When a tornado left their home in splinters, they sifted through the rubble to find sentimental tokens and family photos, thankful the two young children and their babysitter had been spared in the only thing that remained intact: the bathtub.
The water the levies couldn’t hold left a thick residue of silt throughout the house, ruining everything it touched with mildew, rust or rot. Only items stored upstairs were salvageable.
When they purchased their dream home, the view of thePacific Oceanwas one of the main selling points. After a summer of being surrounded by area wildfires, autumn rains were a welcome sight… until they refused to leave. The elevated spot that provided their beloved view dissolved in a mudslide, splitting their home in half.
It was a simple mistake. She turned on a burner to boil a large pot of water and set the oven mitt on an adjacent burner while she went to check on the baby. The baby was her primary concern when the smoke alarm bellowed and she saw the downstairs filling with smoke. Turning on the wrong burner, she had inadvertently started a fire in her kitchen. Between the fire itself, the smoke and the water damage, the kitchen was a complete loss.
They arrived home after dinner at their favorite restaurant to discover the back door ajar. The thief had taken the family silver, all the electronics they could carry and some gold jewelry, leaving the homeowners feeling violated and fearful.
Life is full of uncertainty. Home is supposed to be a refuge, a shelter from the elements. More often than not, it is, but natural disasters, accidents and crooks exist. For these reasons and more, so does homeowners’ insurance. A home is an investment you want to protect. Even though you cannot create a force field to eliminate all threats to its structural integrity, there are some things you can do to protect your investment.
Purchase homeowners’ or renters’ insurance. These policies are never able to replace memorabilia or heirlooms, but they do help provide the means to rebuild when the unexpected happens. From a kid’s baseball breaking your living room window to a wind storm blowing down your fence, insurance helps to cover costs you don’t typically budget for. If you live in a flood zone, splurge for the flood coverage.
Invest in some sort of security system. Thieves may still break into your home, but an alarm will scare them away before they are able to steal much.
Keep fresh batteries in smoke detectors and have smoke detectors throughout your home. These, obviously, will not prevent fires, but they may save your life if there ever is a fire.
Finally, keep your home properly maintained. Trim trees and bushes that might scuff the exterior of the house, have an exterminator check for termites, and if you see cracks in walls or the ceiling, get the foundation checked before it has the chance to get any worse. There are countless things you cannot control. Protect your investment by managing well those you can.
Tiffany Marshall grew up in Texas, where tornadoes were common. As a freelance writer, she writes about how to find Denver houses for sale using Automated Homefinder.
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