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Do you work from home?

If you do, you may need to review your policy with your agent at Magic City Insurance Group LLC, serving Birmingham, AL, and all of Alabama, to get the additional coverage you need. Here are three important facts about insuring your home office every at-home entrepreneur needs to know.

Your Homeowner’s Policy Doesn’t Cover Everything

Every homeowner’s policy offers coverage against:

• Fire
• Theft
• Storm damage
• Vandalism

…and other common perils of owning a home.

If you are using your own computer, server, and office equipment in your home office, your policy will cover them, too. (If you use your employer’s equipment, your employer’s policy will cover them.) However, most homeowners’ policies have a $2500 limit.

Additionally, some policies exclude "damage from business pursuit." If your employer or your clients sued you for their losses from a casualty event, your homeowner’s policy would not help.

Additional Insurance If You Work from Home

Three easy ways to get the additional insurance you need if you work from home.

One option is to get a business property endorsement on your existing homeowner’s policy. This will increase the dollar amount of personal property coverage for your home office. Typically, this will increase a $2500 limit to $5000.

Another option is to get a separate in-home business insurance policy. This policy increases the coverage of your business equipment, typically to $10,000, but it also covers data replacement and liability after cyberattacks and income replacement when some insured event causes your home office to become inoperable.

You may even want to get a business owner’s policy. This is your best option if you need more than $10,000 in personal property coverage or if you have employees.

Whether you live in Birmingham, AL, or anywhere else, Magic City Insurance Group LLC can help you find the coverage you need. Call us for a policy review today!

Owning a home necessitates extensive planning, including acquiring and maintaining a comprehensive home insurance policy. Beyond offering financial security, home insurance is often legally mandated. Many entities enforce these requirements, and flouting them could result in significant fines or even eviction. However, the absence of such legal requirements does not exempt homeowners from the need for robust insurance coverage. At Magic City Insurance Group LLC in Birmingham, AL, we can guide you in initiating this process.

Mortgage Lenders and Insurance

Mortgage lenders invariably stipulate proof of insurance coverage from homeowners. The lender’s investment is tied to your property, so they seek to protect their interest through insurance. An active insurance policy ensures that the necessary funds will be accessible to cover any required repairs following a significant incident. Failing to provide proof of insurance can prevent you from closing the deal on your home.

Homeowner Associations (HOA) and Insurance

If a homeowners’ association governs your community, home insurance is mandatory. These associations aim to preserve overall property values by ensuring each homeowner can afford to repair any damage that might degrade the neighborhood’s general aesthetic. Without insurance, homeowners may abandon a home requiring expensive repairs, which can lead to property decay.

Mandatory Insurance Under Covenants

Regardless of whether an HOA oversees your neighborhood, if covenants are in place, those agreements will necessitate home insurance coverage. The absence of such a policy exposes homeowners to substantial fines until they comply with the coverage rules.

Securing Home Insurance with Magic City Insurance Group LLC

A comprehensive home insurance policy protects both your home and your financial position. Contact Magic City Insurance Group LLC in Birmingham, AL, and let our team help you find a suitable policy for your needs.

You probably know that special coverage for high-value items in your home can be wise, along with carefully documenting these items in case of a claim. At Magic City Insurance Group LLC, we know that many homeowners in Birmingham, AL, and elsewhere in our service area have installed home theater rooms that can be a combination of high-end audiovisual equipment, special seating, and renovations to the room, such as electrical wiring, lighting, and elevated floors.

When it comes to home insurance, you face several questions, including whether you need additional coverage for the value of the equipment, how to cover renovations, and whether any other special approaches to insuring your home may arise.

Thinking About Home Theater from a Risk Perspective

Many home theater installations are in basement spaces that have been repurposed for this use. As with other finished basement projects, it’s important to think about the risks that apply to spaces like these. In particular, flooding from the water table or water heater can be a concern, and some homeowners add a second sump pump as backup protection. For insurance, it’s important to make sure you’re covered for water problems as well as equipment damage and theft, and other risks identified by our helpful team at Magic City Insurance Group LLC. After all, your Birmingham, AL home theater room is part of your home, even increasing its value. Proper coverage is a wise choice!

Professional or DIY Installation?

If your home theater is professionally installed, you probably have the documentation you need for coverage and claims, which you should retain in a safe place and possibly share with our insurance professionals as well. If it’s more of a DIY project, don’t forget permits. Also, proper coverage of its value requires documentation, let’s talk!

We go on vacations to have fun, to experience new things, and to let our daily anxieties fade away. Unfortunately, accidents can happen even when we take the right precautions and hire trusted individuals to house-sit our homes while we’re away.

Here at Magic City Insurance Group LLC, we get a lot of questions about the specifics of home insurance policies, including what happens when something goes wrong when the homeowner is away, and we’re always happy to help our Birmingham, AL clients get the answers they need!

Will My Home Insurance Cover Damages by a House Sitter When I’m On Vacation?

The most important thing that your insurer will look at when determining whose fault damages is will be whether the sitter was significantly negligent or purposeful in causing the damage. 

In cases where the sitter isn’t directly responsible for damages, you are likely going to be on the hook for them. For example, if you hired a house sitter to watch your dog and property and your dog caused water or structural damage to the home, then so long as your pet sitter went through a best-effort approach to mitigate the damage, you will be held responsible for the damages just as though you were at home.

However, if your house sitter caused damage to your home directly such as with burn damages from smoking inside or water damage from allowing the bathtub to overflow, then your insurance company will step in to provide legal and financial assistance to pursue damages from your house sitter under clauses similar to vandalism. 

Learn More About Home Insurance

For more information about Birmingham, AL home insurance policies and to get the best policy for your household, give our team at Magic City Insurance Group LLC a call today!