A home security system could make as much as a twenty percent reduction in cost on your homeowners insurance.

 Having a monitored security system installed can make your home and property safer and save you money as well! The FBI reports that homes without security systems installed are three times more likely to be burglarized.

 Because of these facts, insurance companies realize that professionally installed and monitored security systems actually create a safer environment for homeowners. Because monitored security systems significantly reduce the chance that a home will be burglarized or be damaged by fire or water, there is reduced likelihood that claims will be filed. This saves the insurance company money and most of them are happy to pass that savings on to policy owners.

Because it is quite common for a homeowner’s insurance policy to be rolled into a mortgage payment, homeowners might not be aware of how much the actual cost is or how much they might be able to save simply by having a monitored security system installed. There are certainly plenty of expenses for homeowners, so cutting costs everywhere possible makes sense, especially if it also keeps the entire family safer.

At Liveoak Agency, we’ve got the expertise to examine your policy, compare it to what is available on the market, and make sure that your coverage is adequate, and if there are discounts for things such as monitored home security systems, we’ll be able to make sure they are applied, even if your premiums are bundled into a mortgage payment.

Please call us at the Liveoak Agency to discuss your current insurance policies, and any changes that might be necessary!

(334)-285-2881

Here are 15 Events You Probably Didn’t Know Your Homeowners Insurance Policy Covers!

Most people don’t read their entire homeowner’s insurance policy, assuming that all policies are the same and everything is covered. This of course isn’t true. Depending on what state you live in, the type of property insured, etc., each homeowners insurance policy is different. Make sure you regularly sit down with an informed and knowledgeable agent, such as one of the agents at The Liveoak Agency, and go over your insurance need!

With That Being Said, There Are Some Things That Are Fairly Standard in Most Homeowners Policies. Here Are 15 of The More Unusual Ones

1. Some Natural Disasters – With the exception of floods, most homeowners insurance policies cover natural disasters like volcanoes or earthquakes.

2. Spoiled Food – most policies will cover up to $500 for food spoiled due to a power outage.

3. Falling Detritus – Yep, that flush on the airplane is supposed to be safe, but occasionally ‘blue ice’ which is frozen toilet waste from airplane lavatories falls out of the plane and hits a roof. Your insurance policy likely covers that as well.

4. Damaged Headstones – Damage from vandals to grave headstones are covered by the primary caretaker’s homeowners policy. Natural wear and shifting aren’t though.

5. Death in The Home – In the event that a murder, suicide or death occurs in the home, insurance policies usually cover the cost of cleanup after the fact.

6. Rain on Your Wedding Day – Home insurance also typically covers you when you have an event in your home or yard that becomes affected by a natural disaster. So when a storm comes along and rains out your wedding — that homeowners policy will probably cover some part of the relocation costs.

7. Legal Fees – The umbrella coverage portion of a policy usually takes care of defamation and wrongful death cases. Some high profile examples of this are O.J. Simpson and Bill Clinton, who used their homeowners policies to cover costs of legal battles they faced.

8. Wild Animal Stampedes – Damage caused by wild animals is covered. In unusual circumstances, such as during a forest fire, wildlife can gain access to the home. These incidents are covered.

9. Mandatory Upgrades – If a law or regulation is enacted that requires you to make improvements to the property, homeowners insurance usually covers these expenses.

10. Dog Bites – The average dog-bite claim costs around $25,000. Most policies will cover the costs of such claims.

11. Personal Injury – Even if you have an accident somewhere other than in your home, your homeowners insurance policy may cover it. The degree of this coverage can vary widely, but it may come in handy!

12. Hotel and Restaurant Expenses – Costs incurred due to having to vacate your home due to natural disasters are often covered by your policy. Be sure to keep all your receipts!

13. College Student’s Property – So long as your child maintains your address as their primary residence, your homeowners insurance policy likely will cover damages to their property in a dorm room.

14. Your Climate Control – Excluding loss due to normal wear and tear, if you heating or air conditioning is damaged by natural disaster, such as lightning, your homeowners insurance policy will probably cover it.

