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Archive for the ‘Earthquake Insurance’ Category

The whole point of a Landlords Insurance is that you can rent a property out and be confident that despite the fact that you are nowhere near the property and it is effectively in the hands of tenants that you can still guard against most things that could happen to the property and/or any contents that you may choose to leave in the property when you rent it out.

The main thing with any property that is rented out is that the main perils are covered to stop any damage to the building really hurting you. With Landlord’s Insurance things that are covered as standard are usually; Fire, lightning, Earthquake, Explosion, Storm, Flood, Weight of Snow, Escape of Water, Escape of Oil, Theft or Attempted Theft, Malicious Damage or Vandalism, Impact by Aircraft, Impact by Vehicles or Animals and Subsidence.

Most of the things above seem straight forward but there are certain conditions within the policy that must be noted. In the case of Theft or Attempted Theft a forcible entry or exit condition usually applies which means that they have to have had to break in and if the tenants just left the door open then this wouldn’t be covered. This effectively means that the tenants do have to do something on their part as well by remembering to lock up and make sure that the house is secure at all times.

Impact by animals is also another one that is sometimes misunderstood as it doesn’t usually cover any pets, therefore it would only cover animals that were from outside the home, this is done so that things like a large family dog knocking down a small wall in the garden cannot be claimed for, however if the wall was knocked down by a rhino from the local zoo that had escaped (god forbid) then you can claim and get the damage undone.

The last of these which is a bit more in depth is the subject of Malicious Damage and Vandalism. Whilst most insurers will cover this under a Landlords policy they will not cover it if any damage is done by the tenant themselves, it is seen that Malicious Damage by the Tenant is a far greater risk as they are always at the property and anyone can lose their temper. There are insurers out there though that will cover rented properties from any cases where the tenants may maliciously damage the property, although some may put a claim limit on there of

In today’s world, having the right home and or car insurance is more important than ever. Car and home insurance are two of the most necessary forms of insurance you’ll find. For that reason, they are also the most common forms of insurance protection. This is for obvious reasons, as they both provide extremely important protection for our family needs.

Home insurance in its most basic role provides protection for not only our families, but for visitors as well. This is very important, as home ownership is our number one investment, at least for most of us. For that obvious reason making sure you have proper home insurance is an absolute must. In fact, if you borrowed to purchase your home, like most homeowner owners have, your lender will require that you have adequate health insurance. It’s important not to confuse home insurance with mandatory private mortgage insurance. Private mortgage insurance is insurance that protects the lender, should you default on your home loan. Home insurance protects you and your home from damage and liability.

In addition to the obvious protection that home insurance offers, homeowners insurance provides liability protection that insures you and your family. This ensures that if you have a guess at your home, and that guest has an accident your insured, against the liability that can result. Home insurance is often thought of as protection against damage to your own, but the liability protection that comes standard with most home insurance policies can be a real godsend. Now, when it comes to ensuring your valuables, most of your comment items will be protected under your general policy. Though I valued items such as a diamond ring, often require additional coverage.

Home insurance will provide for protection against most disasters. Flood insurance and earthquake insurance are not commonly included in your home insurance policy. If you live in an area that is prone to floods, prone to earthquakes, you’ll need to purchase additional coverage. We learned firsthand the importance of having flood insurance from the Katrina disaster. We learned again, the importance of earthquake coverage from the resent devastation in China. You never know when these disasters will hit; you’ll never know where they are going to hit, so make sure your number one investment is protected today.

In addition to the importance of having home insurance, car insurance plays a very large role in protecting us, our families, and others. In fact, it’s so important that car insurance is required by most states and governments. This is also for good reason, as it is more important than ever to protect ourselves from others who drive irresponsibly, with no car insurance. Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to enforce these laws, and frankly, these laws are not strict enough. The last, the enormous number of uninsured motorists on our streets, today. We must take a proactive approach to protect ourselves through the purchase of uninsured motorist car insurance. Uninsured motorist coverage is often made available at an additional cost to your existing coverage, make sure you have it. Uninsured motorist coverage doesn’t just protect you against uninsured drivers, but protects you against under insured drivers. Because many laws require very minimal, car insurance requirements, you’re subject to only partial repairs to your vehicle. This means that without uninsured motorist protection, a legally insured individual with coverage up to $10,000 can only provide a $10,000 settlement. If you’re driving and $50,000 car, you can do the math; you’ll get stuck with the majority of the bill.

