Before a storm like Hurricane Sandy, not afterwards, is the time to ask the question, “Is my Columbia SC home properly insured?”

Just as there are different home styles, insurers offer a menu of different policies. For the majority of single-family Columbia SC homeowners, the most appropriate policy is the HO-3, sometimes called the special policy. It insures all major perils, except flood, earthquake, war, and nuclear accident.

For flood damage like that suffered by many homeowners at the hand of Hurricane Sandy, special flood coverage is needed. Floods aren’t covered by ordinary homeowners insurance. Flood insurance is available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. You may need earthquake coverage; check with your insurer.

You’ll need deep coverage, up to and including 100% of your Columbia SC home replacement cost. By insuring at, say, 90%, you’re making the reasonable bet that your home won’t ever be a complete loss. That may be a reasonable bet, but if you want to play it safe, insure at 100%.

Insure your Columbia SC home for its replacement cost — that is, the amount it would cost to rebuild it if it were totally destroyed. That means determining the average local building cost in your region, and applying it to your home’s size, style, and quality of construction.

Your best resource for this is a builder. For a flat fee, you may be able to have a local contractor go through your Columbia SC home and provide an estimate. Try to find someone who builds individual, custom homes that doesn’t benefit from the economies of scale that tract homes offer.

Traditional guaranteed replacement cost coverage promises to pay whatever it takes to rebuild your home, even if it costs more than the original limits you purchased. That’s crucial in the event that labor and building costs balloon after a major disaster like Sandy. In many states, large insurers now cap the guarantee at 120% to 125% of purchased limits.

Your safest bet is to seek a company with no cap. However, if you’ve properly valued your home’s replacement cost, the caps shouldn’t scare you. It’s unlikely that building and labor costs will go up to more than 120% of your home’s insured value.

You’ll be most satisfied with your settlement if you know in advance what’s covered. That means eyeballing your policy now. Pay particular attention to the exclusions section, which as the name implies, outlines what’s not covered.

Check out the declarations page, which outlines the limits of your coverage. Coverage D of the homeowners policy, for instance, outlines how much an insurer will cover if you have to relocate temporarily. Does your insurer pay up to 10% of your home’s insured value, or offer to pay “reasonable” expenses over 12 to 24 months?

Finally, update your policies regularly. Inform your insurer of improvements and additions to your Columbia SC home — including redecoration — of $5,000 or more.

We hope you never have to file a homeowner’s insurance claim, but hopefully this article will help you prepare yourself ahead of the next storm.

Your Columbia SC home becomes more vulnerable to thieves around the holidays, and with them fast approaching, now is the time to analyze whether there is anything you need to do for tightening security around your home.

Around the holiday season, thieves tend to hit homes they suspect are vacant, even if for the day while you work. And the closer we get to Christmas (when gifts have been purchased and are under the tree) the more home break-ins occur.

The advent of automated electronics has been a big relief to those of us who may have to leave our Columbia SC home empty. It’s now quite simple and relatively inexpensive to attach your lighting system to a series of timer switches. They’ve been developed to look a lot like dimmer switches, to make them even less detectable. They operate the lighting throughout your house on a set pattern, so you can program them to turn themselves off at the time you would normally go to bed, to come on in the evening etc. Televisions and radios can also now be given timers, often integrated into the hardware itself without the need for additional technology.  

If you have a dog that doesn’t mind being left alone and the weather is warm enough, consider leaving it outside while you’re away. Having the run of your garden with a kennel to shelter and sleep in, your dog will often be happy enough as long as somebody is feeding it. If you don’t have a dog, you might want to consider making it look like you have one even if you don’t. Putting a kennel in your garden or a wooden stake in the ground with a chain attached to it will fool inexperienced thieves, especially if the chain is thick and long. Consider even buying a dog water bowl and leaving it outside near an entry door within reach of the dog chain.

Last of all, consider installing a burglar alarm! They’re half the price they were ten years ago, and they’re twice as good. In most cases, installing an alarm will save you on your homeowner insurance, so be sure to notify your insurer if you go this route. Just seeing a blinking blue box in the front of your Columbia SC home will deter any individuals with ill intent, the prospect of a wailing screech as soon as they enter your house will frighten them away. And after all, who’s to know if that alarm is real or even works?

There are many other ways to keep your Columbia SC home safe from would-be burglars this coming holiday season. But now is the time to prepare, not the week before Christmas.