15. Nuclear Attack – Actually, no, your policy probably won’t cover damage from a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack. Other Acts of War can fall into gray areas, so check with your agent if this becomes an issue.

Everyone at the Liveoak Agency is here to help set this kind of coverage up just for you. Call us for a policy review of your insurance today!

(334)-285-2881

Insurance Helps to Mitigate The Impact on Your Family, Should You Become Unable to Provide For Them in Your Normal Capacity. Insurance Riders Can Tailor Your Policy to Better Serve This Purpose.

In the event of the loss of life or disabling injury to someone who is a primary provider for a family, or a business, severe negative impact can occur for family members, employees, and stakeholders.

Insurance policies are generally designed to reduce the impact of these conditions. Insurance riders  can tweak a policy’s particular provisions for specific kinds of conditions.

Just what is an Insurance Rider?

An insurance rider is actually a kind of specialized coverage that is purchased as an addition to a standard insurance policy. The rider is not actually a policy by itself and deosn’t stand independently on its own. Riders are add on provision that helps protect a policyholder from some very specific risks.

A rider does come with an additional cost but it is usually quite affordable. Often the base policy qualifies for some discounts on riders for certain things.

Riders are designed to be a limited alternative to maintaining a separate policy. Purchasing riders on a policy is a way to customize it the way you need at a lower cost.

Types of Life Insurance Riders

Various insurance companies offer different riders based on the plan in consideration. These are some of the more common riders offered by most life insurance companies:

1. Critical Illness Riders

If someone is diagnosed with a critical illness, this can be a burden on finances. Purchasing a Critical Illness Benefits Rider together with a life insurance policy can help to relieve the pressure on personal finances. Specific critical illnesses are often specified in the rider. .

2. Accidental Death and Dismemberment Rider

Most insurance policies, as a rule, provide coverage against death, however, purchasing an Accidental Death and Dismemberment Benefit Rider, will guarantee that the insured will receive benefits if something happens causinng death  or loss of limbs. Since a regular life insurance policy doesn’t typically cover the risk of being permanently disabled, purchasing such a rider can be very smart. The benefits from the rider are typically less than the full policy benefits, but they can be a significant income supplement.

3. Waiver of Premium Rider

In the event an accident results in a policy owner being disabled, it can result in a situation that causes it to be difficult or impossible to pay premiums on the base insurance policy. With a Waiver of Premium Rider, the policyholder’s future premium payments are waived, and he or she will still be eligible to continue receiving the policy benefits as per schedule.

In any case, before purchasing riders on policies, an in-depth  discussion and analysis of coverage should be done..

Everyone at the Liveoak Agency can help set this kind of coverage up. Call us for a policy review of your insurance today!

(334)-285-2881

How Much Homeowners Insurance is Too Much? How Much is Enough?

 If you are preparing to buy a home you should know that you’ll need adequate insurance to cover the house and all your belongings in it. The peace of mind knowing you have insurance coverage in case of theft, fire or some unexpected accidents will be quite valuable in helping you rest at night. The question is: just how much insurance do you need? We can help you understand the basic coverages as well as “add ons”  to your policy that will help you determine exactly what you need.

Use this quick outline of coverage typically included in a homeowners policy. There are also some other considerations based on where your location and what you actually own.

The 6 Basic Coverages in a Homeowners Insurance Policy:

1. The Dwelling
This coverage will pay to rebuild or repair the house in the event it is damaged by a covered loss. Typically this covers fire, wind, hail, lightning and even vandalism.

How Much Should You Have: This is determined by the estimated costs to actually rebuild the house. The Market value of your home does not impact this. When you apply for a mortgage, the lender likely wil require specific dwelling coverage options, limits and even specify deductible amounts.

2. Other Structures
If you have a detached garage, a storage shed or a fence, these kinds of structures are covered by the ‘ Other Structures ‘ portion of the policy.

In most cases, most policies cover detached structures at a rate of approximately ten percent of the amount of insurance you have on the structure of the house. Depending on what other structures you have on your property, it may be wise to consider increasing this percentage.

