I am going tomorrow to go see the local State Farm Insurance agent since my divorce I have put the house entirely in my name and I'm going to have to get new insurance are there any specific things that I should be looking for or asking for I have never purchased this before

They're going to run an evaluator to see what your home's replacement cost is, should it need to be completely rebuilt. Usually this is done through a company called MS/B. Make sure they review it with you to make sure that the info is correct. Sometimes it pulls the info from the assessor's database but that's not always up to date.

Make sure they give you replacement cost vs actual cash value for both the structure of your home and your personal property. This ensures that you get what it would cost to replace your property with a new item, rather than the depreciated cost like you would get if your car is totaled.

See which items you may need to schedule separately on the policy in order for them to be fully covered. This usually includes jewelry, firearms, fine art and silverware, etc...

Check to see if there will be a home inspection and what kind of things they will be looking for that may cause the home to be disqualified. You don't want to find this out after moving in while you're facing a 30 day cancellation notice. Some things that can fail an inspection are a bad roof, broken windows, peeling paint, broken or uneven walkways, etc.

Also unless you're closing tomorrow, don't buy on the spot. Take the quote back and review it and shop around.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

You're going to have to get a current 4 point inspection and a wind mitigation inspection if you're in a hurricane area, both cost $300 total.

Shop it with another carrier as State Farm is not known to be even close to competitive here in FL.

Playing around with the deductible amount can or can't lower it quite a bit. Sometimes going from a $500 deductible to a $1500 deductible might lower it $200 per year, other times only $12 a year.

State Farm will write you a separate rider for your firearms. The base policy doesn't go very far.

I've been a HO insurance adjuster for a major carrier for 10 years, I now just handle large (usually well over six figure) losses.

Yes, they will take the home info you give them and run it through a program to determine the limit. Garbage in, garbage out, if you don't give them good info...ultimately, you are the decider of what the limit should be, if you end up under-insured, it's on you.

I had a large home owned by a surgeon burn to the ground. Within 10 minutes talking to the customer, I knew it was under-insured and I paid him up front the limit plus his 25% extended replacement cost (this is exceedingly rare, he was just that under-insured I got there that fast). Had he told his agent what he told me when the policy was written, that wouldn't have happened. He paid more than his underlying limit to have the home built in the 90's...so how could it be replaced for less?

For the house limit, think about how much it would cost to demo the home to the ground (including the foundation), then re-build to the same size and quality. Demo alone can easily be $30k, then add foundation prep and new foundation plus rebuild costs to that.

Make sure you have replacement cost and ask about "extended" replacement cost which is an extra 25%-50% to account for price increases. Note: if you remodel and increase your home's value, you have to tell your agent or the "extended" replacement cost won't be owed.

Next, think about your "separate structure" coverage. This is for driveways, sidewalks, fences, sheds etc. Also for any large building not attached to the home like a detached garage or shop. It is by default just 10% of your home coverage. This works 90% of the time, but I have paid limits many times to poor souls who had a nice detached garage and only default separate structure coverage amounts. Most I've paid is a nearly $300k limit for a large and gorgeous barn, it still wasn't enough and the property had another large shop and another barn besides (that thankfully weren't damaged).

For personal property, this is also by default just a percentage of your home coverage (usually like 85% or so). If you have a high income and really nice stuff, but live in a moderate SF home, you'll blow this limit. It also includes the cost of cleaning and storing and moving your contents.

Personal property sub-limits: There are much smaller sub-limits on certain property types like cash and coins, guns, jewelry etc. Most of these are for theft only, some like the sub-limit for cash are for any cause of loss. Get the endorsements/limits you need for what you have.

Business property sub-limits as well and in a standard policy, if you use a separate structure for business (full or part-time, profitable or not), that entire separate structure won't be covered!

The only advice I can give is to get quotes from more than just State Farm. We bought a new home last year and got a quote from State Farm since that’s who we had our homeowners insurance on for the house we were selling....they were almost double the price for less coverage than USAA. We obviously went with USAA.

quote:

Originally posted by ryan81986:
They're going to run an evaluator to see what your home's replacement cost is, should it need to be completely rebuilt. Usually this is done through a company called MS/B. Make sure they review it with you to make sure that the info is correct. Sometimes it pulls the info from the assessor's database but that's not always up to date.

Make sure they give you replacement cost vs actual cash value for both the structure of your home and your personal property. This ensures that you get what it would cost to replace your property with a new item, rather than the depreciated cost like you would get if your car is totaled.

See which items you may need to schedule separately on the policy in order for them to be fully covered. This usually includes jewelry, firearms, fine art and silverware, etc...

