Topic: House Insurance

[blotter]

thanks Soltice - gonna check them out too.

Artic Steve

policy states "guaranteed replacement cost/building LOC - 1"
1 refering to section 1 showing $448,000

for our size home, even if construction cost where $200 per square feet, replacement would only be $200K   (I've got appraisals from work that show current replacement costs between $125 and $180)

As for $380K in personal property... that's way too much!

Looks like they put us on some "platinum" plan.


As for the crime in the area, while this certainly isn't the greatest city, we're in one of the best areas.
Flooding isn't an issue.  (at least not yet)

[5 Wheel Drive]

We also switched car and house to Belair a few years ago.  My house insurance going from State Farm to Belair went down by roughly half.  It's now about $550 / year.  It's a single family 2 storey home, a little over 1500 sq ft, built in 2008.

[ArticSteve]

thanks Soltice - gonna check them out too.

Artic Steve

policy states "guaranteed replacement cost/building LOC - 1"
1 refering to section 1 showing $448,000

for our size home, even if construction cost where $200 per square feet, replacement would only be $200K   (I've got appraisals from work that show current replacement costs between $125 and $180)

As for $380K in personal property... that's way too much!

Looks like they put us on some "platinum" plan.


As for the crime in the area, while this certainly isn't the greatest city, we're in one of the best areas.
Flooding isn't an issue.  (at least not yet)

Well then you are obviously being charged a premium for an amount that you could never collect on so shop around and pay attention to how the new insur. company determines the premium via the appraisal.

[tpl]

When we bought our current house we went for replacement cost and the insurer sent someone round to examine/appraise the place and, presumably, take a look at the street as well.   Each time we have done  any reno I have called the Ins Co. and accurately and completely told them what was done and how much it cost. The basement reno did put the premium up a bit.

[blotter]

i think our insurance shopping is going to be interesting.

Our current insurance company NEVER did a full appraisal, a simple drive by.


Blunderwriter
thanks for some of that.  I'm going to dig out previous fine print.   
Our new policy information doesn't go into details.   
What I find curious is that if the insurance company has only done a drive by, they don't know our contents or interior details.  So if the place burnt down..... 
I've never filed a claim, do I don't really know how that process works.   The insurance has no idea what size TV we have, what electronics etc...  so when it comes to replacement from say a fire, I'm just assuming you make a list of what you had and have x amount to work with from the coverage you have.

Don't listen to anyone in a coffee shop who tells you they can build you anything for X $.

All the appraisals I get done at work show a replacement costs with an estimated construction cost per square ft.   I pulled a few files to get an idea and would think that's a fair assesment. 

I'll be calling one place a day on my lunch... (e-mails sent as well)
should be interesting!

[ArticSteve]

The insurance has no idea what size TV we have, what electronics etc...  so when it comes to replacement from say a fire, I'm just assuming you make a list of what you had and have x amount to work with from the coverage you have.


You take a zillion photos of everything (tools, suits, sports stuff etc.) and send them the file and then keep a file for yourself, but not in the house in the million to one event that your house blows up from a gas leak. 

Of course if you take an extreme inventory of all your worldly belonging and send them the info, and then the house does blow up or burn down completely, they'll assume you did it purposely to collect. 

[blotter]

The insurance has no idea what size TV we have, what electronics etc...  so when it comes to replacement from say a fire, I'm just assuming you make a list of what you had and have x amount to work with from the coverage you have.


You take a zillion photos of everything (tools, suits, sports stuff etc.) and send them the file and then keep a file for yourself, but not in the house in the million to one event that your house blows up from a gas leak. 

Of course if you take an extreme inventory of all your worldly belonging and send them the info, and then the house does blow up or burn down completely, they'll assume you did it purposely to collect. 

I wonder how many have all this but not backup somewhere outside their house.
If the house burns down, so does all the pictures and lists!!!! 

[blotter]

UPDATE!

So our existing company has finally gotten back to us.

here's a review...   current policy was $1534 plus $465 to cover bikes  = $1999

they looked at it all again and came back with a reduction to $1769 (total)

After speaking... we have coverage for $448,000 to rebuild.
$380,000 for contents.

We talked about the property.   I guess they have a computer system that tells them what replacement costs are.   It'll not only look at your property, build type, etc but houses in your neighbourhood.
Thing is, we have the smallest house in our hood.   Some homes are as big as 2,500 sq.ft.

She did a review and determined we could have the Guaranteed Replacement for $234,000
this is calculated at $230 per sqft.   (coverage will increase annually to match inflation)
contents coverage would still be at $190K

She's estimated this will drop our premiums to $1255
(now we're back in line to our original coverage!)


I'm still waiting for a few other quotes.

[HeliDriver]

The insurance has no idea what size TV we have, what electronics etc...  so when it comes to replacement from say a fire, I'm just assuming you make a list of what you had and have x amount to work with from the coverage you have.


You take a zillion photos of everything (tools, suits, sports stuff etc.) and send them the file and then keep a file for yourself, but not in the house in the million to one event that your house blows up from a gas leak. 

Of course if you take an extreme inventory of all your worldly belonging and send them the info, and then the house does blow up or burn down completely, they'll assume you did it purposely to collect. 

I wonder how many have all this but not backup somewhere outside their house.
If the house burns down, so does all the pictures and lists!!!!

I've got an app for this on my cellphone. It's called Encircle. You walk around the house talking pictures of all your stuff and you then add descriptions, serial numbers, cost, etc. Not sure, but you can probably keep all the data in the cloud if you want.

Seems like a great idea. I downloaded it a year ago but haven't got around to using it yet. I should probably get on that. 

[blotter]

The insurance has no idea what size TV we have, what electronics etc...  so when it comes to replacement from say a fire, I'm just assuming you make a list of what you had and have x amount to work with from the coverage you have.


You take a zillion photos of everything (tools, suits, sports stuff etc.) and send them the file and then keep a file for yourself, but not in the house in the million to one event that your house blows up from a gas leak. 

Of course if you take an extreme inventory of all your worldly belonging and send them the info, and then the house does blow up or burn down completely, they'll assume you did it purposely to collect. 

I wonder how many have all this but not backup somewhere outside their house.
If the house burns down, so does all the pictures and lists!!!!

I've got an app for this on my cellphone. It's called Encircle. You walk around the house talking pictures of all your stuff and you then add descriptions, serial numbers, cost, etc. Not sure, but you can probably keep all the data in the cloud if you want.

Seems like a great idea. I downloaded it a year ago but haven't got around to using it yet. I should probably get on that. 

sounds like a cool app!
bet they don't have it for Blackberry