Purchasing a home is never easy, especially for first-time homeowners. Many are surprised at how much money they have to spend in addition to the purchase price: closing costs, legal fees, notary fees, and various other line items. On top of that, they have to fork over more for home insurance, not just for the current year, but in all the years to come that they will spend in the house.
“Is all this home insurance vital” is a question our insurance agents at The Daley Agency often hear. The thing is, homebuyers should already know the answer if they have gone through the process of getting a mortgage.
Although the state of Pennsylvania does not mandate that homeowners insure their homes, mortgage lenders do. After all, it is their money that goes to the seller and completes the transaction, so technically, they own the home until the new owner, the mortgagee, reimburses them by paying off the mortgage. So they want to be sure they will be taken care of monetarily should a disaster, such as a fire or one of the severe weather disturbances that are becoming increasingly common here in Pennsylvania.
When you purchase a homeowner's insurance policy, you are not only protecting your house's physical structure but all that is within it; everything you own, such as the furniture, your family's clothing, kitchen appliances, and carpeting. So when you look at it this way, purchasing home insurance shouldn't be thought of as a necessary evil but as something that gives you a certain amount of peace of mind. In fact, some home insurance policies will even pay for your cost of lodging, should you be unable to live in your home while it is undergoing repairs due to the disaster.
To ensure you are neither underinsuring nor over insuring your Pennsylvania home, we invite you to stop in at The Daley Agency and speak to one of our agents.