A home insurance inspection is unique from a more common home inspection and in many cases is termed an Exterior Inspection. The first purpose of the insurance inspection is to ensure your home somewhat equates to the company’s quote estimate. The second purpose is to assist in determining a range for your homes’ replacement cost. Finally, the insurer wants to identify any potential property risks that may not have been included in the application. There are factors including size or age of a home that could cause replacement to be higher than originally thought.
Factors That May Trigger An Inspection
There are several factors that may trigger a home insurance inspection. The list below offers some of the factors:
- Switching insurance to a different company
- A major change in the value of your home
- Purchasing of a new home
- A recent addition or major renovation to your home
- A decade or more since your home has been inspected
- Your home is an older home with hard to determine values of certain unique items
Primary Inspection Items
It is possible that the insurance inspection will only look at the outside of your home. In most cases that will be true. However, the primary items that will be inspected on the exterior are the following:
- Roof
- Siding
- Chimney
- Foundation
- Trees & detached dwelling(s)
The inspection allows an insurer the opportunity to view the condition of these items that could lead to potential future losses. For example, a roof with heavily worn shingles could signal a future leaky roof that could cause damage to the home and personal property. In this instance, the insurer may request the home be reshingled to attain property insurance. Also, siding that has become loose and could allow for water leakage leading to unforeseen damage.
To learn more about home insurance inspections contact your FAPCO agent.