If you reside in an area prone to earthquakes, have equity in your home, and you couldn’t afford to rebuild it on your own, buying earthquake insurances makes financial sense. If you can afford it, the best way to protect the investment in your home is to retrofit your home and buy earthquake insurance. The more steps you take to retrofit and improve your home’s ability to resist the impact of an earthquake, the less likely you are to face expensive repairs. Retrofitting your home includes, bracing your water heater, installing “sheer” panels and bolting your foundation. If you decide that your home needs protection beyond retrofitting, then shopping for earthquake insurance is your next step. Several key factors you should consider and research as to whether you buy insurance or not are:

The amount of equity you have in your home.
Your current proximity to a fault zone.
The construction and age of your current home.

The satisfaction ratings and financial strength of the insurance companies that will potentially sell you an earthquake insurance policy Earthquake insurance policies are usually accompanied by high deductibles and premiums. When the time comes to receive any benefits under your insurance policy, your claim needs to exceed your set deductible. Most homeowners and auto insurance policies have a fixed dollar amount deductible. Earthquake policies are different, their deductible is a percentage figure based on the total policy amount. The damage to your home or structure must exceed your deductible to trigger a payment from your policy, and the payment will be the amount of repair costs above your deductible. So on a home with $500,000 of coverage, and a 15% deductible, the homeowner will be expected to cover the first $ 75,000 of repairs. Your carrier will determine your premium. Usually older homes cost more to insure than newer homes and retrofitting is required for homes built before 1955. Premiums should not be the only thing you take into consideration when you are purchasing an earthquake insurance policy. Often you can find policies with low premiums, but they are accompanied by poor coverage.

One important thing to keep in mind when shopping for earthquake insurance is that the insured value of your house is determined by your homeowners insurance. If you are under insured on your homeowner’s policy, you will also be underinsured on your earthquake policy. Purchasing earthquake insurance can be a difficult decision. People who live in the Bay Area of California have a 75% chance of a 6.0 magnitude or greater earthquake hitting them, but only about 14 % of CA residents carry earthquake insurance. If you decide to buy earthquake insurance, place your limit so that it is adequate to completely replace your property, any outbuildings, cover any engineering costs, and temporary living expenses that you may have.

By: Matt Murren

The AARP homeowners insurance program is provided by The Hartford Financial Services Group. The Hartford Financial Services Group was founded in 1810 and has had a partnership with the AARP providing auto insurance and homeowners insurance since 1984. This partnership is currently in its third extension and will continue through at least January 2020.

The AARP homeowners insurance program offers some good benefits. They have a 100% protection plan available which insures your home for 100% of its replacement cost. According to their website, if this option is selected they will “pay the full cost to rebuild even if it costs up to 150% of the applicable limits of your policy.”

Another good benefit that they offer is their “Protector Plus Homeowners Deductible Forgiveness”. With this benefit they will wave up to $5,000 of your deductible if you experience a qualifying loss of $20,000 or more.

For the protection of your personal possessions they have what they call a “new for old” plan in which they pay the actual cost to replace possessions with brand-new items. This is a good option to have because if your possessions are several years old the cash value would be far less than that of brand new items.

One thing that I don’t really like too much about their coverage is that personal property is only covered up to $5,000. You can get more coverage than that if he needed but of course you have to pay extra. And let’s face it if your house burned to the ground and you needed to replace all of your possessions, things like your furniture, appliances, electronics, etc. it would probably cost far more than $5,000 to replace all of those items.

All in all the AARP Homeowners Insurance Program looks pretty good to me but I always recommend doing your homework and talking to trusted financial professionals before committing to any important financial decisions.




By: Stan Jenkins

1. Protector PLUS Homeowners Deductible Forgiveness

We still continue the benefit when choosing the AARP Homeowners Insurance. For PLUS Homeowners Deductible Forgiveness plan, I think already knew that. That right, with this benefit they will wave up to $5,000 of your deductible if you experience a qualifying loss of $20,000 or more.

The AARP homeowners insurance program offers some pretty good. They have a 100% protection plan available which covers your house for 100% of the cost to replace it. According to their website, if this option is selected they will “pay the full cost to rebuild even if it costs up to 150% of the applicable limits of your policy.”

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2. Additional Limits Coverage 

This another cool advantages with Aarp Homeowners Insurance, which is we can purchase extra coverage over and above the normal limits. Lucky wo AARP Hartford policy holders.

3. Extra Valuables Coverage

It normal we have valuables things in our home, and it also normal that usually other insurance policy not covered these items. But with AARP Harford you will get what you can get. They are totally have ‘extra valuables coverage for you. These types of policies are generally used for expensive jewelry, credit cards, furs and other expensive items.

Plus you can also, purchase protection for items that can access your bank accounts. In addition on that, you can even add coverage that would replace your broken locks after a break-in and also replace your spoiled food in case your power goes out for an extended period of time.

4. Lifetime Renewability

That right, with aarp homeowners insurance policy, after 60 days reach your subscription your policy will never be canceled or terminated, frankly because of your age. Except something rare instances issue happen. 

This is absolutely fascinating, because some of homeowners insurance will not cover our home after we claim it. Like I said before, with Aarp it’s totally on control. Pay your premiums on time, continue to insure your home for at least 80% of your homes rebuilding value and cannot have knowingly increased your home’s hazard level. 

5. Furniture Replacement Costs

Most standard homeowner’s insurance policies do not offer replacement costs for your contents. With an AARP Hartford policy, though, depreciation is not a factor when replacing items like furniture, clothing and other contents of your home. That means you can replace your items with something similar instead of settling for a cheaper version of something that got damaged.

Most of other insurance policies do not offer any replacement cost for your contents Replacement cost for furniture is available in Aarp, this is much differ than any policies offered. Means that, that means you can replace your furniture when one them got damage. 

6. No more worries when sailing.

Yup, with AARP Hartford your personal boat also they covered, but your boat must smaller than 26 feet. If you want more than that, typically you must pay extra on that and by then all your equipment and furniture in that boat will fully covered if you want too. As a bonus, the policy covers the boat whether it gets damaged on the water or if it’s parked in your driveway.

7. “New for Old”



Many insurance policies only cover the value of your possessions in case you in depreciation period. But with AARP Harford they pay the actual replacement cost for new items of equal quality. Regardless of age or condition. 

For the personal possessions program in their policies they also have you some advantage which is what they call a ‘new for old’ plan. Which means, they pay the actual cost replace possessions with brand-new items.

8. for retiree’s person.

For retirees, homeowner’s insurance policies really do not get much better than the AARP Hartford policies. In addition to having special group rates that retirees can take advantage of, they also offer certain types of coverage that is only available to members. If you haven’t considered an AARP policy, speak with an agent and see if it’s the best option for your insurance needs.

You will get much better than the AARO homeowners insurance. For this part, I think you should ask and speak with the agent. But for sure, you will get special rates for your subscription. Ask the agent first. 

9. Flexible Payment Options

You also can choose a variety payment plan which commit with your budget.

10. 24/7 Claim Hotline

I just copy and paste one of AARP Hartford company for this part below.

Every Homeowners policy from The Hartford is backed by these promises:

24/7 claim service

Dedicated customer care specialists

Repairs guaranteed for 3 years, if done by approved workers

Claim service expert for problem escalation and resolution

Prompt claim payment following agreement on amount of loss

12 month rate protection

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By: Mrtakiyaki