The city of Laurel, MD is a great place to work and live. When you are in this area, you should carefully consider your housing needs and option. For those that are looking to make a long-term investment and want to stay in the area, buying a home is a great option. Along with any home purchase, you should also get a quality home insurance policy. There are several situations when someone will need to have this insurance coverage here. 

When Taking Out a Mortgage

One situation when someone will need to get a home insurance policy here is when you are going to take out a mortgage. The majority of people that buy a home will do so by taking out a mortgage. When you take out a mortgage, you do need to comply with the lender’s insurance requirements. Most of the time, the lender will require that you have your payments escrowed each month. 

When in a Home Association

You will also need to get home insurance if you are going to live in a home association. Those that live in a community with condo bylaws will normally have specific insurance requirements that are needed to be met. If you do not have a proper insurance policy in place, you could find yourself in violation of association rules, which could come with several different penalties. 

Practically anyone in the Laurel, MD area will need to have insurance for their home. If you are looking for home insurance coverage, you should call the insurance team at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial. When you work with Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial you are going to learn a lot more about your options for home insurance. They can also answer any questions and help you pick a policy that offers the right protection. 

If you own a home or are considering purchasing one then you’ve likely asked yourself how much homeowner’s insurance you need to purchase. Generally speaking, the higher the coverage you purchase the more expensive the policy so it’s not surprising to want to only purchase what you need. However, don’t sell yourself short by purchasing too little coverage because if a disaster strikes and you need to rebuild your home you’ll have to pay for any overages out of your pocket. 

In short, homeowner’s insurance covers damages and total losses to your home, property, and personal belongings. While doing regular maintenance on your home and keeping up with home improvement projects is one of the best ways to prevent costly damages to your house, the other is to make sure you have adequate insurance. While every policy will vary, most homeowner’s insurance policies will cover losses to your home including theft, lightning strikes, fire, damage from an airplane or vehicle, water damage, vandalism, riots, and more.

When it comes to deciding how much coverage to purchase, you want the coverage to equal the total replacement cost of your home. This means that if your home was declared a total loss and had to be rebuilt from scratch, your insurance coverage should at least pay for the entirety of the cost of rebuilding to pre-disaster specifications. Additionally, make sure that you have as much liability coverage as you can comfortably afford to help prevent your assets from being seized if a third party is hurt or injured while at your house. 

If you are in the Laurel, MD area and in need of homeowners insurance look no further than Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial. When it comes to insurance we know the different policy options like the back of our hands and are more than happy to assist in finding you and the perfect policy for your needs. Give us a call today to schedule a no-obligation consultation. 

Severe weather threats like hurricanes, winter storms, and tornadoes are common to Maryland, making it important for homeowners to prepare for natural disasters. The following tips from Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial can help you protect your home and valuables from disasters.

Become Aware of Disasters Common to Your Area  

Be aware of severe weather threats and disasters that normally befall the Laurel MD area. Keep tabs on weather alerts so you’ll have time to prep your home against them. Your home prep could include boarding or shuttering windows, bracing doors, storing outdoor furniture and plants in a safe location, and anchoring down objects that can’t be brought inside. 

Stock Up on Emergency Supplies

Stock up on emergency supplies and keep these up to date in preparation for a disaster. In addition to food and water, you should have a complete first aid kit, flashlights, radio, extra batteries, tool kit, and toiletries, reliable cell phone and charger. It also helps to have extra cash on hand for emergencies in case you cannot get to an ATM.

Locate Water, Electrical & Gas Shut Offs

Make sure you know where your water, electricity, and gas shutoff valves are so you can quickly turn these off before or during a disaster to reduce the risk of fire and interior water damage.   

Secure Important Documents

Gather important documents and secure them in a safe location. This includes passports, birth certificates, insurance papers, financial records, etc.

Update Your Home Insurance

Make sure your home insurance is up to date and that you’re covered for disasters common to your area. Your dwelling and property insurance should be enough to cover the value of your Laurel, MD home and goods in case they’re totally destroyed in a disaster.

To purchase home insurance coverage for protection against disasters, contact Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial.

Home insurance is a product that protects the investment you make in your home. At Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, we provide home insurance that will cover the costs of damages to your home and protect you from liabilities as a homeowner. 

You need to have a home insurance policy in Laurel, MD that provides you with adequate coverage. The following are three things your home insurance policy needs to provide. 

Liability coverage

Many homeowners associate home insurance first with protecting financially against physical damage to their property. However, this is not the only important form of coverage that home insurance offers.

