{"id":238,"date":"2014-05-05T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-05T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/?p=238"},"modified":"2014-07-16T09:31:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T15:31:05","slug":"new-homeowners-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/05\/new-homeowners-101\/","title":{"rendered":"I am shopping for a house. What do I need to know about homeowner&#8217;s insurance before I buy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you&rsquo;re shopping for a new home, it only makes sense to protect your biggest investment with a homeowners policy. But before you buy a new policy, it&rsquo;s important to understand how it protects your home and what you can expect from your policy.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s important to understand the definitions of a &ldquo;covered property,&rdquo; which can vary depending on your state, policy provider and policy type:<\/p>\n<p>Dwelling &ndash; Considered the structure of the house.<\/p>\n<p>Other structures &ndash; Tool sheds, detached garages and other structures separate from the house.<\/p>\n<p>Personal property &ndash; The contents of your home, including furniture, clothing and appliances.<\/p>\n<p>Covered peril &ndash; Considered a cause of loss, such as a theft, fire or other peril named in your policy.<\/p>\n<p>Loss of use &ndash; Provides protection in the event your dwelling becomes uninhabitable. Your provider may cover any necessary increase in living expenses to maintain your normal standard of living.<\/p>\n<p>The average homeowners insurance policy usually comes in two parts:<\/p>\n<p>Property coverage &ndash; This coverage takes care of your home and its contents in the event of a loss stemming from theft, vandalism, fire, tornado or other natural disaster.<\/p>\n<p>Liability coverage &ndash; If something happens in your home that results in another party&rsquo;s injury, liability coverage can offer protection against lawsuits.<\/p>\n<p>As a general rule, most providers will not fully cover the cost of damage to a house unless you purchase coverage equaling 80 percent or more of the house&rsquo;s total replacement value. Otherwise, you&rsquo;ll only receive reimbursement for a proportionate amount of the required minimum.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that your policy should also be reviewed every so often to keep up with the 80-percent rule, due to inflation, market events and capital improvements that cause a home&rsquo;s value to increase over time. Speaking to one of our independent agents can help put you on the right footing when it comes to your homeowners insurance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you&rsquo;re shopping for a new home, it only makes sense to protect your biggest investment with a homeowners policy. But before you buy a new policy, it&rsquo;s important to understand how it protects your home and what you can expect from your policy. It&rsquo;s important to understand the definitions of a &ldquo;covered property,&rdquo; which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home-insurance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238\/revisions\/239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymidatlantic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}