Home Insurance Variables To Consider During The Winter

Wine Valley Insurance Services assists the Napa, CA community through offering a wide variety of insurance coverage. We are committed to helping our clients find policies that will protect them in the event of a loss. Providing quality customer service is our top priority.

Home Insurance Variables During The Winter

Home insurance helps you protect one of your most valuable assets. The policy covers any damages to your home or personal items. You are also covered if a potential liability issue arises due to someone getting injured on your property. You can amend your policy to cover your temporary lodging somewhere else if a natural disaster causes serious damage to your home. As you prepare for winter in Napa CA, here are a few variables to consider.

You have to consider the threat of fire. As you are heating up your home, an accident may occur. Depending on how severe the fire is, your home may suffer substantial damages. If a disaster arises, you can have a piece of mind knowing that your home insurance policy will cover you.

Another potential danger is frozen pipes. Cold temperatures may cause your pipes to freeze overnight. This could potentially cause some serious problems. Make sure that you keep a proper temperature inside of your home so that your pipes won’t freeze up. You can amend your policy to cover you if the pipes burst and your home suffers flood damage.

Winter also brings the increased likelihood of a windstorm or a similar type of natural disaster. Windstorms have the potential to cause serious damages to your roof. If the storm damages your roof, water and possibly snow may leak into your home. Home insurance will cover you if this situation arises.

Consult With Wine Valley Insurance Services

Visit our website today to learn more information on home insurance.

CA Homeowners Insurance Requirements

Unlike driving a vehicle where you are required to carry auto insurance, there are scenarios where you can own a home without having homeowners insurance but this is typically reserved for individuals that are able to purchase the entirety of their home with cash. Since this is usually not the case for the average consumer, it is highly likely that your mortgage lender will require that you carry insurance to protect their investment if your home is damaged or declared a total loss. Additionally, if you live in an area deemed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as being high risk for flooding, you will likely be required to purchase a supplemental flood insurance policy to your homeowner coverage. 

Home Insurance Options

When it comes to insuring your home in California, homeowners have a number of options. First, you can purchase a policy that covers the actual cash value of your home. What this means is that property records or an appraisal is used to determine what your house is worth and if it is destroyed because of a fire, natural disaster or other covered incident than your insurance policy will pay to replace it minus the estimated depreciation. Second, you have the option to purchase a replacement cost policy that pays to rebuild or repair your home without taking into account any depreciation. Lastly, is a policy that covers the guaranteed or extended replacement cost. This type of policy is considered the highest level of peace of mind and offers coverage to pay whatever it costs to rebuild your home as it was before the incident regardless of whether or not it exceeds your policy limits. 

Shopping for homeowner insurance does not have to be a challenge when you go with the professionals at Wine Valley Insurance Services in Napa, CA. Our friendly team of knowledgeable insurance pros will answer all your questions while helping you choose the best policy for your needs. 

Will Home Insurance Protect Items Inside Your Residence?

When you purchase a home, you quickly begin to fill it with all sorts of personal items. These could be very valuable items on a material level, such as furniture, televisions, and other electronics. The same can be said for expensive jewelry. It could also be personal items that carry more of sentimental value. When you have these items in your home, you want to be sure they have the same coverage your actual home does in the event there is a loss.

Homeowners insurance will protect items inside of your residence. This is coverage of the contents within your home that is a complementary coverage on top of what you get with your home insurance policy, covering the home itself.

The process of buying home insurance needs to include coverage for personal items inside of your home. When you buy things such as televisions and furniture, save receipts and take pictures. The more evidence you have on the value of the items and what is actually within your home, the easier it will be.

To qualify to recover losses, you need to have a covered accidental loss. Say a tree falls on your home and goes through, harming the home but also breaking contents inside. This would be a valid claim across the board, covering the home as well as the contents inside. If it was a claim that is a result of negligence, you may not be able to cover the losses in the same way.  

Living in Napa, CA, you are exposed to a lot of potential risks all of the time with wind storms, rain, and more. It is important to ensure you have proper protection so that you can feel confident in your home, knowing you will not lose it if the unthinkable should happen. Work with the team at Wine Valley insurance Services to start the process of understanding homeowners’ insurance needs today.

Protecting Valuable Personal Items and Collections with Home Insurance

Your new home is probably the biggest investment that you will ever make.  It’s one that needs to be protected with the right home insurance.  Your home insurance policy protects the physical structure if there is a fire or severe weather but it protects more than the structure of the house.  At Wine Valley Insurance Services in Napa, CA, our agents can help you protect everything on your property financially. 