Home insurance should also include liability coverage. Coverage for liabilities will cover the expenses of a lawsuit that results from an accident or event on your property. It’s important to make sure that your home insurance includes adequate liability coverage. 

Coverage for natural disasters you’re at risk for

You need to gauge the particular risks for damage there are at your property. Think about what natural disasters are likely to occur and cause extensive damage in your area.

If your area is prone to damage from earthquakes, flooding, or hurricanes, you need to have a home insurance policy that will provide coverage in these situations. 

An affordable deductible

It’s important that you can afford to pay your deductible out of pocket in the event that you have to file a claim.

A higher deductible will mean lower monthly premiums. However, a deductible that’s too high could create problems for you. Your home insurance coverage won’t kick in until your deductible is paid. 

Learn more about our home insurance policies in Laurel, MD. Contact us at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial with questions and inquiries regarding our insurance products. 

Being a homeowner comes with lots of built-in stress to go along with all the pride and excitement. You are so happy to actually have a home of your very own but there are so many things that can wrong that it can keep you up at night with worry. Having good home insurance can take some of the worries out of making sure that you are protected but even the top insurance will be counting on you to do your part to make sure that filing a claim goes smoothly. At Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial in Laurel, MD we will make sure you have a good carrier and we can help you to understand how a home inventory can make your insurance experience much less stressful. 

In this day of technology, there are several ways that you can create a home inventory. Walkthrough your home, top to bottom and make a recording with your cellphone of each room. You want to especially focus on the more high priced items. If you have a video camera you can record your contents that way. You can walk through each room with a pad and paper and write down the contents of each room. All of these ways work. In addition, appraisals should be placed with the inventory as well as sales slips and detailed model number. The more information you have the easier it will be to collect in the event of a loss. The inventory needs to be stored in a safe place, the Cloud is an option or if it is a paper copy, in a safe place preferably off the home site. 

Talking with the experienced agents at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial in Laurel, MD can help to ease your mind when it comes to how to create a home inventory. Stop by the office or give us a call for a no-obligation quote. 

For a Laurel, MD homeowner, their property is one of the most significant investments that they are ever going to make. That’s why it is important to take the time to properly safeguard this investment. These investments are prone to various risks and an experienced Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial agent can walk the homeowner through them.

A home insurance policy is going to be required by any mortgage lender and while this is typically not a state level requirement, the investment must be guarded from loss. Let’s say that the homeowner resides in an area where they are at risk of experiencing various natural disasters.

An experienced agent will let the homeowner know more about the minimum amount of coverage. The amount that the homeowner is spending on their mortgage goes a long way towards determining the level of coverage that is needed. In many instances, a lender will step in if the home is not properly insured.

From there, the payments are going to be added to the homeowner’s monthly mortgage payment by the lender. By taking the proactive route, a Laurel MD homeowner can avoid these types of difficulties. A homeowner may also want to discuss needs that are associated with their personal belongings. 

Let’s say that the homeowner has an expensive laptop that they are looking to protect, or even some jewelry. The policy that is purchased must be reflective of the homeowner’s personal needs. If injuries occur on the property, homeowner’s insurance also offers protection against the resulting legal bills and medical expenses that are incurred. 

When a homeowner is ready to start their search for the proper policy, they must take the time to meet with experienced Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial agents. Take a moment to visit the Mid Atlantic website, so that you can find out more about the importance of these policies. 

Your home in Laurel, MD probably contains most of your possessions, if not all of them. The policy you obtained from Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial is meant to protect your home and what is contained in it. This includes but is not limited to:

• The structure, including outbuildings.
• Major and small appliances, like your stove, washer, dryer, toaster, and coffee maker.
• Flooring and window treatments.
• Electronics, movies, books, and games.
• Personal items like clothing and make-up.

Limits and Deductibles

Your homeowner’s policy is really a contract, and it will have a maximum amount covered and deductible amount. Some items may even have their own maximums, such as jewelry or outbuildings. The policy doesn’t really describe the individual items covered.

Why the Inventory Is Important

If something happens to any of your possessions, you will need to file a claim with the insurance company. To do that, you will need to explain your specific loss. For instance, if your television is stolen, you will both call the police and make a claim. Without identifying information, like a serial number, the police won’t be able to say whether the property is yours if they recover it.

With a large event, like a fire, the problem is much worse. You will need to explain exactly what you lost, and without an inventory, you will need to create a list from memory.

Making an Inventory Is Easier Than You Think

Especially in the days of smartphones, making an inventory has gotten easier and easier. One trick is to do a video inventory where you go through the rooms in your house one at a time, recording the contents and noting identifiers.

