Category: Home Insurance

Do you need to maintain a home inventory for your home insurance? If so, Oliver Insurance, serving Canby, OR, can answer your questions and provide the necessary advice!

A home inventory is a comprehensive list of everything you own in your home. In it, you may record information such as when an item was purchased, its value, and its model number.

If you’re keeping a home inventory, here are some things you should know about this list.

1. A Home Inventory Can Simplify Disaster Recovery

A home inventory can simplify recovery after a disaster. Home inventories provide homeowners with a list of items they owned before they lost their home. If you lose your home in a covered disaster, the home inventory can help you recall what you used to own so that you can buy a comparable product.

2. Some Insurance Companies Require a Home Inventory

While many insurance companies do not require customers to keep a home inventory, some do. If your home insurance company has this requirement, your insurance agent will be able to provide you with more specifics about how to meet this requirement for your insurance.

3. There Are Many Ways to Keep a Home Inventory

It’s still a good idea even if you’re not required to keep a home inventory. You can keep a home inventory in many ways, including with a simple spreadsheet. Some apps can help. One easy way to record everything that’s in your home without writing a list is to make a video of your home.

At Oliver Insurance, serving Canby, OR, we can answer your questions about the home inventory process. Call today to find out more about home inventories and whether you’re required to have one.

Buying a home certainly can be intimidating. For many first-time home buyers, their purchase will be the most expensive purchase ever. Further, not only can buying a home significantly impact your financial health right now, it could have a massive impact later on down the line. For many families, their home is their most valuable investment and may be crucial for funding retirement. If you’re looking for assistance with selecting a home insurance plan in Canby, OR, contact Oliver Insurance. With that said, let’s go over some crucial tips for first-time home buyers.

Tips Every Home Buyer Should Consider

When buying a home, you want to consider your needs not only now but also in the near future. If you’re looking to start a family in a year or two, for example, you may want to pass on that beautiful one-bedroom condo downtown. You should consider more bedrooms, perhaps a yard, and access to good schools.

It’s smart to make sure you don’t stretch yourself too thin with a mortgage payment. A more affordable mortgage payment can provide financial breathing room. Keep in mind as well that your mortgage won’t be the only monthly cost. You may have to pay property taxes and likely will have to take out a home insurance policy. Lenders usually require home insurance because the right insurance coverage protects the collateral (typically the home bought) that the mortgage is backed up by.

When looking at homes, it’s smart to bring in outside experts to inspect them for damage, expensive repairs needed, and other factors. Lenders may also require inspections. Likewise, folks shopping for home insurance should chat with experts. If you need assistance in Canby, OR, contact Oliver Insurance.

Ensuring your home in Canby, OR, remains safe and secure provides peace of mind and can significantly reduce the likelihood of having to file a home insurance claim. At Oliver Insurance, we believe in helping our clients take preemptive measures to protect their homes. Here are three ways you can reduce the risk of something happening.

1. Install a Security System

A robust home security system is one of the most effective deterrents against burglaries and break-ins. Modern systems offer features like remote monitoring, alerts, and even integration with local law enforcement. 

By installing a security system, you can protect their property and may also qualify for discounts on your homeowner’s premiums. We at Oliver Insurance can help you check what security systems might qualify for a discount.

2. Clear Bushes From Around Your Home

Large bushes can provide cover for burglars if the bushes are close to your home. It’s harder to be seen opening a locked window if there’s a bush that provides concealment, rather than having to do so in the open.

Remove any bushes that are right up against your house to give would-be burglars less cover. 

3. Upgrade to Storm-Resistant Windows

Canby, OR, like many areas, can experience severe weather conditions that pose risks to standard windows. Upgrading to storm-resistant windows may better protect your home from damage caused by high winds and flying debris. 

Keep Your Home Protected

Make sure your home is as protected as possible. You’ll reduce the risk of something happening and of having to file a home insurance claim against your policy. Contact us today to ensure your home is properly insured in case something still happens.

Owning a home generally requires you to have a home insurance policy. Even if a policy isn’t required for you, it’s important never to go without this insurance. These policies come with several different kinds of coverage in them. When you need home insurance in Canby, OR, call us at Oliver Insurance to learn more. 

Home Protection

First and foremost, home insurance protects your home against damaging events. It can pay for the repairs you’ll need after such an event causes damage. The cost of repairs or rebuilding can be sky-high, so you need this essential protection in case of a destructive event. Without this coverage, you’d be responsible for all the repair costs. 