3. Personal Property
Personal property covers items like furniture, clothing and kitchen items such as the refrigerator or oven, should they be damaged or destroyed by a covered loss.

It’s completely up to you as the policy owner to decide if you want the actual cash value personal property coverage which is generally included in a homeowner’s policy, or if you prefer just the replacement cost coverage. Either of these are subject to applicable policy limits and deductibles. It is common for most home insurance companies to set the personal property limit somewhere between 50% to 70% of the dwelling coverage. It will be necessary to determine the total value of your possessions in order to decide if this default amount is adequate for your needs. One way to help accurately estimate necessary personal property coverage is to take an accurate inventory of all items you own, and assess the value.

4. Loss of Use
In the event that you are not able or allowed to live in your home as a result of a covered loss, this important part of the policy will provide additional living expenses while your home is being restored, to help cover things like hotel/motel rooms, dining, etc.

Loss of use coverage is usually based off of your dwelling coverage, calculated by using 20% to 30% of the dwelling coverage limit.

5. Personal Liability
This helps protect you personally in the event that you or any member of your household are found to be responsible for causing bodily injury or property damage to others.

It is common for a homeowners insurance policy to provide a minimum of $100,000 in personal liability coverage. This means the insurance company can pay up to that amount in total to injured persons per occurrence. Should you feel you need more protection, higher limits are available. Another option is to purchase an umbrella or excess liability policy if you feel additional liability coverage is necessary. One suggested “rule of thumb” is that you should have adequate liability insurance to cover the total value of all your at-risk assets. Things such as vehicles, money in bank accounts and even some types of investments could all be at risk if someone sues you and you don’t have sufficient personal liability insurance.

6. Medical Payments
This part of the policy helps pay medical bills for someone visiting your home that is accidentally injured while on your property. The insurance policy only pays up to the policy limits shown in your policy for covered claims. The policy limits actually indicate the amount of homeowners insurance you purchase and are typically found in the declarations page of your policy. In the event that you incur damages greater than your policy limits, you will be responsible for the remainder.

Typically a homeowners insurance policy will provide a minimum amount of $1,000 coverage, per person. Greater amounts of coverage may also be available.

There Are a Few Common Types of “Add-On” Coverages You Might Consider Purchasing With Your Insurance Based on What Your Individual Needs Are:

Additional Replacement Cost Coverage: This coverage can provide an additional amount beyond your dwelling coverage limit to help cover repairs or rebuilding of your home should the dwelling coverage on your home be inadequate to cover the cost to repair or rebuild after a covered loss.

Personal Property Coverage Replacement: This provides coverage for personal property losses based on the cost to replace the item at the time of the loss, with no deduction for depreciation.

Special Personal Property Coverage: This coverage for personal property or contents can provide broader protection for your possessions in the event of a covered loss. It can cover your personal property in more situations than what is covered in the homeowners policy.

Homeowners Insurance Can Seem Very Complex, But it Can Be Much Simpler to Understand When We Help You Break it Down By Specific Types of Coverage.

Always remember that not all homeowners policies are identical, so  you want to make sure you understand what is and what is not covered in an insurance policy before you purchase it.

The information in this article comes from one of our trusted carriers, Travelers Insurance. To learn more about homeowners insurance products, call us to get a quote or ask more questions.

Everyone at the Liveoak Agency is here to make your insurance selection and purchase process as easy as possible. Call us for a policy review of your insurance today!

(334)-285-2881

Life Insurance is a Vital Part of Family Financial Stability. Like a Lot of People, Shopping For Coverage May Make You Feel Stressed. Here Are 8 Tips to Help You!

Having a relationship with your insurance agent that allows you to relax and discuss your needs openly and frankly is key. At Liveoak Agency, we want to make sure you are covered adequately and affordably for the real risks you face. These questions and more are where we start when designing your best coverage options.

1. First You Need to Decide if You Actually Need Life Insurance Coverage

It is true that most people should have life insurance coverage, but not every single person should. If an individual has no one who depends on them financially, or if someone has no debt and would be able to leave their estate with adequate cash to pay for its taxes and expenses, they likely do not need a life insurance policy. The vast majority of people don’t meet either of these criteria and therefore likely do need life insurance.

