Category: Home Insurance

Protecting your assets, such as a home, vehicles, and possessions, is crucial. Part of that protection includes having home insurance. Home insurance is a way to secure yourself financially against various risks. Homeowners face many risks that could end up being costly. If there is a cost of many thousands due to accidents or other incidents, you could be forced to sell off your assets to pay for the damage. With home insurance, you’re covered in several ways, so you won’t have to sell your assets due to a damaging event. Contact us at Armadillo Insurance Agency in Austin, TX to get started with home insurance.

Protection for the Home and Belongings

If your home were damaged, the repair costs could amount to tens of thousands of dollars, possibly more. Without home insurance, you’d likely have to sell your home to someone who could afford to fix it. Selling assets is a way to access the money you’ll need because you don’t have insurance. The same is true if all of your belongings were damaged or destroyed — to replace everything could mean selling off your assets, including your home.

Liability Protection

Another form of financial protection you get from home insurance is liability coverage. This safeguards you financially in case someone gets injured in your home. A severe injury can cost a significant amount, and your assets could be at risk if you have to pay those costs out of pocket. Always ensure you have home insurance to prevent this from happening.

Get Home Insurance in Austin, TX

Not only is home insurance intelligent, but it’s also typically required for home buyers. Call us at Armadillo Insurance Agency in Austin, TX to learn more.

Significant home remodeling projects often impact your home insurance needs. Not only do remodeling projects increase the value of your home, but the process of remodeling your home brings additional risks that you should protect yourself against. In fact, your home insurance policy may require that you notify their agent before starting the project, so it is best to play it safe. If you live in or near Austin, TX, consider contacting our Armadillo Insurance Agency team to ensure our home insurance policy fully protects you and your family.

The Impact of Remodeling and Renovating 

Home insurance policies typically protect against accidents during minor projects you perform yourself, like painting or recarpeting, but not against more substantial remodeling projects.

As the homeowner, you incur increased risk during the project due to potential liabilities involving the work crew, tools, and supplies. Remodeling projects also raise the risk of damage to your home. As a result, homeowners should consider modifying their home policy or acquiring an umbrella policy for increased protection.

Besides the coverage needed during the work, most projects enhance the home’s long-term value due to added floor space, updated fixtures, or additional furnishings. Some projects add pools or hot tubs for the homeowner to enjoy, but these additions create new risks the home policy should address.

Some remodeling efforts result in reduced insurance premiums because they include safer electrical or heating systems. So, regardless of your planned changes, talk to your agent in advance to confirm you have protection during and after the remodeling project.

Working with the Armadillo Insurance Agency

 If you live in or near Austin, TX, our Armadillo Insurance Agency team can help you obtain the home insurance protection you need. Please stop in or call us today at 512-249-2300.

Home insurance is one of the most important things that you can purchase as a homeowner.  When you buy home insurance, you are buying protection for your most valuable asset, your homefront.  The climate you live in can have an impact on your home insurance.  If you live in a cold climate, there are different things you need to consider when comparing it to a warm climate.  Our team at the Armadillo Insurance Agency can help you understand your Austin, TX home insurance needs and more.  

Warm Climates and Home Insurance

The impact that a warm climate has on home insurance is largely tied to the weather patterns this type of climate brings.  When you are living in a warm climate, you are going to be much more prone to unique weather events such as heavy rainstorms, hurricanes, and more.  High winds can also be common when living in a warmer climate.  When you compare this to a colder climate, where you have snow and ice the risk factors will differ.

Insurers Consider Climate

When coming up with the price points for home insurance, insurance carriers will look at the climate to make determinations on what they want to charge.  They will consider things such as the temperature in a given climate and how they want to weigh the risk of insuring that particular residence.

Call Today To Discuss Your Options

As a homeowner, there is not much you can do about the climate in which you live.  Once you buy your home, you need to shop around for home insurance to get the coverage you need at a value-added price point.  Serving the Austin, TX area, our team at Armadillo Insurance Agency can help you understand home insurance and the impact a climate can have.

Risks are all around and making your home a safer place has never been more important. Safety in the home involves many things both outside your home and inside. Armadillo Insurance Agency in Austin, TX offers customized and personalized customer service. As an independent insurance agency, we also offer more choices from a variety of top carriers. 

Add a home security system

There has never been a better or easier time to add a home security system to your home. Many of them are DIY and can be done in just a matter of minutes. They are also very affordable, and you can opt for monitoring, or you can monitor your home with your cell phone.  

