Home insurance – a necessary investment

Statistics show that in the US alone, within 5 years a common incident – house fires – caused property damage worth nearly USD 7 billion, the main causes being cooking, damage to electrical installations, or heating equipment. More than 350,000 homes go through a structural fire each year, and a small flame takes only half a minute to turn into a fire.

For about one in 20 homes, US homeowners turn to insurance policies each year following an incident. For one in 40 cases, the claims are related to damage caused by wind or heat. One in 350 homes is affected by fires or damage to electrical installations, while one in 400 homes is looted. In 2018, 5.7% of US homeowners who had insurance used these policies, a majority – 98.1% – being for home damage and theft.

Of course, a new home in sustainable development will not pose problems for the tenants too soon, but there are always unforeseen situations. First of all, when we think about the benefits that home insurance brings, we can talk about the mental comfort we have knowing that we have a safety net in case of an unwanted incident. No matter how careful we are, unforeseen accidents can occur, not only through our fault but also independently. Many insurance policies cover not only the home itself but also the goods inside. If, for example, the owner becomes the victim of a robbery or the valuables are destroyed as a result of an earthquake/damage, he can be compensated by the insurance company, whether we are talking about a laptop, jewelry, valuables, and more. And if we think about the unfortunate situation in which a house becomes uninhabitable as a result of an incident, the insurance turns into a lifeline, because it will offer us a temporary alternative until the redevelopment of the house – the options offered by insurance companies are either paying a certain number of nights at the hotel or paying rent for a certain period in another home.

Insurance can also be useful if the damage to our home also affects the surrounding apartments or houses and, consequently, we have to compensate our neighbors.

Another context in which insurance proves useful is when the landlord wants to rent the home but cannot deal with any emergencies that may arise along the way because he is out of the country, for example, or time does not allow him to get involved in solving them.

Mortgage insurance is also required to obtain a loan. And that's because the home itself is the guarantee on the loan, and the lender wants to make sure that his investment is protected.

In Romania, compulsory insurance policies cover risks such as floods, earthquakes, and landslides. Additionally, homeowners can take out optional policies, depending on their needs or the risks to which they are most exposed. In general, these optional insurances most often include risks such as fires, the collapse of the insured property, lightning, or explosions. Along with these, there are also: landslides; atmospheric phenomena – storms, hail, floods; burglary and removal of pipes and vandalism, or damage caused by animals.

The insurance policy must cover the risks that may occur most frequently in the country or area where we live – if we live in a country with a high seismic risk, the insurance must include an earthquake policy. In states exposed to hurricanes, a certain type of policy is needed again.

A small investment paid regularly is therefore preferable to the huge expenses that can arise from an unfortunate incident and which we may not be able to cope with at that time. And the feeling of comfort we have knowing ourselves and our loved ones safe in the event of crises is priceless.

Data for this article was obtained from hsbc.co.uk, iii.org and adevărul.ro.