You’ve done it! You’ve finally found your dream home. All that’s left to do now is make sure it is as secure and protected as can be. There’s a lot to manage when buying a home so we’re sharing top tips for first-time buyers to secure and protect their new home. Simplified and actionable tips that will hopefully take the overwhelm out of the process 😉
Keep on reading for the most important things to consider and do to keep your all-important investment and home safe and protected.
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1. Understand your unique insurance needs
Every homeowner’s situation is different. It’s important that you evaluate your unique needs before making any decisions about the right insurance policy for you. Some of the factors you’ll need to consider are:
- The value of your property: Obviously, the value of your property has a big impact on your insurance needs. Higher-value properties require more extensive coverage to ensure you can fund any repairs or rebuilds you require.
- Natural risks in the area: Local environmental risks is another critical consideration when purchasing insurance. Areas prone to flooding, bushfires and storms may require particular kinds of insurance. You might also find yourself paying extra premiums in high-risk areas.
- High-value items: We’ll get into the distinctions between home and contents insurance a little bit later. For now, just know that you’ll need to give special consideration to high-value items in your home.
All of these factors and many more play a role in finding the right insurance for your situation.
2. Get to know building and contents insurance
When protecting your home, you’ll need to understand the dual roles of building and contents insurance. Together, building and contents insurance make up home insurance. The role of home insurance is to cover the cost of repairing, or rebuilding your home or replacing your belongings when something goes wrong.
Building insurance covers the physical structures of your home. This can include:
- home
- garage
- other lockable buildings on your property
- wardrobes
- kitchen
- plumbing.
Building insurance may also provide coverage for things like:
- temporary accommodation if your home is unliveable
- demolition and debris removal cost
- rebuilding and professional fees if your home is a total loss.
Contents insurance on the other hand provides coverage for household items and personal belongings. It can provide coverage against theft, damage and loss by insured events.
Contents insurance can cover items including clothes, furniture, computers, appliances, televisions and more. Some contents insurance policies can even be configured to cover items taken outside of the home, like cameras and mobile phones.
Make sure you understand the differences between home and contents insurance, and what you need from each of them. This will set you on the right path to finding the best insurance policy for you.
Check out Westpac’s insurance guide for first home buyers to learn more.
3. Find the right policy
Now that you understand home insurance and particular factors that are relevant to you, it’s time to track down the right policy for you. For most people, this simply involves comparing policies from their computer or mobile.
Insurers will typically allow you to read their full home insurance policies on their website. You can also find more digestible ‘explainer-style’ content to understand their policies more easily.
When researching home insurance policies, it’s important to research a range of different options. Third-party websites can help you compare offers and you can look to forum sites to get a wider range of perspectives.
The type of home you own also plays a big role in your insurance needs. If you own an apartment, townhouse or villa, your home may be covered by a strata plan. Often, building insurance will be covered by strata levies.
However, it’s important to remember that strata levies may not cover all the insurance that you want or need. Items like kitchen cupboards, lights and wallpaper may not be included in strata insurance policies. This means you’ll need to insure these items yourself.
Also, strata insurance generally doesn’t cover home contents. You’ll therefore need to purchase your own contents insurance.
4. Take preventative measures
While home insurance is a great way to create peace of mind, it’s not the only measure you should take to secure and protect your home. There are plenty of measures you can take which can hopefully prevent your insurance policy from ever needing to be used.
Some of the best preventative measures you can take are:
- Locks: High-quality locks are critical tools for keeping your home safe. For maximum safety, install them on all locks and windows. This is important for preventing theft.
- Smart home security: For even greater security, look to smart home devices. These systems use motion detectors and cameras to give you a comprehensive view of what’s happening on your property. They are a great way to prevent thieves and other threats from doing financial harm to your home and contents.
- Prepare for weather events and natural disasters: Some weather events and natural disasters will be covered in your home insurance policy, and some will not. Either way, it’s important to take measures to prepare your home for them. This includes regularly clearing your gutters during bushfire season, and monitoring the likelihood of large trees falling on your home during extremely windy periods.
While there’s a lot that goes into protecting your first home, these tips protect against the main threats most Australian homeowners face.
5. Don’t put the work off
In all the excitement of buying your first home, it can be easy to neglect the boring stuff like insurance and home maintenance required to protect your investment.
But these tips are all about preparing for the unexpected. The types of events that home insurance covers you for can happen at any time. Ideally, your insurance should take effect from the day ownership of the property transfers to you.
If you’ve left your home insurance till later in the process, set aside an appropriate amount of time to get it sorted as soon as possible. Make sure you don’t rush the process too much and still do your research.
Have your other preventative measures ready to put in place as soon as possible. This all adds up to a safe property and peace of mind for you.
We hope these tips for first-time buyers help you if you’ve just purchased your first home. Do you have any questions? Pop them below and we’ll get back to you asap!