Use your window and door locks

Your home comes with locks on the doors and windows. They don’t do you much good unless you use them religiously. You should have a bar lock for your slider as well. If you must have an open window, make sure it can’t be opened more than a thin crack that won’t allow someone to climb through. 

Install motion detector lights

With motion detector lights, you will be able to view anyone who approaches your home, and you will also have light when you enter your home. It is a win, win. 

Keep shrubbery away from your house

When you have shrubbery growing close to your home or foundation, you are creating a place for someone to hide. It is safer to keep all areas close to your home free from anything that keeps you from being able to see the area clearly. The more you see, the safer you are. 

We Can Help!

Contact Armadillo Insurance Agency in Austin, TX for all of your home insurance needs. Give our office a call today!

High winds can be a challenge in Austin, TX, especially with Texas being at the bottom of tornado alley. Here at Armadillo Insurance Agency, we want to help you prepare so that you can protect your home and belongings from damage during a storm.

Here are a few of the ways that you can protect your home from wind damage:

Roof Inspection

If your roof has gone through several years of wear and tear, severe wind could be enough to put your home at risk for leaks. Be sure to have it inspected to ensure that there aren’t any gaps or tears that could become more extensive if a large storm were to hit. 

Make an Emergency Plan

Pick a place in your home that is free from windows that could break during high wind conditions – for many people, this will most likely be their bathroom.

Consider setting up a first aid kit and think about how you will protect your head from falling debris if the threat escalates to a tornado. 

Patio Furniture

Anything that is close to your windows could come crashing inside and harm you or your belongings. Consider moving patio furniture indoors until the storm passes, or find a way to tie it down so that it poses less of a threat to your home.

Stormproof Glass

Stormproof glass, also known as hurricane glass, can withstand high wind conditions without breaking as easily as regular glass windows. 

These may already be installed in your home. Be sure to look up the manufacturer to confirm that your windows are equipped to handle high winds.

Get Home Insurance Today

Lastly, make sure that you have homeowners insurance! We serve the Austin, TX area at Armadillo Insurance Agency. Contact us today to learn more!

Prior to purchasing a home insurance product, it is strongly advised that you read through that policy and find out what is excluded. One of the things that we at Armadillo Insurance Agency, serving the greater Austin, TX area, have found is that many people do not understand what it means if something is listed as excluded on a home insurance policy. Read on to learn what it means if something is listed as excluded on a home insurance policy and what types of things may be typically excluded. 

What Does It Mean If Something is Excluded On a Home Insurance Policy?

An exclusion list means that an event or item is not covered by the home insurance policy. The exclusion list for a homeowners policy may exclude specific events, or they may exclude specific items. If you see something listed on the excluded list, you know that that type of event or that type of item is not covered by your policy. 

What Types of Things Are Typically Listed On the Exclusion List For Home Insurance Policies?

Specific events, such as flooding, fires started by arson, or damage done by a criminal act you committed are typically listed on the exclusion list. The exclusion list may also list items that are not covered by a home insurance policy, including things like fine art, expensive jewelry, or cars with motors in them. 

Contact Us Today

Just because something is listed as an exclusion on your home insurance policy does not mean that it cannot be covered. Floods can be covered by buying the right flood insurance, and expensive jewelry can be covered with a jewelry insurance policy. At Armadillo Insurance Agency, serving the greater Austin, TX area, we can help you get the coverage you need. Call us today to get started. 

Those that live in the Austin, TX area will likely have found that the real estate market has been strong for a long time. This has made it a good place to invest and purchase a home. If you do intend to live in this region and want to purchase a property, you should also get home insurance.

There are multiple reasons why insurance for your home should be a top priority:

Protect Real Estate Owner

The main reason you should have insurance for your home in Texas is to take advantage of the protections that coverage provides. As a property owner, you will always face various risks. These can include risks that your home is damaged by a bad storm or that an accident occurs on your property. If you do carry the right home insurance, it can help to mitigate and offset all of these 

Meet Your Requirements

You will also want to have a home insurance policy so you can meet the standards and requirements that are set by your lender. If you decide to take out a mortgage, it is important to follow all of the rules and requirements until you have paid the loan off. A common rule is the requirement to carry home insurance and have your payments escrowed, which ensures you do not have a coverage lapse. 

