Insurance Products

Most home insurance policies are based on a standard form and cover two important areas: property and liability. In addition, most policies cover you for additional living expenses should your home not be habitable for a period of time due to a loss by a covered peril.

In order to keep your premiums to a minimum, we recommend a minimum deductible of $1000 for home insurance and $500 for auto insurance. Turning in a number of small claims may result in an increase in the premium or even a non-renewal. Your home insurance should be used for large catastrophic losses.

We will need to take into account the year your home was built, what type of home you have, how many square feet, how many bathrooms, etc. Once we have this information, we will determine an approximate value at which your home should be insured.

Please note that what amount you purchased the home at or what the home is assessed at has nothing to do with what it may cost to totally rebuild your home with today’s cost of construction.

A personal umbrella gives you additional liability coverage that goes over your underlying liability limits. The minimum umbrella is $1 million. While the costs of an umbrella may vary, the average cost is about $150 a year.

Yes, but within certain limits. Both inventory and business property are covered as personal property used for business purposes. However, like all personal property, there are monetary limits on reimbursement. Also, keep in mind that personal liability protection in your homeowners’ policy does not extend to business liability.

Yes, to a percentage. Contents that are stored away from home in a temporary location normally have up to 10% of your personal property limit on your homeowners’ policy.

No, your tenant will need to have a renters insurance policy.

Yes, you have up to 10% of your personal property limit for contents that are stored off the premises. However, please be sure to keep your agent informed about the address of where the contents are being stored, as well as more specifics about the building where the contents are being stored.

You will most likely have special limits on these items. Please talk to your agent about the advantages of adding a rider on your home insurance policy for these items.

Yes, making claims do affect your rates. More importantly, making two or three claims within a three-year period could possibly end up in a cancellation of your home insurance policy, as this type of policy should only be looked at for catastrophic losses. Having your deductible at least $1000 for home insurance and $500 for auto insurance will eliminate you from filing small claims that could hurt you in the future.

Before deciding on a life insurance policy, ask yourself the following questions:

• How much of the family income do I provide? If I were to die early, how would my survivors, especially my children, and anyone else financially dependent on me get by?
• Do I have children for whom I’d like to set aside money to finish their education in the event of my death?
• How will my family pay final expenses and repay debts after my death?
• Do I have family members or an organization to whom I would like to leave money?
• Will there be estate taxes to pay after my death?

Be sure to count the life insurance you have now, including any group insurance where you work or veteran’s insurance, as well as Social Security and pension plan survivor’s benefits. You can add other assets you have to your policy, including savings, investments, real estate, and personal property.

Term Life Insurance generally has lower premiums in the early years, but does not build up cash values that you can use in the future. It can cover you for a term of one or more years, and pays a death benefit only if you die in that term. Term Life Insurance generally offers the largest insurance protection for your money.

Cash Value Life Insurance has higher premiums at the beginning than you would have for the same amount of term insurance. The part of the premium that is not used for the cost of insurance is invested by the company and builds up a cash value that may be used in a variety of ways, including making partial withdrawals and borrowing against the policy’s cash value by taking out a policy loan.