Guide For Homeowners

• Investigate buying a guaranteed replacement cost policy. When and where available, these policies can pay to rebuild your house, including improvements at today's prices regardless of the limits of the policy.

• Consider having your home periodically reappraised to be sure the policy reflects the real replacement cost.

• Update the policy to include any home improvements, such as basement refinishing. Annual automatic increases may not be enough to cover these.

• FEMA recommends a policy that covers the replacement cost of your possessions. Standard coverage only pays for the actual cash value (replacement cost discounted for age or use).

• Be very clear about what the policy will and will not cover and how the deductibles work (the part you pay before the policy pays).

• Be aware that hurricane deductibles can be significantly higher than standard homeowners' deductibles.

• Check state or federally operated insurance pools if you find it difficult to obtain private coverage because of a recent disaster. Premiums often run higher than market rates, but this may be a better choice.

• Conduct a home inventory, make a list, and use it to check that your policys coverage matches the value of your possession.