Item Protection

Another type of coverage included in a home policy is protection for your items inside your home. Most of what you own, if not all of it, is inside your home. It’s also vulnerable to damaging events that can cause destruction to your home as well as your belongings. This coverage can help you replace your items after they have been highly damaged or otherwise destroyed. Replacing everything can be extremely expensive, and no one wants to be left without a policy to cover it all. 

Liability Protection

When you have a home insurance policy, it also comes with a layer of liability coverage. This protects you financially in case an accident happens on your property to someone outside your household. It pays for things like medical expenses after such an accident to protect you financially. Many people don’t give a lot of thought to this coverage, but it’s important to have. 

Get a Home Insurance Policy

When you need a home policy, we’re here to help. Call us today at Oliver Insurance in Canby, OR, to get started. 

Home renovations are a great way to enhance your living space and increase your home’s value. You can alter not only the appearance of your home but you can also improve the function of the house. However, many people fail to realize that renovations can impact your home insurance needs. Understanding that these improvements can also affect your home insurance policy is essential. Here are some ways your policy can be affected by renovations from Oliver Insurance, a home insurance provider in the greater Canby, OR region. 

1. Increased Coverage Needs

When you renovate or make significant additions to your home, such as adding a new room or updating the kitchen, you may need to increase your insurance coverage. The increased value of your home and its contents means you should have adequate coverage to rebuild or replace them in case of damage or loss. 

2. Notify Your Insurer

It’s crucial to inform your insurance company about any renovations. Failure to do so could result in gaps in coverage. Your insurer needs to know about the changes to assess the impact on your policy and adjust your coverage accordingly.

3. Liability Concerns

Renovations can introduce new liability risks. You may be held liable if a contractor or worker is injured on your property during the renovation. Ensuring you have sufficient liability coverage is essential.

Home renovations can significantly impact your home insurance policy. If you’ve completed home renovations, and you’re unsure if your existing policy still meets your needs or you are looking for a new policy, let the team at Oliver Insurance, serving the greater Canby, OR region, assist you. Reach out to us today to learn more.

If you are a homeowner, you have a lot of essential responsibilities. One of these is to protect your home with a home insurance policy. There are countless risks that you face as a homeowner. These policies can protect you against many of these risks. Each policy comes with different types of coverage that are each important for your protection. Going without any of these coverage types can put you at risk for financial disaster. Call us today at Oliver Insurance in Canby, OR when you need home insurance.

Property Protection

When you have home insurance, it protects the house itself. It has a wide range of damaging events that it covers. This can include several disasters as well as things like accidents. When damage is done to your home by a damaging event, the policy will pay for the repairs. Major repairs can be extremely expensive, especially if areas of your home have to be rebuilt. When you have home insurance, it can save you from these expenses. 

Item Protection

All your belongings are likely in your home and need to be protected, too. It’s crucial to have home insurance for the coverage it gives you for your belongings. If a damaging event happened and ruined many of your items, your home policy could pay for them to be replaced. It’s a good idea to have this coverage no matter how much you own. Replacing everything can cost a considerable amount. It would be best to always have home insurance to protect you from that high cost. When you set up your policy, an estimate of the value of your belongings will be made. 

Get Home Insurance Today

When you own a home, never be without home insurance. Give us a call now at Oliver Insurance in Canby, OR. 

Safety in the home is something that everyone is concerned about. Safety means different things to different people. It can mean making your family safe from things outside the house or from things inside the home. Both of them are equally important. At Oliver Insurance in Canby, OR, we take our customers’ safety seriously and do our best to ensure their home insurance protects them. 

Accidents in the home are a very significant worry. More than 150,000 people die in the US from accidents every year, and of those, 75% are considered household injuries. This includes poisoning, falling, choking, drowning, and suffocation. 

Poisoning is the most common cause of death in the home but falls account for more than 70% of the injuries. Falls are particularly common among the elderly; the most common injury is a broken hip. Bathrooms are hazardous, so it is vital to ensure that the necessary precautions are taken to make slips and falls less common. 

Making your home safe also means protecting it from fire. Getting your furnace and chimney cleaned yearly can go a long way towards helping, and having smoke detectors that work is essential. 

Installing a home security system is both simple and inexpensive, and many are DIY projects that take very little time. You can monitor your home with your smartphone, and installing smart locks lets you ensure your house is locked tight even when you are not at home. Windows also have locks, and ensuring they are in use is a big help to your home’s safety. Installing motion detector lights on the exterior of your home also provides additional safety. 

Contact Oliver Insurance in Canby, OR if you are a first-time homeowner or are ready to get a quote from a new carrier.