Most homeowners don’t’ realize the extensive protection that their home policy provides.  Sure, it provides funds to repair storm damage and fires when they happen but they also cover all of your personal possessions in the home.  This includes your clothing, furniture, and electronics.  When you have valuable collections, furs or jewelry, it’s important that you talk with your agent to ensure that you have enough coverage to protect these items.  Most policies will also cover items should they be stolen or damaged when you are away from home. 

While your home insurance policy provides protection for any valuables, it also gives you liability coverage.  This will cover the medical bills of anyone that is injured on the property.  It will take care of their medical expenses if you are deemed negligent and legal expenses if they should sue you. 

Home insurance is a valuable financial tool for you and your family.  It can cover valuables, your home and any outbuildings on the property.  It offers liability protection which is invaluable. 

Our agents at Wine Valley Insurance Services in Napa, CA are ready to help you care for your home and any valuables that you own.  Visit our website.  When you are ready, call or come in and visit with our agents.  The best time to start protecting your investment is today!

Ask Your Agent About Home Insurance Changes

Your Napa, CA home is a big investment, and it’s one that Wine Valley Insurance Services wants to help you protect. We have dedicated agents who are interested in making sure you get the policy and protection you need. We also want to make sure any policy you have gets updated anytime you need or want to make changes to it. Some policies will work for your needs for years, but that’s not always the case. There are adjustments that might be required, especially if you make big changes to your home. A large remodel, for example, could mean you need more coverage.

Additionally, if you install something that might not be covered, such as an in-ground swimming pool, your policy could need to be changed. The same is true if you have something in your home most people don’t have, such as antique jewelry or a grand piano. While policies cover your home’s contents, they typically have limits that cover standard items. If you have things in your house that aren’t typical at all, asking your agent about changing the policy to specifically include and cover those items is an important way to protect yourself against loss in the event of a claim.

When you work with us at Wine Valley Insurance Services, we can protect your Napa, CA area home the right way. We’ll talk to you about the policy you need, or the one you already have. If there are changes you need to make, we’ll address those, as well. You might not realize your home or life has changed a lot since you got your insurance policy. We can help you see if there are adjustments that should be made, so you can make an informed decision about your coverage needs.

Reading your home insurance mortgage statement : Term to term.

If it’s your first time getting home insurance, then you will soon come to find out that there’s a nice little legal document that’ll come in the mail every few days; there’s typically one sent out per month, and it’s called the mortgage statement. And regardless of what specific home insurance terms you have obliged yourself to, in addition to the home insurance you’ve purchased on the home and its mortgage, you’ll usually find the same set of 8 elements within the document:

1. Company contact info. (for the mortgage company and/or the insurance company) – This will usually include the main point of contact, possibly a 1-800 number, the billing address from the sender, and more.

2. The loan number – This is basically your account number. Don’t lose it.

3. The current interest rate – It shows how much interest you are paying on the mortgage, and/or on the insurance covering it.

4. The escrow balance or taxes paid – If, as the borrow, you choose to simply set aside an escrow (or have the mortgage company do it for you), then you’ll see this escrow in your monthly payments. It’ll display in the currency amount set; if you’re living in the U.S., for example, and the mortgage loan and insurance are based there, then you’ll see it in $ USD. 

5. The totaled monthly payment – On a separate line

6. The central escrow – With date included

7. The interest payment – Your current APR

8. The principal payment – Pay it off first. 

Wine Valley Insurance Services serves Napa, CA with precision and clarity of mind, offering undisputed customer excellence in its every scope. Check them out today to learn how you may be assisted with any insurance query. Call or click now. 

Is there a difference between a fire and a wildfire?

The agents at Wine Valley Insurance Services, serving Napa, CA and the nearby areas, have plenty of experience dealing with insurance claims for wildfires in northern California. They want to caution homeowners about the differences between a regular fire and a wildfire. Most home insurance covers fires due to ordinary causes. However, there may not be coverage for wildfires. It is essential to double check home insurance policies to make sure that any damage to a home caused by wildfires is covered.

Force Majeure Considerations

“Force majeure” is a legal term used in a home insurance policy that is sometimes also referred to as an “act of God.” The use of this term in creating coverage exclusions and policy limits is something to investigate in any home insurance policies.

For example, let’s say the home insurance policy has a force majeure clause that excludes fires caused by an “act of God.” This means that if a wildfire caused by a lightning strike or due to drought is the reason why a home burns down, the insurance may not cover the damages.

Getting Home Insurance Areas with High Risk of Wildfires

California had over 9,000 wildfires during 2017 that burned up over 1.2 million acres and caused many billions of dollars in insurance claims. This was the most destructive year on record due to wildfires.

