You've gone to the trouble of living in a home. Now it's time to take a few preventative measures to protect it. Being proactive will save you money in the future from natural disasters, theft and other random acts of Bad.
Make sure your home is properly insured. This applies to both ownership and renting. Skimping on coverage only works if nothing happens. But life and nature do happen so you might want to think ahead, and plan for that rainy/hurricane day. Ask your insurance agent:
If renting, does your insurance cover from the walls in or in-between the walls? How responsible will you be for damage?
If owning, will your insurance cover the cost of rebuilding based on today's construction costs?
Document your possessions by taking photos or a video of each room in your house. Take extra photos of smaller valuable items. If any of it is destroyed or stolen, date stamped visuals will help solidify your loss claim.
Does the whole home need to be completely remodeled? No. But you should try to keep up on basic maintenance so that it doesn't lead to more expensive issues down the road. Fix the broken window, the leaky toilet, patch the drywall hole. Little things can feel like big improvements.
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