Give Us A Call

If you do decide to purchase a home in the Austin, TX area, you will undoubtedly find that you want to have a home insurance plan as well. Once you start looking for coverage, it can be a good idea to call Armadillo Insurance Agency. The team with the Armadillo Insurance Agency understands the value of home insurance and can offer the support needed to build an ideal plan. This will help ensure you remain appropriately covered at all times. 

You weighed your options and decided on an HO-3 home insurance policy. You chose replacement cost over actual cost, and now you need to customize your policy, so it covers everything inside your home, too. 

Your Custom Home Policy

When Armadillo Insurance Agency says home insurance doesn’t come standard, we’re not kidding! Since every Austin TX home differs, so should every Austin, TX’s homeowners’ insurance policy. What you need differs from your neighbors’, so you’ll need to determine the major items requiring extra coverage.

Your HO-3’s policy covers your personal property up to a percentage of the home’s value. That doesn’t cover everything you own to its full value though, unless you have an empty house. This blog explains the customizations you can make to a policy.

First, are you married or engaged? Look at your left hand, if so. Could you afford to replace the rings on it? If not, insure them specifically with a jewelry clause.

Second, do you run a home-based business? You need to add coverage for your business equipment and business liability.
Third, how many hobbies do you and your family have? Do any of them require expensive equipment like a 35 mm camera and film development equipment? You’ll need to add a rider to cover those items.

Fourth, do you or any member of your household engage in sports? The equipment to train for it can cost quite a bit. For example, a home gym or road bike can cost thousands. Add a hobby or toys rider to your policy for these items.

Fifth, do you own any haute couture or designer clothing or suits? Could you afford to replace those $5,000 to $7,000 suits all in one fell swoop? What about those designer dresses you nabbed for a song online? Add extra personal property coverage for their replacement.

Contact Armadillo Insurance Agency in Austin, TX today to learn more about customizing your home insurance policy. It can cover the replacement costs of your personal property, you’ll need to add to its coverage to do so.

Home insurance protects you in a number of ways. It’s an important form of financial protection that every homeowner needs to have. If you need a home insurance policy, call us today at Armadillo Insurance Agency in Austin, TX to find out more. 

Protection for Your House

When you have home insurance, it offers powerful protection for your house itself. If the house is damaged or destroyed in a covered incident, your home insurance will pay for the repairs or the complete rebuilding of the house. This protects your biggest asset from damage that can happen due to a number of different circumstances. When something happens to damage your house, repairs can be extremely costly. That’s why it’s so important to have this insurance. 

Protection for Your Possessions

If something happens to damage your belongings that are inside the house, this coverage can pay to have them repaired or replaced. When you add up everything inside your house, it comes to a huge amount of money. Replacing all of that would be beyond the budget of most people. With your home insurance policy, all of that can be paid for without it coming from your own pocket.

Protection for Your Liability

When someone comes to your home and has an accident there, you may be liable for the resulting medical bills as well as other costs. With liability protection, the policy pays for those bills that you’re liable for so that you don’t have to. This also means that it’s much less likely that you will be sued, as it will be the policy that owes for the bills. 

Get Home Insurance 

To find out more about home insurance, give us a call at Armadillo Insurance Agency in Austin, TX to talk to an agent about this type of insurance coverage.

As the winter cold starts to creep in, Summer is fading out and Fall is in the air. That means it’s time to clean your home from top to bottom. Something about a complete refresh simply can’t be beaten. Here are four cleaning tips to get the job done.

1. Create a Cleaning Calendar

There are a lot of nooks and crannies in your home that don’t get regular attention. It’s a lot to get done, and you’ll need a schedule to keep the family in line. A cleaning calendar keeps everyone accountable for their chores. 

2. Make a "Sell" Pile

Everybody has clutter. Getting rid of the junk you don’t use anymore is a crucial part of a good cleaning. Whether you have a yard sale out front, donate it to charity, or start auctioning it off on eBay, get stuff out of the house.

3. Clean Your Home’s Air

One of the most important things to clean in your home is the air. Changing air filters and upgrading to HEPA and/or activated carbon goes a long way to improving health. In fact, NASA has a list of houseplants that act as air purifiers. You can even bring some flowers into the house for a natural potpourri. 

4. Update Your Insurance

It’s not just your home – you should clean up your finances at least once a year too. With tax season upon us, updating all your paperwork is a good idea. Since you just sold a bunch of junk, your insurance coverages could use a second look too.

Fall cleaning can become a tradition. It’s a necessity. Contact Armadillo Insurance Agency today to clean up your insurance policy in Austin, TX.