How much insurance should I buy on my home?

A question our staff has asked an awful lot is how much I should insure my home for, and it’s really a really simple answer, but most people misunderstand it because they think they should insure their home for what they paid for it, what it’s assessed value is, and that’s really not the case. What one expects when they have a loss, is to be able to either repair or fully replace the home with what was standing there before. So it’s a simple matter of figuring out how much would it cost to rebuild my home, including how much it would cost to take away all the debris from my home and basing my insurance on that. If that’s what you wish to receive, that’s how much coverage you should carry.

What people do is they over-insure their home. When they buy a home in a very posh area along the water or with a lot of land, and you don’t need to insure the land, and you don’t need to insure the location that you’re buying your property at. At the same time, you may have a historic home away, from the coast that you pay less money for just because it’s old and it’s not as desirable to other people, but it’s going to cost more to rebuild because it has hardwood floors, it has plaster walls, it has custom sized doors and windows because they don’t make those sizes anymore, and all of those increase the cost!

So the bottom line, when you’re insuring your home, just find out either from a contractor or with the assistance of your insurance agent, what the cost might be to rebuild.

We’d be happy to review your insurance coverage options with you! Give us a call at (508) 998-3228 or visit https://pd-ins.com.