The importance of having both car insurance and home insurance if you own a home cannot be stressed enough. Make sure you, your family, and others are protected, get insured today, if you aren’t already. If the cost of insurance is an issue for you, you can shop several different carriers and find a competitive rate. Make sure to go with a high rate company, however, as you’ll want them around when needed.

1. Earthquake damage is not covered by a standard homeowners insurance policy.

Too many people find out the hard way that earthquake damage is not covered by their homeowners insurance policy. A standard homeowners insurance policy will cover your dwelling and your personal property against many perils. Things such as damage from hail or wind during a storm, theft or vandalism, even a car crashing into your house would be covered by a standard homeowners insurance policy.

But some things such as floods and earthquakes are not covered. To be covered for earthquake damage requires that you purchase additional insurance. The premiums for this type of insurance are generally pretty small but the deductibles can be high. If you choose to get earthquake insurance shop around for the best deal. Try to find a policy that offers the most coverage for a reasonable price and be sure to ask about how much the deductible will be.

2. California is not the only place that has earthquakes.

When you hear the word earthquake the first thing that pops into your mind may be California. But California is not the only place that gets earthquakes. Since 1900, 39 of the 50 states have had earthquakes and all 50 states have sustained damage due to earthquakes. Approximately 90% of Americans live in areas considered to be seismically active but a very small percentage of people actually care your earthquake insurance. Even in California where earthquakes are most likely to occur only about 12% of homeowners carry earthquake insurance.

3. Some easy things you can do to prepare for earthquakes.

Many times, especially in a small earthquake, there may be no structural damage to your house but some of your personal property inside the house may be damaged. In addition to property damage people can be seriously injured or killed by large pieces of furniture or other objects falling on top of them should an earthquake occur. It’s a good idea to secure large pieces of furniture such as a bookshelf to the wall that they are up against. A few dollars worth of hardware and a few minutes of your time could save your life.

It’s also a good idea to have some bottled water, flash lights, canned food, and first aid supplies on hand. If there is an earthquake there could be power outages and plumbing damage and it’s good to be prepared for those possibilities.

Did you know that your homeowners insurance policy probably does not cover flood damage? Too many homeowners find this out the wrong way, by shelling out thousands of dollars to repair damage from a flood. The average home incurs $30,000 of damage following a flood, and you don’t even need to live near a body of water to suffer flood damage. During the life of a typical 30 year mortgage, your home has a 26 percent chance of flood damage, as opposed to a 9 percent chance of fire. If you live in an area where your house is at risk of flooding, protect both your home and your wallet by considering flood insurance.

Do you need flood insurance?

Most people don’t realize it, but no matter where on the planet you are located, there is always some risk of flooding. This risk varies from very high to very low. Most homes fall into the moderate risk category. To determine your risk, look at the FEMA flood insurance rate map (also known as a FIRM) for your region. Floodplains are expected to flood periodically, and are described by the expected frequency, such as an annual floodplain or a 100-year floodplain. If you’re in a flood plain, you should consider purchasing flood insurance, since it is a reasonable assumption that a flood is likely during your lifetime.

How much is it, and where can you get it?

The National Flood Insurance Program sets flood insurance rates in the United States. Coverage may be as low as $100 per year. Shopping around for flood insurance isn’t necessary, since the NFIP sets the rates. The rates depend on your home’s size and building type, as well as your location. The flood zone in which you’re located will have a drastic affect on your insurance rates. You’ll also need to consider the potential amount of damage to determine how much coverage you need. There is a 30 day waiting period before it takes effect, so don’t wait until a flood is predicted to investigate your insurance options.

What if you don’t want flood insurance?

Federal law requires flood insurance in high risk areas; your mortgage company may also require you to secure it before your financing can go through, since the area has a substantial risk of flooding during the lifetime of the loan. Check the FEMA flood maps to determine whether flood insurance will be required.

