Most MA homeowners insurance policies come with personal property coverage. This covers personal belongings in your home such as furniture and electronics. Generally speaking, the base coverage is not sufficient to cover everything in your home, so you should consider upgrading the amount of personal property coverage in your policy.
Estimating the Value of Your Belongings
In case of fire or other major disaster, homeowners insurance covers the replacement value of your home but not necessarily of all the belongings within the home. It is important to have enough personal property coverage for this. The first step is to estimate what your belongings are worth. Start with the big ticket items such as furniture, jewelry, and electronics. In fact, it’s a great idea to take a picture of these items and store them in an alternate location.
Increasing Personal Property Coverage Under MA Homeowners Insurance
Contact your MA homeowners insurance coverage to find out how much personal property coverage you currently have. Be sure to ask whether coverage is for market value or replacement cost.
Market value means is based on the current value of property, depreciation included. Since most items depreciate immediately (once they are no longer brand new), market value is typically much less than what you may have paid for those items. For example, a $3,000 may only have $1,500 in market value.
Replacement cost is a much higher amount since it covers the cost of purchasing a new replacement for lost items. This is probably more ideal for most homeowners, however, it also requires a higher coverage amount in your policy.
Coverage Limits for High Cost Items
For expensive belongings such as jewelry, your MA homeowners insurance company may require optional coverage specifically designated for those items. For instance, if you have a $1,500 limit for covered items, a $500 ring may be no problem claiming but a $5,000 family heirloom may not be adequately covered. Yet, these big ticket items are likely the most important to cover to begin with. So, don’t forget to ask specifically about this coverage and to list high-priced items in your policy.