Check to see if there will be a home inspection and what kind of things they will be looking for that may cause the home to be disqualified. You don't want to find this out after moving in while you're facing a 30 day cancellation notice. Some things that can fail an inspection are a bad roof, broken windows, peeling paint, broken or uneven walkways, etc.

Also unless you're closing tomorrow, don't buy on the spot. Take the quote back and review it and shop around.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

An excellent and thorough post. Nothing to add here.

when house is paid in full the HOI will be over and I won't pay another dime for it. That is my take.

quote:

State Farm will write you a separate rider for your firearms

It is not cheap.

SF is a much better deal when all lines are bundled.

quote:

Originally posted by rscalzo:

quote:

State Farm will write you a separate rider for your firearms

It is not cheap.

SF is a much better deal when all lines are bundled.

Cheaper than any other I looked at and no need for a list of serial numbers.
Think my added protection is like $5 a month.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
when house is paid in full the HOI will be over and I won't pay another dime for it. That is my take.

And if the house burns down?

If it burns down? Build another one. pretty simple.

I know this is not an option for many. But I can live in a pretty small and simple structure and be plenty satisfied.

I am over needing much of what I have already had. Including HOI.

Most people have no idea how much $ they pay for all the "peace of mind" they pay for. Just write the check. What a racket.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
when house is paid in full the HOI will be over and I won't pay another dime for it. That is my take.

And if the house burns down?

Or is burgled, has significant wind damage, burst WH?

I am not 100% positive, but I bet that your State Farm agent is "captive" to that company.

Do yourself a big favor: sit down with an independent agent who can shop the market for you, get some comparative quotes from different companies, and point out the good and bad aspects of the various insurance companies. I used to shop the market on my own, but I discovered that the independent agent I use does a much better job, as I used to spend a few hours once a year, but this is all she does, all day, every day, and she really knows what she's doing.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
You're going to have to get a current 4 point inspection and a wind mitigation inspection if you're in a hurricane area, both cost $300 total.

REALLY? Three hundred bucks? Dude, you're using the wrong inspector. I just wrote a check, this week, for $85.00 for the same service.

quote:

I am not 100% positive, but I bet that your State Farm agent is "captive" to that company

That is correct

quote:

If it burns down? Build another one. pretty simple.

I know this is not an option for many. But I can live in a pretty small and simple structure and be plenty satisfied.

.

Yee haw! Burglary isn't likely an issue...

quote:

Originally posted by Warhorse:

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
when house is paid in full the HOI will be over and I won't pay another dime for it. That is my take.

And if the house burns down?

Or is burgled, has significant wind damage, burst WH?

I'm thinking ORC is thinking something other then insurance. Or lives in a rapidly deteriorating trailer.

Nobody who can afford a house that requires payments is going to self-insure. I hope.

Some great advise here.
As a homeowner I realize that the chances of needing insurance is relatively small and I could go my whole life without ever needing to file a claim. BUT if my house burned down I would not want to eat the whole cost.
I have all my insurances set with the highest deductible offered. If you run the numbers in most cases the payback is 5 years or less.. That keeps my annual costs to a reasonable level.

George, I said, "when house is paid in full."
Geeez.

Noth'in wrong with a good trailer, though mine is stick built as you can see

dubya, where's my dawg's?

There is another coverage I forgot about as well, which is loss of use coverage. This covers you for additional living expenses if your home cannot be occupied after a loss. Like most coverages on a homeowners policy, it's usually a set percentage of whatever your dwelling coverage is, although some companies give you what's known as actual loss, or whatever it costs. This is helpful if your home burns down and it takes a long time for the rebuild.

Brief breakdown of coverages

Coverage A: Dwelling coverage. Coverage for the physical structure of your home, think of it as if you could pick your house up and shake it out. Anything that wouldn't fall out onto the lawn is covered.

Coverage B: Other structures. Anything not connected to the house itself. Such as storage sheds, fences that aren't physically connected to the house, pools, etc.

Coverage C: Personal property. All of the stuff that would fall out of the house

Coverage D: Loss of use. As mentioned above

Coverage E: Personal Liability. Covers dog bites, slip and falls, etc to non-family members on your property.

Coverage F: Medical payments. Similar to E, covers medical bills for same.


For deductibles, pick something that you can afford if something happens, but keeps your rate down and keeps you from filing small claims.

If your insurance company offers you coverage for electronic devices such as computers and cell phones DO NOT TAKE IT. What people don't realize when they take coverage like that is if you file a claim for a lost cell phone, it counts as a homeowners insurance claim which raises your rates.

And on that note, unless you can't afford to fix something after a loss, don't file a claim for it. As I mentioned, claims causes either loss of discounts and/or rate increases so it's not worth getting a multiple hundred or thousand dollar increase for a $2000 claim.