Protecting Your Home Against Fire

Your home insurance with Brent Young Agency LLC serving Manchester, CT covers fire, but the best scenario is to avoid this catastrophe altogether.

Here are some helpful tips for protecting your home against fire in a range of situations:

Practice Electrical Safety

Electrical hazards cause a worrying number of home fires every year. Practice electrical safety in your home:

  • Don’t overload outlets.
  • Don’t run extension cords under rugs.
  • Use surge protectors on electronic devices.

Use Heaters Carefully

In Connecticut, the use of portable heaters is quite common.

  • Keep portable heaters at least three feet away from anything that can burn.
  • Turn off heaters when leaving the room or going to bed.
  • Have heaters inspected annually.

Have Routine Home Maintenance

Regular home maintenance is an essential part of fire prevention.

  • Have heating ducts cleaned at least once a year.
  • Have chimneys cleaned once a year before the cold season.
  • Replace damaged electrical outlets.

Use Safe Cooking Practices

Kitchen fires are also quite common but can be avoided with these tips:

  • Never leave the kitchen when something is cooking on the cooktop.
  • Use timers for baking.
  • Don’t leave the house while baking, even for a minute.

Install Smoke Alarms and Fire Extinguishers

This simple step could save lives as well as property.

  • Place smoke alarms on every level of your home, including the basement and near sleeping areas.
  • Test smoke alarms monthly and replace batteries annually.
  • Install fire extinguishers in key areas such as the kitchen, garage, and near fireplaces.

Practice Outdoor Fire Safety

Outdoor living spaces add quality of life but represent another risk of fire.

  • Keep grills, fire pits, and generators at least 10 feet away from the house.
  • Regularly clean the grill and check for gas leaks.
  • Observe local ordinances when burning yard waste.

Need Home Insurance? Consult With Us

These are all simple ways to ensure your family and your home are protected as much as possible from the dangers of fire. Contact Brent Young Agency LLC serving Manchester, CT today, for more helpful ways to protect your home against fire. We look forward to serving your needs!

Home Inventory Checklist: Why It’s Essential for Your Home Insurance Policy

When it comes to home insurance policies, it’s important to plan ahead. One often underestimated tool that can greatly enhance your coverage is a meticulously crafted home inventory checklist. Brent Young Agency LLC, providing Manchester, CT residents with home insurance, wants to educate you on the reasons why building and maintaining such a checklist is an essential component of your home insurance policy.

Home Inventory Checklist

Precise Valuation of Possessions

A home inventory checklist acts as a meticulously detailed catalog of your belongings, encompassing everything from furniture to electronics, clothing, and even appliances. This precise valuation ensures accurate coverage, allowing you to be adequately reimbursed in the event of loss, theft, or damage.

Simplified Claims Process

When the unexpected strikes, an up-to-date home inventory checklist becomes your guiding light. In the aftermath of a catastrophe, such as a fire or burglary, your checklist expedites the claims process. You’ll have irrefutable evidence of your possessions, streamlining the assessment and validation of your losses.

Informed Decision Making

Creating a home inventory checklist isn’t solely for insurance purposes. It empowers you to make informed decisions about your coverage limits. Armed with the knowledge of the value of your possessions, you can tailor your policy to ensure comprehensive protection that aligns with your needs.

Schedule A Consultation Today!

A home inventory checklist is one of the most important things you can do to help you in the event you ever experience an issue for which you need to file a home insurance claim. Having the right home insurance policy can also come in handy. If you’re in the market for a new policy in the greater Manchester, CT area, Brent Young Agency LLC would love to earn your business. Reach out to us today.

Why Every Homeowner Needs Home Insurance

If you own a home, there are a lot of risks to that home that exist. There are many different threats that can harm a house, and you need to be prepared in case one of them should damage your home and your belongings. If you’re buying a home, it’s time to call us at Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT. 

Home Protection

One of the most important reasons that you need to have home insurance is that it protects your house itself. If something like an accident or a specific type of disaster happened that damaged your home, the policy would pay for that damage. Getting repairs of any kind can be extremely expensive, so it’s important never to be without this coverage. Without home insurance, you would be responsible for paying for all of the repairs or the rebuilding. Stay safe and cover your home. 

Belongings Protection

With a home policy, you also get coverage for the belongings that you have in the house. If a covered event should damage your belongings, the policy covers those as well. It can pay for you to get all of your belongings replaced so that you won’t have to come up with the money to do so. 

Coverage for Liability

Another coverage type is liability insurance. This covers you in case someone were to be at your home and suffer from an accident there. Someone could get injured in your home, and you’d have to pay for their medical bills if you didn’t have home insurance. With this coverage, the policy pays for those bills as well as things like lost wages and legal costs. 

Get Home Insurance

When you get home insurance, you have protection against many things that can go wrong. Call us at Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT to get started. 

Why do you need to have home insurance?

Owning a home in the Manchester, CT area can be a great idea for a lot of people. When you are a property owner in this part of the state, you also need to make sure that you are insuring it the right way.

There are various reasons why you need to have a home insurance plan when you are here:

Protect Your Home

A reason to have a home insurance plan is to protect your dwelling. Your home is a significant asset that you will want to ensure is always properly covered and protected. If you are covered with home insurance, it will provide coverage to make repairs if damaged by a fire, weather damage, vandalism, or other covered issues. You will also receive a provision to provide coverage for your personal items. 

Reduce Liability Risks

It would also be a good idea to have home insurance to reduce your liability risks. Anyone that owns a home will take on some liability risks. If there is an accident on your property that leads to damages, you could be held responsible and will need to pay restitution. Fortunately, a home insurance plan will include coverage to cover these damages. This will provide valuable support during situations that are otherwise difficult. 

