After a long hard winter, most families look forward to spring when flowers begin blooming once more, and the songs and sounds of birds grow louder each new day of spring. This could be a very exciting time for home owners as they look forward to tree and shrub plantings, and gardening activities.

End of winter hibernation 

 Many home owners are also happy to emerge from what may appear like hibernation from their homes and start venturing outside once more. In the midst of this enthusiasm, there are certain important spring safety tips that every home owners should consider. This article discusses spring safety tips for your home.

Safety of Your home is paramount

Change of season oftentimes requires periodic physical checkups for your home.  Here is a list of things to check in your home to make sure they are in optimal condition.

• Check all the smoke detectors to make sure they are all in great working condition. Change batteries if need be.
• Check all door locks both from inside and outside the home.
• Check your garage locks; consider installing deadbolts with outside access on all doors.
• Install motion sensors. It not only increases security of your family it also deters criminals from attempting to break into your home.
• Are your shrubs trimmed? This is the time to trim and cut them to size, so they don’t shield burglars when they attempt to break into your home.
• Clean your garage. Collect all important paper documents and file and store them in fire resistant safes. This will keep your documents safe and reduce fire hazards in your home.
• Install a security system in your home. If you don’t have one, and you have often procrastinated in doing this, this spring is a great time to get this done. Security systems can lower your Home Insurance premiums

 Securing your Home Insurance

This is the most important tip of all. Home or property insurance is vital to every homeowner. If you live in the Rochester MN area contact a reliable home insurance provider – Safechoice Insurance Agency to discuss your insurance needs. 

When you live in Rochester, Minnesota, it’s always a good idea to prepare your house for any kind of disaster. This includes fires, snowstorms, and anything else where you could be potentially stuck inside your home for several days, or even evacuated. A few tips can go a long way to making sure you are ready.

Have Food

It may sound obvious, but you want to have food in the house. 3-5 days’ worth can make a difference if you are ever stuck inside and cannot get out to the store. You should also have nonperishable items that can be eaten without being heated. Great items include peanut butter, protein bars, MREs, and trail mixes.

Buy Lighting

Buy sufficient lighting for all rooms of the house that isn’t dependent on electricity. This can include flashlights as well as wind-up lanterns. Avoid candles and such as the open flame can end up causing a fire.

Know About Fire Safety

Teach everyone about fire safety and have fire extinguishers in the house. Also ensure you have smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the house that are in working order.

Light Up Your Front Entry

Keep your front entry well-lit and properly locked so you can deter burglaries and break-ins.

Have Extra Batteries

Extra batteries are a good idea not only for flashlights and a radio, but also for toys for the kids. If you lose power, they are going to want their toys and you want to make sure they have a way of keeping themselves busy.

Call Safechoice Insurance Agency today and find out how you can protect your home with a good homeowner’s insurance policy. Our agents can get quotes from some of the top companies in Minnesota and answer any questions you have along the way.

At times, living in a rental house can be frustrating. You may feel as though you have no control over what can be done in the space where you are living. While this is true to a certain extent, there are some landlords who would be more than willing to help out with a few small changes to enhance the home. They key to getting the go ahead with changes to your Rochester, MN rental can be found here.

Be honest

Don’t try to make the changes and then tell the landlord what is going on. Even if they are for the better, if they are not approved by the landlord, in writing, it may cost you. There are laws in place, in some areas that will put all the liability on the person who made the changes, if they were not approved. Chances are, if it is a reasonable request, your landlord will say yes.

Discuss added value

If the landlord seems hesitant to give you the go ahead to make these changes, talk to them about how much value this update could add to the property. In most cases, this will encourage them  to say yes to the changes.

Always get it in writing

Even if you have a great relationship with your landlord, you never know what is going to happen down the road. This is why you should get any approved changes in writing. This will help protect you in the long run.

Regardless of if you make changes to the space or not, ensuring your belongings are protected is a must. Contact the Safechoice Insurance Agency in Rochester, MN to learn more about the coverage you need.

Home liability coverage is a part of homeowner’s insurance. You can choose what kind of limits you have within your policy – and every policy is a little different. It’s used in the event that someone accidentally hurts themselves on your property.

