What to Do With Home Insurance When Home Value Increases

The real estate industry is on the upswing after a bunch of down years. That means home values are increasing more than ever, with the trend projected to continue. With these values going up, homeowners might need to take another look at their current home insurance coverage. Even if your home might be worth more now than it was a few years ago, you don’t necessarily need more insurance coverage. Everyone is different. Here’s a few helpful tips to see where you stand.

You do not need more coverage if…

You haven’t made any substantial changes to your home that might affect the cost of replacing it. Just because the value of your home has increased, that doesn’t mean the replacement cost has. The market value is what your home is worth if you put it up for sale, along with the land on the lot and the value of that lot in the surrounding neighborhood. The replacement cost is what it would take you rebuild your home from scratch if it were wiped out from a natural disaster or accident.

Homeowners insurance is more concerned with the cost of repairing or rebuilding a damaged house, not how much the land and lot are worth.

You may need more coverage if…

You’ve made any changes or renovations to your home. In this case, it might be best to contact your independent agent to let them know about the changes. Redoing the bathroom or putting in new floors in the living room can change the replacement value of your home, which is where your home insurance policy comes in. Tinier additions like new facets in the sink probably don’t make much of a difference.

It’s also important to tell your agent if you used expensive materials to make these changes, as that also factors in to the replacement value.

Ask us if your policy has enough coverage today. Call KJE Consultants, LLC at (866) 260-5330 for more information on New York home insurance.