Category: Home Insurance

Although homeowners insurance is not legally required – unless you have a mortgage – it is truly a necessity. In short, home insurance protects both your home and belongings from covered perils like damage and theft. 

What is Covered By Homeowners Insurance

In the event of a covered incident such as fire, hurricanes, vandalism, and lightning your insurer will pay for your house to be repaired or rebuilt up to your policy limits. Bear in mind that destruction from earthquakes, floods, and improper home maintenance is not likely to be covered. If your home has any free-standing structures like a garage or sheds these may need a separate policy to be covered. Contents inside your home including furniture, art, jewelry, appliances, clothing, and electronics are covered if destroyed during a covered disaster. Most policies will provide coverage on your belongings for between 50% to 70% of your home structure’s cost. For example,  if your home is insured for $200,000 then there would be up to $140,000 of coverage for your personal belongings. 

Liability Coverage

Liability coverage protects you from being sued by third parties due to accidents that happen at your house. Examples include a repairperson slipping on icy steps, a dog biting a neighbor, and more. The more possessions you own and the higher value they possess, the more liability insurance that you’ll want to purchase. 

At Wai Cheng Insurance Inc. in Bay Area, CA our talented team of insurance professionals knows the insurance market better than the rest and are happy to help with all your home insurance needs. We’ll create a customized insurance policy that ensures your home, possessions, and interests are protected should a claim ever need to be filed. 

You have purchased home insurance from Wai Cheng Insurance Inc. for your Bay Area, CA, so it should cover everything? Wrong! While home insurance covers numerous risks, including fire, theft, vandalism, and natural disasters, it has exclusions. And taking note of these exclusions and exceptions is crucial to know what supplementary coverages you need.

Let’s take a look at common exclusions for typical home insurance.

Floods

Home insurance covers flooding if a covered event causes it. For instance, home insurance will cover the damage if water damage results from leaky pipes or a faulty roof. However, for overland flooding, you must purchase flood insurance to protect your dwelling and its contents.

Earth movement

Your home insurance won’t cover you when earthquakes, sinkholes, and mudslides knock on your doors. However, you can buy additional coverage to get protection from these risks. 

Intentional / preventable loss

You can’t break your glass door intentionally and run to your insurer for compensation. Similarly, your insurer won’t come to your aid for damage that’s preventable. For instance, damage from pest infestation can be prevented by extermination and proper upkeep of your home. 

Business-related claims

When you start a home-based business, your home insurance won’t cover business-related claims. For instance, if a customer falls or slips in your home while attending a meeting, your home insurance won’t cover medical costs for their treatment. Home insurance only covers the aspects of your home — the building and its contents.

If you need coverage for your home-based business, consider commercial insurance for optimal coverage.

Luxury items

Home insurance provides limited coverage for high-value items like cash, silverware, art, and jewelry. However, you can obtain separate coverage for items with a high price tag.

Get home insurance today!

Are you looking for affordable home insurance in Bay Area, CA, and its environs? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Wai Cheng Insurance Inc. 

The professionals at Wai Cheng Insurance Inc, serving the Bay Area, CA have vast experience with home insurance and are well versed in all of the different types of claims associated with home insurance policies.

Homeowner’s insurance is not required by the government to be carried by homeowners, but most mortgage lenders do require their borrowers to carry coverage in order to secure a mortgage. 

There are a wide variety of reasons why policyholders will file insurance claims. There are a handful of claims that are made much more frequently than all others. These are:

• Exterior Wind Damage (accounts for approximately 24% of all insurance claims) – this could be from storms such as hurricanes and tornadoes.
• Water Damage (not weather related) (accounts for approximately 20% of all claims) – these are often incidents such as leaks, pipes bursting and other related issues that happen in the home.
• Hail (accounts for approximately 16% of all claims) – this is related to hurricanes, thunderstorms and tornadoes
• Weather related water damage (accounts for approximately 11% of all claims) – this encompasses flooding and other water damage from storms and adverse weather
• Theft (accounts for approximately 6% of all claims) – this includes break-ins and items being removed from the home by burglars

These five claims make up nearly 80% of all home insurance claims.  Although it is not one of the most common claims, fire is the most costly claim made to home insurance agencies. It was responsible for about 25% of all insurance claims paid out to insured policyholders who made claims.

To find out more about home insurance in the Bay Area, CA, contact Wai Cheng Insurance Inc. today!

Whether it’s a new house or you have already settled your mortgage, you need home insurance from Wai Cheng Insurance Inc. of Bay Area, CA for optimal protection. While most homeowners recognize that home insurance is vital, most don’t understand what it covers and its exclusions. Thankfully, when you partner with a knowledgeable insurance agent, understanding home insurance becomes a simple topic to digest.

Before purchasing home insurance for your home, here are four things you should have in mind to make an informed decision.

Home insurance covers more than one area.

Home insurance is designed to cover homeowners against various risks. Home insurance protects your home from damage or loss against:

• Theft
• Vandalism
• Lightning
• Hail
• Windstorms
• Fire or smoke

Besides perils, home insurance offers coverage in the below areas:

• Liability protection
• Medical payments
• Additional living expenses (ALE) coverage
• Personal contents coverage

As you can see, home insurance deploys a multi-dimensional approach to protect homeowners.

Not everything is covered.

While home insurance covers most perils, it won’t protect you against damage from floods and earthquakes. Additionally, home insurance provides limited coverage to high-value items like fur, cash, jewelry, and guns. If you have unique considerations, talk to your agent for separate insurance policies.

Update your home insurance often.

How often should you update your home insurance policy? As a rule of thumb, you might want to relook at your home insurance policy every year. However, you need to update your plan for optimal coverage in case of significant renovations and additions.

Deductibles apply in home insurance.

Just like most insurance plans, deductibles apply to home insurance. These are amounts that you pay in advance before your insurer starts paying. The amount of deductibles could be a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the home insured value.

Are you looking for home insurance to protect your Bay Area, CA home? Please contact Wai Cheng Insurance Inc. today for an affordable quote.