In many parts of northern California, homes that are located in areas subject to wildfires now cannot get home insurance, or if they do get home insurance, it has a specific exclusion saying that the policy does not cover wildfires.

If you are unable to get insurance coverage for a home due to the risk of wildfires, it may be available under the California FAIR plan. Contact your agent at Wine Valley Insurance Services in Napa, CA for help with home insurance coverage.

What Will Happen if My Home Insurance Lapses?

Buying a home in California is always a big investment. When you decide to purchase a home, you will need to make sure that you have insurance in place to protect it and you. While most people will have protection in place when they buy the home, the policy could lapse if you stop paying. If your home policy does lapse, a few different things could happen to you and your insurance.

Loss of Coverage

If your home insurance policy coverage lapses, the first thing that will likely happen is that you will lose your coverage. Home insurance for people in the Napa, CA area provides a lot of very valuable coverage including property damage coverage, liability protection, and personal asset coverage. If you stop making payments on your home insurance policy or if it matures, you could be found to have no coverage when you need it the most.

Force Pay by Lender

If your home insurance policy lapses, there is a chance that your lender could force pay it for you. In most situations, your lender will require you to escrow your home insurance payments. However, if you fall behind on payments and there is no escrow, the lender will likely pay additional money out of its pocket to make sure your policy stays active as it will protect their collateral. You then will be charged a fee and your loan could be forced into default.

When you have more questions about home insurance, or would like to find a new policy, contacting the Wine Valley Insurance Services company could be beneficial. Wine Valley Insurance Services will be able to help Napa, CA area homeowners find a policy that works for them and also keeps them in full compliance with their loan. We also are happy to serve the insurance needs of those in Nevada, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Washington, and Idaho. Reach out to our offices for more information.

Buying Home Insurance

In today’s real estate market, homes located in the beautiful Napa, CA area in need of insurance can contact Wine Valley Insurance Services for policy advice, premium quotes, and seasoned guidance.

Home Insurance covers private residences by combining certain personal protections like:

  • Losses to one’s home and contents
  • Loss of use
  • Loss of personal items
  • Liability insurance for accidents that may happen in your Napa, CA neighborhood

One’s residence is typically one of the most valuable financial assets one will ever own. Yet, owning a home includes risk. A homeowner must contend with the possibility of loss. The loss could be minor, such as a broken window, or perhaps something more serious, like an entire loss of the home due to fire. The reason to carry home insurance is to protect against such potential financial losses.

Although homeowner‘s Insurance is not typically mandated by law, if one has a mortgage, a lender will frequently require the buyer to purchase homeowner’s insurance. The home itself is referred to as the "dwelling" for insurance purposes.

Homeowner’s Insurance covers damages; home warranties cover mechanical breakdowns. Most consumers would never anticipate that a standard homeowner’s insurance policy would cover the basement’s wine cooler, should it ever stop working. However, many homeowners mistakenly assume that the large, vital systems in the home will be covered by a homeowner’s insurance policy. Unfortunately, that is simply untrue. Home insurance does not cover mechanical breakdowns.

Wine Valley Insurance Services can help you find the home insurance policy to meet your needs and to provide a combination of custom-made coverage, quality service, and fair pricing. Contact us today.

Is Your Home Prepared for Summer?

With summer fast approaching, now would be a good time to start preparing your Napa, CA home for the influx of family and friends over the summer holidays. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started.

Professional Cleaning

Take advantage of summer discounts to have your windows, carpets, and gutters professionally cleaned before bringing in visitors this summer. Many companies offer discounts for cleaning services at this time of year, enabling you to benefit from a cleaner environment at reduced costs.

Service AC

Have your AC serviced to ensure it’s in good working condition before temperatures begin to climb. If your unit has become old and outdated, consider upgrading to a new model so you and your friends can enjoy a cool and comfortable home environment. Check and clean ceiling fans, as well. Doing this can help keep energy costs down.

Touch-up Painting

Do a little touch-up painting on doors and walls to cover scuff marks and scratches. A fresh coat of paint can do wonders to enhance your interior decor.

Revive Landscaping

Trim overgrown trees and shrubs and take the time to spruce up your yard. An attractive yard will give your home a more welcoming touch. If you’re having problems with ants or other insects, spray your home’s exterior to get rid of them before they overrun your property.

Update Home Insurance

Talk to your Wine Valley Insurance Services agent in Napa, CA about updating your home insurance policy. Make sure you have adequate property damage and liability coverage to cover unforeseen accidents that may occur while visitors are on your property. By discussing home insurance options and costs with a representative from Wine Valley Insurance Services, you can have greater assurance that you’re fully protected against any eventuality that may arise.