2. Determine Exactly How Much Life Insurance You Really Need

This requires and answer to two questions:

Financially, what resources will be left to survivors after you die? Keeping it simple, consider just three types of resources: (a) Social security / retirement-related survivor benefits; (b) group life insurance; and (c) all other assets and resources. Consider also when any of these resources will actually become available for survivors. Social security survivor benefits are generally immediately available for a surviving spouse with dependents, however, this is true only after age 60 if there are no children / dependents.

What specific financial needs are your survivors going to have? Three categories of requirements are typical: (a) final (burial) expenses; (b) debts (loans, credit cards, etc); and (c) income needs (basically the resources you were providing for food, shelter, education, medical expenses).

To determine how much life insurance coverage you need, simply subtract your survivors’ financial resource needs in step #2 above from their financial needs in step #3. It is not uncommon for people to find that they are underinsured when they check using these questions. Using shortcuts like buying some magical multiple of annual income is usually inaccurate.

3. Give Some Thought to Other Objectives For Your Life Insurance Coverage

Beyond simple death benefits, some kinds of life insurance policies have a savings or investment feature that can be used for more than simply paying death benefits.

4. Decide What Kind of Life Insurance Policy Meets Your Needs Most Specifically

There are basically just three types of life insurance policies—these are known as term life, whole life and universal life. Term policies are best suited if you only need the insurance for a specific or limited period of time, or if you are on a limited budget. Term policies have lower premiums and can be a good fit for some people. More typical long term / permanent insurance requirements, with savings accumulation options, are best addressed with a whole or universal policy.

5. Explore The Option to Add Any “Riders” to The Policy

There are a lot of rider options, but two that are wise to consider—a waiver of premium rider and the guaranteed insurability rider. Policies may come with one or both included with the basic contract. You should always make sure to add them if it doesn’t. A waiver of premium rider pays the life insurance policy premium for you if you become disabled. A guaranteed insurability rider permits you to increase the death benefit without being required to provide evidence that you are in acceptable health.

6. Consider Several Different Policies From Different Carriers

There are quite a few ways to save when buying life insurance coverage, but it isn’t always as simple as paying a lower premium immediately. Life insurance is a very competitive business and quotes vary significantly between companies. At Liveoak Agency, we have a wide variety of carriers to choose from, so you know you’re getting the best choices.

7. Decide on Annual or Installment Premiums

In most cases, it is better to pay annually rather than in installments because there can be significant additional charges for paying smaller amounts more frequently.

8. Be Sure to Inform Your Beneficiaries About Your Life Insurance Policy

After the policy has been issued, tell your beneficiaries about the company that issued it, where they can find the hard copy of the actual policy and give them specifics about what you wish for them to do with the death benefit. It is rare for people to be totally unaware they are the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, but it does sometimes happen. You most definitely want to make sure that the benefits of your policy do not go unclaimed. It is best to store your documents in a safe, fireproof / waterproof location so that they can be easily accessed by your beneficiaries.

Everyone at the Liveoak Agency is here to make your insurance selection and purchase process as easy as possible. Call us for a policy review of your insurance today!

(334)-285-2881

Auto-Owners Insurance is one of our excellent insurance carriers. They have written up an excellent informational article about homeowners insurance and some things about it that you might not have been informed of!

 Here’s the quick list:

1. It’s smart to work with an Independent Insurance Agent
2. Homeowners insurance policies often don’t cover water damage
3. Homeonwers insurance policies have exclusions and limitations on coverage. You should know what they are
4. You should let your agent know if you make midifications or improvements to your home
5. Having a personal home inventory list can be very helpful in the claims process
6. Coverage amounts may not actually be the same as the cost of your house
7. Cheapest is not always best. Sometimes you  get less then you pay for.

Read the full article here: https://www.auto-owners.com/ao-blog/-/blogs/7-things-nobody-tells-you-about-homeowners-insurance

The Liveoak Agency is here to provide extensive insurance selections for your home, business and property. Call us for a policy review of your insurance today! 

(334)-285-2881