial planning and help you avoid future claims altogether. So if you haven’t already, it’s time to ask – how often are homeowners claims filed on average?
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In recent years, insurance customers have been bombarded with countless insurance ads about how they should switch companies and how much they can save when they do. In light of this oversaturation, it can be hard to know exactly what to value in the insurance coverage you shop for. Sure savings are great, but they’re just part of the picture. Overall coverage can vary from company to company, and sometimes restrictions and limitations exist with one company that may not with another. Homeowners insurance is a particularly important coverage to comparison shop because it represents one of the larger investments an insurance customer makes. It only follows that you should carefully comparison shop homeowners insurance when you first buy a home or when your existing policy comes due. Here are some tips on how to know exactly what you’re getting as you shop.

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There are several insurance coverage options that make up a typical portfolio for any Colorado resident. These include homeowners insurance or renters insurance, auto insurance and umbrella insurance. However many Colorado residents may be overlooking an important insurance option that could effect the way they earn income. Those that choose to drive for Rideshare companies like Lyft or Uber absolutely need to make sure this type of coverage is added to their insurance portfolio. It is called Rideshare insurance, and if anyone who drives for rideshare companies is skipping it, they need to think again. Let’s take a closer look at why.

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For any home buyer, be it first time or experienced, homeowners insurance is considered an essential part of the equation. Indeed if a home is purchased with a mortgage, homeowners insurance is a required part of the transaction that must be maintained through the life of the loan. Other homeowners acquire property via different means, be it inheritance or buying the home outright. For individuals in this circumstance, homeowners insurance is not expressly required, and they can opt out of the coverage if they so choose. The thing is anyone who decides to “opt out” of homeowners insurance, be it the coverage entirely or certain key elements of the coverage, is taking a risk by waiving this important insurance option. Let’s investigate why often it’s more expensive to skip homeowners insurance.

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If you live in Colorado, the news around homeowners insurance premiums isn’t good. Most homeowners customers are seeing their rates rise again in 2018, and there are several reasons why. Colorado has been hit with some pretty severe natural disasters in the past few years including floods, forest fires, tornadoes and hail storms. It’s no secret that Colorado weather can be pretty wild, but there are other reasons why rates are rising as well. Let’s take a closer look at homeowners insurance rates rising in Colorado and what you can do about it.

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It seems like a rare and often accidental occurrence – your dog bites someone else. However, dog bites rack up plenty of insurance claims each year, and much more than you’d expect. Dog bite claims are so common that they’ve risen again last year and cost almost $700 million per year now. Even if your family pet is well behaved and has no history of biting others before, sometimes the unthinkable happens and suddenly you’re liable for a dog bite. Worse yet, you may not think about a dog bite claim as part of your overall insurance plan, but pet owners should absolutely consider it as part of their overall coverage. Let’s take a closer look at how dog bite claims can impact your insurance and how you can prepare for it.

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We all think of a homeowners policy as a basic precaution for anyone who owns a home. If you don’t own any items of extreme value as we talked about in Homeowners Insurance Rider – Do I Need One, then a standard policy should have you pretty much covered up to certain limits. If you need more coverage than that, you can always add umbrella insurance just in case. However we’d like to look at another circumstance where you may need extra coverage for your home. In an expensive home market like we have in Colorado right now, many homeowners are turning to remodeling their home, and the benefits are obvious. Remodeling creates more space for a growing family or entertaining guests, and in most circumstances it can improve the overall value of your home. Before you get started on your big remodel, you may want to ask the question: Do I need home remodeling insurance?

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