You Bought a New Home!
You’ve purchased a new home! Where do you go from here? Buying a new house is exciting and daunting, with realtors, lawyers, mortgage companies, packing, moving, etc. One of your first calls should be to us, your insurance broker. Our goal will be to make the insurance process of your new purchase as painless as possible, and even work with your lawyer.
There are a few things we need to know about your house in order to insure it properly and protect your investment. One of the biggest concerns is to insure the home for the accurate rebuilding cost. We have a program we use internally to determine the estimated rebuilding cost of the home, and we use this value for the insurance. We would need to know:
- Square footage
- Age of home
- Style of home (1 storey, 2 storey, etc.)
- Number of bathrooms
- Exterior finishing (brick, stucco, etc.)
- Garage (attached or detached)
- Basement square footage and if finished or not
- Age and type of updates (roof, electrical, plumbing, heating, water heater)
- And more
Often times, a client does not know the answers to the questions we ask, and this does make our job more difficult as we need to make sure we are insuring the home accurately and properly. We strongly encourage the client to reach out to their real estate agent, lawyer, and even request a home inspection to confirm essential details of the house. Knowing the type of electrical and plumbing in the house can drastically impact your insurance. Ideally, it is all copper wiring and copper/PVC plumbing. However, if there is any knob and tube or aluminum wiring and/or galvanized plumbing, this can be a real challenge when it comes to insuring the home.
Our goal as a broker is to find you the right solution for your insurance needs. Based on the information provided, we will work to find the best price and coverage options for you. And to go that extra little bit, we will contact your lawyer to take care of the confirmation of insurance they will need for closing. We will help put your mind at ease during this purchase and work to make the process easier and more enjoyable.
In addition to home insurance, we offer tenant insurance, condo insurance and rental property insurance. We have it all for you!
Scott Sleightholm, CAIB, R.I.B.(Ont.), Vice President, Kenny Insurance Brokers
