How to Recover Full Value of Damaged Residential Property

Damages to residential properties can leave homeowners and their family without a place to live until repairs are made. They can also be incredibly expensive to handle, so homeowners rely on their insurance company to help cover the damage. Yet, how is the value for the repairs determined? You’ll want to make sure you will recover the full value for your home and belongings to start repairing or rebuilding. This will help minimize what you’ll need to pay out of pocket to get back to where you were before the damage occurred.

Understanding Insurance Companies

Insurance companies exist to make money. They try to limit how much they pay on a claim simply because it is too expensive to pay the full value for every claim they receive, especially if there is a natural disaster that causes significant damage to many of the homes they insure.
For you, this means you’ll want to make sure you look at the settlement you’re offered carefully to ensure it’s going to cover the full value of what needs to be repaired or replaced for your home. You’ll want to make sure you’re going to receive as much as possible for your claim so your repairs will be covered completely or so you can have your home rebuilt.

Find Out What Your Property is Worth

The amount you paid for your home and your belongings is not necessarily the amount you’ll receive from the insurance company. Most of the time, the insurance company will want to pay out the cash value of belongings inside your home and will offer the minimum amount they believe will help you repair or replace your home. Unfortunately, this may not be enough.
Instead, you’ll want to look into getting the replacement value for your property or your belongings. The replacement amount is not what the property is worth after depreciation, but the cost to rebuild the property or to replace belongings that were damaged in the home.

Read Your Policy

When you first obtained your insurance policy, you likely read through it to make sure it was what you needed. However, you will want to make sure you read your policy again, carefully, before filing a claim or asking an expert for assistance. Your policy details how much the insurance company will pay you for your claim and give you the details you need to determine if you can obtain the total amount you need to recover from the damage.

Contact an Expert for Help

To find out how much you should obtain for your claim and to make sure you’re receiving what you need to rebuild or to repair your home and replace damaged belongings, contact an insurance adjuster right away. They are going to have the knowledge and experience to talk to you about your policy, your claim, and how you can get the full value for your property so you can get back to your normal life as quickly as possible.