Recently, the Insurance Information Institute released a study which ranked the American states from highest to lowest insurance premiums. The clear trend that emerged from the list is that homeowners in states that are highly prone to disasters like hurricanes are likely to sport the highest annual prices. When advising homeowners to purchase a specific policy, it's important to be sure the policy includes an accurate valuation and that the customer is aware of risks to their property.
This can mean advising them to purchase additional insurance to cover the cost of catastrophic incidents that aren't included under a standard policy, like earthquakes or flooding. For some clients, it may seem like an extravagance or unnecessary cost, but homeowners caught without that safeguard will face enormous out-of-pocket expenses if disaster strikes. For any policy, knowing the actual replacement value of a home is critical to providing enough coverage to protect important assets. This figure should be re-assessed continuously to align policies with the most current state of a property.
Noah Bank, a licensed insurance broker in Plainville, NY, told Investopedia that rates can also depend on the specific market conditions of an area.
"Pricing of rates can vary depending on an insurer's appetite for certain building construction, roof type, condition or age of the home, heat type, if an oil tank is on premise or underground, the proximity to the coast, if there are any pets, swimming pool, trampoline, security systems and more," he explains.
To provide clients with the most authentic, consistent estimation of their property's replacement value, agents and insurance companies must depend on standardized calculation methods. Contact us today to learn more about our property valuation calculator.