Protecting Your Investment - Residential Property Insurance

Peter Lynch once said, "Before you do investbank will require a property valuation report unless
anything in stocks, you ought to consider buying athe property is totally new. In every property
house, since a house, after all, is the one goodvaluation report, there are always 3 values of the
investment that almost anyone manages to makes."property stated apart from the purchase price of the
There is no doubt about that statement made byproperty;
Peter Lynch, as buying a house for their children and
loved one is every person's dream. For most people,1. The Market Value of the property
the first and probably only property investment has2. The Force Sales value of the property
become their biggest investment and it carries a3. The Insurable value of the property.
huge responsibility which includes their obligation toMore often than not, the insurable value of the
service their mortgage, paying taxes and maintainingproperty is between the market value and the force
their property. One of their many challenges is tosales value. This insurable value represents the
protect them from suffering of financial losses due toamount of cost that the property will need to rebuild
unforeseen circumstances such as fire damages,in the even of a total loss after an insured peril.
naturally disaster and many other perils that couldMost property owners including some mortgage
happen without any warning.officers always confuse with the purchase price and
Purchasing an adequate insurance coverage for theirinsurable value, they often take the purchase price or
property is thus of utmost important. Many newmarket value as the sum insured of the property
house buyers have face the problem of deciding howwhen arranging for the insurance. While this is a
much is enough to cover for their property. Insuringcommon practice, the owner is paying extra premium
too high, will be a waste of premium as insuranceunnecessarily.
company would not pay anything higher than itsA more accurate way is to ask this question, "If my
actual cost. Insurance too low, will run the risk ofproperty is totally destroy, how much money I will
being under insured whereby they would have toneed to rebuild it to the same condition before the
bare the proportionate cost of repairs andloss?" And the rebuilding cost will generally exclude
reinstatement of the property to it pre-damagethe land, drainage and sewage and foundation which
condition.seldom destroy after the insured perils, unless of
One of the simplest ways is to follow the Propertycourse the damage is caused by a catastrophic
valuation report, most properties if mortgage to theearthquake.