Do You Have Enough Insurance Coverage to Rebuild Your Home?

The following post is courtesy of Cascade Crest Insurance, a subsiderary of Wauna Credit Union. CCI is a locally owned and operated independent full-service insurance agency serving all of Oregon and Washington. Whether you need insurance to cover you car, home, household, boat, business, or something else, Cascade Crest can help. Visit them at cascadecrestinsurance.com, or call 503-728-4391 to find out more.

Imagine how devastating it would be to lose your home in a fire. Now imagine not being able to rebuild it completely because you didn’t have the correct amount of insurance coverage. Selecting the proper amount of insurance coverage is the single most important decision you can make with your homeowner’s policy. This is called “insurance to value.”

Understanding the insurance coverage for a rebuild:

What is insurance to value?
Insurance to value is the relationship between the amount of coverage selected and the amount required to rebuild your home. Insuring your home for anything less than 100% insurance to value could mean you wouldn’t have enough coverage to replace your home in the event of a total loss.

Hammer

Why is the cost to rebuild different from the market value?
A home’s market value reflects current economic conditions. The cost to rebuild your home is based only on the cost of materials and labor in your area. It is important that you insure home based on its reconstruction cost, NOT its current market or even tax assessment value.

Why is reconstruction more expensive than new construction?
New-home builders typically build many homes at once and solicit bids from various sub-contractors to receive the best pricing. Their business model is based on economies of scale.

Home improvement prompt updates.
The recent stay-at-home orders have prompted many of us to look closer at our homes and provided extra time to consider home improvements. Stores have reported an uptick in buying material and shortage in the supply change which have both pushed prices up. If you got caught up in the effort to take advantage of time at home, please let us know what improvements you’ve made that could impact the need to adjust your insurance to value. 

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