If you want help making a home inventory in Laurel, MD, we at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial have experience helping our clients plan. Call us today for any questions or if you want to discuss a policy.

To decide about home insurance in Maryland, consider the risks covered, whether you need extra coverage for floods and earthquakes, the value to be insured, and the deductible that you can accept.

Types of Basic Maryland Home Insurance

There are two general categories of home insurance offered in the state of Maryland. One type is the HO-2 Broad Form that identifies the covered risks called “named perils.” The other type is the HO-3 Special Form that is an “open peril” type, which covers whatever is not specifically stated in the policy as being excluded. Condominiums have a special category of their own called HO-6.

Floods and Earthquakes

Flood and earthquake insurance are each separate policies from home insurance. Homeowners probably want to consider getting flood insurance no matter where the home is located because the risk of flooding is increasing due to climate change.

Flood plain maps from FEMA are outdated. They are no longer accurate when used for predicting flood zones. There have been many floods in the past few years that statistically were not supposed to happen but once in 100 years or once in 500 years.

If a home is anywhere near the coastline or within 30 miles of a river, having flood insurance is a critical consideration at this time.

Market Value and Replacement Value

Market value insurance is usually used for older homes that are built in such a way that replacing the actual materials used in the original construction would be cost-prohibitive. Instead, newer construction materials are used to recreate the home to a standard of livability.

Replacement value insurance can be between 80% to 100% of the replacement cost for a newer home to be rebuilt as close to the same condition as it was before any damage.

Deductible

The other thing to decide is the amount of the deductible. This is the amount a homeowner pays out-of-pocket before any insurance claim is paid. Higher deductibles lower the monthly insurance premiums.

Conclusion

Work with your agent at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial, serving Laurel, MD and the nearby communities, to understand exactly what coverage is offered by the home insurance policy you select. Add extra coverage as necessary to supplement the home insurance.

To get a quote for home insurance contact an agent at Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial in Laurel, MD by calling 301-604-4444 or use the online quote request form.

You already know you need insurance on your Laurel, MD home, but do you know exactly what your policy does to help out in a catastrophe? Our Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial team has put together this short post explaining the importance of property insurance. Here are three ways homeowner’s insurance protects your family.

#1: Protection Against Fire and Theft

While the policy itself can’t keep a fire from breaking out or something breaking into your home, your insurance can protect you if one ever happens. Even small kitchen fires require thousands of dollars in home restoration work due to smoke damage. Replacement of personal property after a break-in can easily become expensive. Having insurance can help alleviate the cost of undergoing this type of process versus having to pay for it yourself.

#2: Rebuilding After Major Damage

An event that causes major damage might require the rebuilding of your home. Homeowner’s insurance protects your family by offering the ability to replace damaged parts of your structure without having to pay for those costs yourself. In the event of a catastrophic incident, this can be an absolute lifesaver and a real benefit to your peace of mind.

#3: A Place to Stay After A Catastrophe

After a major incident, you’ll need a safe place for your family to stay. Most homeowner’s insurance policies cover the costs of either staying in a hotel for the short term or finding a suitable rental home during a major rebuild of your home. By having proper insurance, you can keep from paying for this type of lodging out of your own pocket.

Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial proudly serves the Laurel, MD community and surrounding areas. Please contact us today to schedule an appointment or for a no-obligation coverage review.

If you are an owner of a home, there are many important things that you will need to do to keep it properly protected. One of the most important things that you will need to do when you own home has home insurance. There are several reasons why you need to have home insurance.

Protects Against Loss

A primary reason to have insurance for your home is that it can protect against losses. If your home is damaged by a fire, bad weather, or vandalism, it can be extremely expensive to make the necessary repairs. Fortunately, when you have home insurance in place, you can have financial protection against these losses. Your insurance company can also give you the support you need to start the repair process.

Gives Liability Protection

If you own a property, you are also running the risk that you could be found liable for injuries that someone suffers at your home. Since this is a risk that never goes away, you need to make sure that you continue to have this coverage. In the rare situation that you are sued for liability, you will have the support you need to either settle or fight the claim.

Often Required

You also need to have home insurance because it is often required under certain agreements. If you have a mortgage or live in a condo association, the associated agreements will likely require that you carry insurance at all times. 

When you are considering your home insurance needs to cover your Laurel, MD area property, you should contact Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial. The Mid Atlantic Insurance Financial team is skilled at helping their customers to better understand their home insurance needs. They can then help you get into a policy that will give you the right coverage.