Shannon Harvey Insurance

You're definitely not the only one! Ask your mortgage lender about using an escrow account for your homeowners insurance. That way your monthly mortgage payment will be adjusted to include your home insurance premium. When your next premium is due, your lender will pay it using the money in your escrow account.

Say your home insurance is $600 a year. That works out to $50 a month, so the amount you send to the mortgage company each month would be increased by $50. Each month, that $50 would be deposited into your escrow account. When the bill comes due, your lender will send a payment from your escrow money.

It's so common to include escrow that the industry has come up with an acronym to describe how the mortgage payment breaks down: PITI (Principal on the mortgage / Interest on the mortgage / Taxes held in escrow / Insurance held in escrow).

Read more about homeowners insurance.

I recommend talking to your lender about the escrow before you close on the house...and remember, this is different from the escrow for closing costs. For one thing, you need to make sure you'll have an escrow account. While they're common, not everybody has one. You might also want to ask whether there's a minimum balance for escrow accounts, how your monthly payment will be adjusted if your insurance rate changes in the future, and whether your property taxes can also be included in your escrow payment.

What might happen if you're involved in an auto accident that is your fault, which injures the other driver, and the cost of those injuries exceeds your policy liability limits? What if the accident totals that person's vehicle, which costs more to replace than your liability limit would cover? Is it likely that you could end up on the wrong end of a lawsuit with your savings, retirement account and home equity up for grabs? Does just thinking about the possibility stress you out some? Perhaps a Personal Umbrella Policy (PUP) would provide the stress relief you can't afford to live without.

A PUP works with a customer's existing liability coverage by providing additional protection. Additional benefits include:

• Customers will not have to face court alone. If they are sued over an incident covered under their personal umbrella policy, we will retain and pay for an attorney to represent them in court.
• Their coverage goes everywhere. So, they are covered no matter where they are, including outside the U.S. like Cancun, Cozumel or other spring break hot spots.
• Helps with gaps in their coverage. Homeowners and auto policies do not cover certain types of incidents, like those alleging slander. But a personal umbrella policy helps provide protection for this kind of incident as well as others.
• Reimbursement for lost wages. Customers will be reimbursed for the wages lost for absence from work for a court appearance, up to the limits specified for this benefit in the policy.

We offer a range of personal umbrella coverage amounts in $1 million increments, and they are surprisingly inexpensive. Customers may qualify for up to a maximum coverage amount of $5 million. While you hope to never need a Personal Umbrella Policy, it's better to plan for the worst just in case.

Your family's security primarily depends on having a safe, comfortable place to live.  This is where your homeowners policy comes in.Your policy will contain a description of your home's structure and a list of excluded events. If something happens, you can make a claim. Your Residence Type Matters Structures vary so widely that a different policy is required for each type of home.

• A Condo policy typically covers interior structures like wallboard and lighting fixtures. Depending on your state, your association by-laws, and insurer, external walls will not be covered.
• A Home's entire structure is covered along with sheds and detached garages.
• A Manufactured Home's entire structure is usually covered, while sheds and garages may require an optional policy.
• A Renters policy usually has no physical structure coverage at all, but it does provide essential liability and contents coverage.

Most Unfortunate Events are Covered Most insurance companies offer coverage for the same events that may damage the structure of your home, including fire, smoke, lightning, wind, hail, frozen plumbing, theft, explosion, vandalism, the weight of ice and snow, and a few others.

Excluded Events are Named in the Policy An agent can explain the events that would not be covered by your specific policy when it comes to your home's structure. Typically, floods and earthquakes are excluded from basic policies, but you may be able to get insurance for those with separate policies. A few other conditions most companies specifically exclude are mold, fungus, wet rot, dry rot and bacteria.

Click here to read more about Homeowners Insurance.

When insuring your home's structure, make sure you plan for the worst even if you're hoping for the best.

Accidents happen...and so do lawsuits. Liability insurance helps keep a stranger's misfortune from becoming yours. For example, letting a tree branch grow over the sidewalk doesn't look like a dangerous hazard. But if a child is knocked off her parent's shoulder, falling to the sidewalk - you could potentially be accused of negligence and sued. If you are found liable in court, your personal assets could be at risk.

Family Liability Coverage helps protect you against the financial uncertainty arising from injury or property damage that you or your family may cause to other people - on or away from your property. It typically includes compensation for the injured party, the cost of defending you in court and any court awards or settlements up to the limits of your policy.

Compare the total worth of everything you have with the limits of your policy and talk to an agent to make sure you are comfortable with your level of protection.

• Retirement accounts [IRA, 401(k), pension plans]
• Non-retirement investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds)
• Liquid assets (checking, savings, CDs, money market accounts)
• Personal property (actual value of all your possessions if you sold them: cars, boats, jewelry, furniture, etc.)
• Home and other real estate equity

In the event that you or anyone in your household is accused of accidentally causing injury or damage to property, your insurance coverage can help by providing for legal defense fees and, in the event of a settlement or judgment, can pay damages (up to your policy limit). Talk with an agent about limits for this coverage, as coverage is dependent on your particular policy limit.

Click here to read more about Liability Insurance.

Thinking there might be some changes you can make around the home to conserve energy? You're on to something. To live even greener, you can:

• Choose energy-efficient windows. Go with double-pane windows and you might even reduce the risk of break-ins (because double-pane windows can be more difficult to break).
• Insulate your water pipes. You'll save energy and it may reduce the risk of frozen pipes.
• Insulate your ceiling and attic. Air sealing reduces heat loss into attics, which can also reduce ice dam formation.
• Seal your ducts. Duct sealing reduces the risk of pressure imbalances in homes. (Pressure imbalances can increase fire risks and could enable the risk of toxic gases like carbon monoxide entering the living space.)
• Replace Torchiere halogen light fixtures. Choose more efficient fixtures to save energy and possibly reduce the risk of fire.
• Put motion sensors on outdoor lights. You can reduce electricity use and you may even improve security.
• Purchase sealed combustion appliances (furnaces and hot water heaters). These are more efficient, and you may also reduce risk of fire and carbon monoxide fumes getting into the living space.

If you're already in Good Hands with Allstate, you can sign up for our Easy Pay Plan and Allstate will make a $10 contribution to a national, environmentally conscious organization with local, highly visible initiatives.

Click here to read more about living green.

Perhaps Kermit the Frog wasn't entirely correct...it can be easy being green. -Shannon