Contact Us Today

Having home insurance is a necessity if you are in the Manchester, CT area. When you are trying to cover and protect your home, calling Brent Young Agency LLC is a great way to start. If you do call the team with Brent Young Agency LLC, you can get all of the support that you need to build your next plan. We take a customized approach to help understand your options and needs as you create your next policy. 

How Often Should I Review My Home Insurance Policy?

Most home insurance policies give you a 30-day grace period or more after your coverage. Ensure you’re updated on any required registrations and reporting. 

If there’s something outdated or not covered under the policy, address it or call Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT. 

What Entails Policy Review 

Many homeowners opt to set a due date in their calendar to review their policy each year. The best time to start reviewing your policy is at the beginning of the year. 

This is when you should look at your coverage levels, compare your policy to that of your neighbors, and renew your policy if necessary. After you’ve renewed your policy, don’t leave it up in the air — review it again in a few months’ time. 

The goal of reviewing your policy at the beginning of the year, at the end of the year, and in-between is to stay on top of things. Doing it regularly ensures that you always have a detailed knowledge of what’s covered and what’s not, as well as how much your policy will cost. 

First and foremost, you should always confirm that your home is insured. If you purchased your home recently, you may want to double-check that it’s covered by your mortgage lender’s policy. If you’re looking to add coverage to your home, you should compare the cost of that coverage to the cost of staying uninsured. 

Call Us Today

The frequency of home insurance policy reviews depends on the policy term length and the type of coverage you have. Most home insurance policies have a policy term length of three to five years. 

If you have a term length of less than five years, you should review your policy every year. The majority have a yearly policy term length. For expert aid, contact Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT.

What types of coverage does home insurance provide?

Home insurance is not just one type of insurance. A traditional home policy has four different types of coverage. You get property coverage, content cover, liability coverage, and loss of use coverage. Read your policy carefully to make sure that it includes all four. At Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT, we have a full-service independent insurance agency that has been serving customers throughout the state since 1990. 

Liability coverage

The world is full of things that can damage you financially and having the correct amount of liability insurance makes the difference between saving your assets and losing everything you have worked so hard for. Be sure that you have the right amount of liability coverage. Not having enough is a bad mistake. 

Loss of use

If your house is damaged to such a degree that it is not habitable, you will need a place to stay. Depending on the length of time you will be homeless, you may stay in a hotel for a short stay, but for longer times, a rental home may be the best option. In the short term, meals may also be covered. 

Property

The physical structure of your home is protected from a variety of different hazards. It covers the roof, chimney, walls, basement, porch, deck and garage. It also covers detached structures on your property like a shed or casita. 

Content

All of your personal possessions are also covered, though some items like art or jewelry have limits. If you have expensive things, you may need a rider. You can choose a replacement cost or current value when it comes to your content. The current value allows for depreciation when determining the value. You may not get enough to replace some items. 

Contact Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT when you are ready to discuss your home insurance. 

Keeping your home safe when you are away

Getting away is something that everyone looks forward to. With rising crime rates, however, you may worry about leaving your home unattended. It isn’t an unreasonable worry, but there are some things that you can do to make your home safer while you are away. At Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT, we work with our customers to customize their home insurance to their needs. As independent agents, we work for our customers, not for the insurance company. 

The first thing you need to do is to install a home security system. These days, it is neither expensive nor difficult. Many of them are DIY projects and you don’t have to opt for professional monitoring, you can monitor it yourself on your phone. If you already have a system, make sure it is armed when you leave the house. 

Stop your mail. Stop it a day or two before you actually leave to make sure your mailman actually stops the delivery. Make sure you don’t have any packages scheduled for delivery. You don’t want anything piling up at your door.

Have a friend or a relative check on your home. Also, let your next-door neighbor know that you are going to be away. It is always good to have several sets of eyes checking on your home. 

Don’t announce your plans on social media. Don’t post pictures while you are away telling the world that no one is at your home. You will have plenty of time when you get back to share all the details of your time away. 

There is no way to guarantee that your home will be safe while you are away, but if you follow these suggestions, you have a reasonably good chance that all will go well. 

Contact Brent Young Agency LLC in Manchester, CT when you are ready to discuss your home insurance coverage. 

What home insurance do you need for your Connecticut home?

Homeowners in Connecticut live in one of the most scenic states in the country. But even though it is scenic, that doesn’t mean the risks of living there are any less. Manchester, CT is a Hartford suburb that offers good schools and affordable housing. At Brent Young Agency LLC, we are independent agents who provide our customers with access to more carriers and an experienced team to make sure you get the insurance you need. 

The laws in Connecticut don’t require that homeowners have home insurance. If, however, you have a mortgage, the lender will require it. Even if you don’t have a mortgage, given the fact that purchasing a home in Connecticut is one of the biggest investments you will ever make, you will want to protect it. Your local independent insurance agent can help you find the right policy for your needs. 

Home insurance offers several different types of coverage. It protects the physical structure of your home as well as other structures on your property. It covers the contents of the home and structures. It provides liability coverage for you and family members and it also provides loss of use protection. 

Structure coverage protects against a variety of perils. Things like tornados, fire and theft. It covers the home, a deck, a porch, attached and detached garage, a shed or casita. 

When it comes to content, you have choices about the type of replacement you get. You can choose cash value or replacement cost. 

Liability protection is important and safeguards your assets from suits that may be brought against you or your family members. 

If your home is damaged, loss of use allows you to stay in a hotel or get a rental while you are waiting for repairs to be completed. 

If you live in Manchester, CT or the surrounding area, the Brent Young Agency LLC can help you to find the perfect home insurance for your home.