Floods, Water Damage, And Your Insurance: Do You Need Help?
August 2, 2008 Uncategorized No CommentsIf you think about the number of home insurance claims in the United States, you would assume that the most common claim would be related to a fire or a break-in. It is more likely, however, for water damage claims to be the most common home insurance claim in the country simply because there are so many things that can cause water damage to your home. There are more than enough places where water can escape and do damage to the property, like your bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, or where you store your hot water heater.
The worst happens when you are gone on vacation and a pipe busts while you are out. Water leaks all over the floor and will cover just about everything. It might not be so bad if it does not make it to the carpeted area of your home, since carpet can become molded after only 24 to 48 hours. Depending on the air quality of your home, it might not even take that long.
What you may not realize is that by law, if you buy a home that is in a high risk flood zone, your lender is typically bound by law to require flood insurance on the property. If you are not in a high risk flood area, flood insurance is not required when you purchase a home.
You will likely be eligible for a low risk flood insurance policy if you live in a low to moderate risk area, but the policy will likely not go into effect until after 30 days from the date you purchased it.
As the recent floods and broken levees in the Midwest have hopefully taught us, you should purchase flood insurance if you live close to a levee of any kind, since they do not always hold. Make sure you research the likelihood of a flood in your area before making any decision concerning whether to purchase flood insurance and if you have the extra money to spend on the flood insurance every month, it is always best to err on the side of safety. You can purchase flood insurance no matter where you live, but most homeowner’s insurance policies do not cover flooding by default in their policies; it has to be requested and some companies will not cover floods at all. In this case, you will have to get flood insurance from somewhere else.
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