Homeowners insurance is a very important part of home ownership. The JS Realty Team @ Samson Properties guides our clients through the entire home buying process, but there are 2 items that the Buyer must handle themselves: obtaining their loan and purchasing homeowners insurance.
Homeowners insurance will be required by your Lender if you have a mortgage on your home, and they will require a minimum level of coverage to protect their interest in the property.
Homeowners Insurance is actually comprised of two different types of protection: hazard and liability coverage.
HAZARD INSURANCE
This protects you should any damage and/or destruction happen to your home and contents. It will cover fire, theft, and certain natural disasters. If you live in a flood zone or in an area that could potentially have earthquakes you will need to purchase additional coverage to include these natural disasters.
LIABILITY COVERAGE
If someone gets injured on your property, the liability coverage is in place to protect you from medical costs and possible lawsuits.
There are also several factors to consider when choosing your insurance:
COVERAGE MINIMUM – Depending on how you feel about insurance, the minimum level that your Lender requires might not provide you with enough peace of mind. Although you may want to keep your homeowners insurance cost down, you also want to make certain you have all the coverage you need.
WHAT IS INCLUDED – Be very clear about what is covered and more importantly what is NOT covered. You don’t want to lose something and later find out it wasn’t included in the policy.
DEDUCTIBLES – Most policies come with a $500 or $1,000 deductible, but speak with your insurance agent to see what works best for you – and your budget!
PERSONAL PROPERTY – Be sure you know exactly what personal property is covered. You’ll also need to determine whether you want replacement value or depreciated loss value. You should also review the value of your possessions yearly. You don’t want to spend money for coverage you don’t need if the value of certain items has decreased.
BUSINESS NEEDS – Do you have a home office? There are both property and liability business exposures that most standard homeowner policies don’t address, as well as low levels of coverage. The typical policy appears to be around $2,500 for in-home office equipment. And while that may sound like enough, by the time you add the costs of your computer, software, tablet, printer, scanner, phone, furniture, etc., it could very well exceed that amount. You’ll need to find coverage that can include all of your home office equipment and supplies.
Remember, your home is usually your largest investment. This is not the time to save a few dollars and possibly expose your family to hardships if the unthinkable happens. Perform your due diligence, be comfortable knowing what your homeowners insurance covers, and ensure that you have enough protection in place.
Contact a JS Realty Team member to answer any questions about any facet of the home buying or selling process or if you need a referral for a reputable insurance agent.
The JS Realty Team – not only serving Brambleton, serving all of Northern Virginia.
LOWER INTEREST RATES – Interest rates can be lowered due to a change in the industry as a whole, such as the example above. Interest rates can also be lowered by shortening the term of the loan. 15 year rates will be lower than 30 years loans. Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM’s) are loans that are fixed for a specific time period such as 3, 5 7 or 10 years and will typically be offered at rates lower than a 30 year fixed loan.
mortgage loan. The fees can be separated into several categories: lender fees, escrow deposits, prepaid items, title fees, government recording and transfer fees, and additional settlement fees.
Most loans require the borrower to pay for property taxes and homeowner’s insurance on a monthly basis as part of the mortgage loan payment. When property taxes are due (typically twice a year), and homeowner’s insurance (annually) the lender will pay the bills out of the escrow funds.
–Government Recording Fee – fee charged by government to record the deed of trust
interest rates from the low 3% to over 4.5%.
No one can tell for sure what rates will do, but everything I hear and read indicates that interest rates will rise gradually through 2015. We may see rates approaching 4.5% or even higher by the end of the year.
believe that rates will gradually increase. It is also reasonable to assume that rates may rise to the 5% mark by the end of 2015 or the first half of 2016.
Interest rates and mortgage bond prices are inversely related. If mortgage bond prices go up, interest rates go down.
Federal Reserve System:
In summary, there are many factors that influence mortgage interest rates. All of these factors are outside of our personal control. When it comes time that you need a loan to purchase or refinance a home, you will be faced with making a decision to lock in your interest rate or let the rate “float” in hopes that the market improves and you can get a lower rate. Here is my advice in regards to that decision: It is much better to be locked in with rates falling than floating with rates rising.