In some cases, specific areas have been built up so that their elevation or the elevation of the building itself no longer places the area in the flood plain, even though surrounding areas are at a lower elevation and are therefore susceptible to flooding. If this is the case, and you want to opt out of the insurance, you’ll need a special type of land survey known as flood certification. This survey allows you to apply for a Letter of Map Amendment (LOMA) or Letter of Map Revision (LOMR), the only way to get out of buying the required insurance. Depending on the structure, an Elevation Certificate from a licensed land surveyor may also be required to show that the building itself is constructed to be higher than the flood level. These certificates can reduce the amount of flood insurance you must purchase or even remove the requirement entirely.

When it comes to insurance, every small business has individual needs. Events and items to be covered for a restaurant, for instance, will be significantly different than those that a salon or a home office needs. There are, however, broad areas of coverage that apply to all types of businesses. The important thing is to make sure you have insured every aspect of your business that you need to. To demonstrate the number of important aspects business insurance covers, here is a list that will help you be aware of what may need covered.

Events to be covered:

Flooding Fire Windstorm (often requires additional policy in hurricane areas) Hail Lightning Earthquake (almost always requires additional coverage) Damage caused by aircraft Explosions (origins internal or external to business property) Arson Theft (by employee or non-employee, may require additional policy) Check fraud (by employee or non-employee, may require additional policy) Embezzlement (may require additional policy because of difficulty of proof) Death or disability of key employee or partner (often called “Key Man” insurance) Civil Authority losses, such as closure of airports and train stations in emergencies Errors and Omissions (“E & O”–often requires additional coverage) Property damage, bodily injury, or death caused by employees while on- or off-premises Vandalism Mudslide Sinkholes Roof collapse or damage Foundation collapse or damage Broken glass or damaged buildings and structures caused by riots, war, or terrorism (may now require separate coverage for terrorism) Termite/insect/vermin damage Mold/fungus damage
Items to be covered:

Buildings, roofing, internal walls, foundations, attached structures External structures, fences, signs, improved roads, bridges, etc. Carpeting, furniture, drapes, decorations, etc. Office equipment owned and leased (often requires additional coverage for expensive computer systems, phone systems, etc. Check to make sure that damage by lightning and power fluctuations is covered.) Security systems (Yes, these can be damaged too, or even stolen.) Communication equipment other than telephones, including two-way radio systems and satellite dishes Vehicles, machinery, spare parts for machinery, maintenance supplies Furnaces, air-conditioning equipment, ductwork, boilers (boilers often require additional policies) On-site and off-site stored records Cash on hand, bonds, and stocks Business inventory (on display or in storage) Intellectual property such as trademarks and copyrights (usually requires additional policies)

Also to be included, of course, are loss of income and loss of use caused by any of the events listed above.

It is worth noting that most Los Angeles home insurance plans do not cover earthquake damages even if the city has a high probability of being hit by earthquakes due to movements in the San Andreas Fault, located in the Southern part of California. This should be a cause for concern particularly because many believe that the state will experience 6.7 magnitude earthquakes in the next three decades. Since you are not really sure whether the quake will hit the northern or southern parts of California, it is important that you prepare for any eventuality. However, before you get the first earthquake policy that you see on the Internet, you might want to know the things that you should look for in such a plan.

One of the first things that you need to do before you get earthquake coverage is to check your existing Los Angeles home insurance policy. You have to make sure that you really do not have any earthquake coverage before you get an additional plan. There are a few companies that provide coverage other than fire and flood. Since California is an earthquake prone state, some insurance companies already include earthquake provisions in standard home insurance policies. There are also other providers that give discounted earthquake policies to their current home insurance policyholders.

For your safety as well as for lower earthquake coverage premiums, it is important for residents that live in a seismic region to regularly inspect and make appropriate repairs to their homes. In Los Angeles, earthquakes are not the only problems that homeowners need to think about. You may need to hire a specialist to check the foundations of your home and roofing. Overall, a well maintained home also has lower Los Angeles home insurance premiums compared to houses that are dilapidated.

In a time of financial uncertainties, cost is an important consideration in everyone’s mind. This is true even when shopping for Los Angeles home insurance packages or stand alone earthquake plans. It is often a good idea to get quotes from different insurance companies before you decide. However, you should also remember that price is not everything. It is not always good to get coverage just because of the low premiums. You have to find value for your money. If you can find a homeowner insurance policy that already includes earthquake and flood protection, then that might be a better deal than getting two separate policies. In Los Angeles, you can expect to get additional premium of about $2,500 per year for additional earthquake coverage.