The most important thing to know about this coverage is that it is for accidents only. If there’s an intentional injury, you probably won’t be covered.

Accidents can include just about anything that happens on the property or in the home. It can be something along the lines of a dog bite, a slip on a frozen sidewalk, a trip down a flight of stairs, and much more.

You never know when an accident is going to occur and therefore you want the home liability coverage in place. If there’s a major accident, it’s best to have the coverage so it can be handled properly – and without costing you a fortune.

The coverage is going to be used to take care of the person who has been injured without charging you for everything out of pocket. It may provide coverage for:

• Pain and suffering
• Death benefits
• Legal costs
• Medical bills
• Pain and suffering

When you buy an insurance policy for your home, you want to look at what the limit is. It can be advantageous to go above the minimum just in case there is an accident at your home. You can also choose optional coverage in the form of a personal umbrella liability, offering more financial protection.

At Safechoice Insurance Agency, we’re here to help you find the best home liability coverage for your home in Rochester, Minnesota. Call and talk to one of our agents today to begin getting quotes and have someone who can answer your questions.

You want to have a great garage sale in Rochester, Minnesota and therefore there are some tips to follow. This will ensure that you maximize your time, market effectively, and earn more money.

Contact the Neighbors

Contact the neighbors to let them know that you are going to have a garage sale. If everyone decides to hold a sale on the same day, it can drive more traffic and allow you to sell more items.

Market Effectively

It is important to market effectively throughout Rochester. This means you will want to do a combination of marketing online and offline. Hang signs throughout the neighborhood, put an ad in the local newspaper, and create ads throughout various online forums. If you don’t market, people are never going to learn that you are even having a garage sale.

Price to Sell

Price everything to sell because you don’t want to bring it back into the house. Typical garage sale prices are a third to a quarter of the retail price. Anything more than that and people are likely going to walk away without even considering purchasing anything from you. Remember that many people like to haggle prices.

Donate Remaining

You have gone through the work of gathering everything that you don’t want. Donate the remaining items that don’t sell so that you don’t bring them back in the house. This will ensure that you remove the clutter from your home. Schedule a run to the donation center directly following the garage sale – or have a donation center pickup arranged, depending upon what your center offers and how much stuff you have to donate.

Call us at Safechoice Insurance Agency today to learn about homeowners insurance in Rochester. We work with some of the best insurance companies in Minnesota to get you affordable rates.

Are you a little unsure as to whether or not you need to have a renters insurance policy? Many tenants wrongly skip coverage because they aren’t exactly knowledgeable what this type of policy entails. Here are three facts about renters insurance that you might not know.

It Covers a Wide Range of Scenarios

Many renters forget to think about the wide range of incidents that can happen at their new apartment. Of course, a fire breaking out or a thief breaking in are two of the most obvious scenarios. But what if your luggage is stolen while you are on vacation? Or the UPS guy trips over a rug at your home and becomes injured? What if your sweet dog suddenly becomes frightened and bites a visitor to your home? All of these incidents may be covered under your renters insurance policy.

It is Incredibly Affordable

Most tenants automatically assume that renters insurance is expensive to carry. The truth is that the average cost of a policy nationwide is between one and two hundred dollars per year or only a few dollars a month when divided up into payments. In addition, many auto insurance companies even offer a substantial discount for those who carry both types of policies with them. This makes the final cost to have both policy types together nearly the same as what you are currently paying for just auto insurance coverage alone.

(Note: Discounts and policy premiums vary depending on your personal circumstances. It is important to speak directly with your agent to determine whether or not you qualify for a lower rate.)

It Might Be a Requirement

Many business savvy landlords and property management companies are now requiring tenants to purchase renters insurance policies and show proof of coverage at the time they sign their leases. Why? They know that if an incident happens, many renters wrongly assume that their landlord will pick up the tab for damaged or stolen personal goods. By making sure these renters know that the landlord is not responsible for their items from the moment they move in, they can help fend off a future dispute that could even go as far as court.

The purpose of renters insurance is to be an additional layer of protection against the unexpected. By keeping these three facts in mind, you can now decide whether or not this type of coverage is right for you.

To learn more about renters insurance or to receive a no-obligation quote, please contact our knowledgeable team at Safechoice Insurance Agency today.