Your home’s value comes into play when you’re selling your home, refinancing a mortgage, or getting insurance.

When hurricanes or wildfires strike, your state may call for a mandatory evacuation to save lives and keep rescue workers out of harm’s way trying to rescue those who decided to stay behind.

Let’s be real: no one wants to pay more for insurance than they have to.

If you pay for your homeowners insurance through an escrow account, you’re not alone.

Nothing quite captures the spirit of the 4th of July like fireworks – the brightness! The clamor! The splendor! We strongly recommend you leave the pyrotechnics to the professionals, but we also realize there’s a reason the US imports $332 million worth of fireworks a year – folks are going to set them off even if it’s not safe (or sometimes legal. You rebels).

Those who live in communities where flooding is considered a high-risk factor have a one-in-four chance of flooding over the course of a 30-year mortgage. It isn’t just the high-risk areas that need to be concerned with rising waters and potential storm floods; nearly 25 percent of all flood claims are in low-to-moderate risk areas.

If your Florida home was built before 2001, there’s a good chance your roof is missing a very important detail: a third nail in its metal hurricane truss straps. Homes built before the 2002 Florida Building Code took effect weren’t required to have this extra nail that makes the roof more resistant to hurricane winds. 

If you contribute to a retirement account, you may qualify for extra tax deductions. A tax-deferred retirement account grows money without creating annual tax bills for interest or capital gains.

Even the biggest homeowners insurance companies can’t insure every single home. There would be no way to pay claims if they did. So every company has underwriting guidelines that help them determine what homes and risks they will and won’t cover. Some homes that don’t fit these guidelines may be considered “high-risk homes,” and that can make them more complex to insure.

On average, homeowners pay $2,375 on property taxes for their home each year. Good thing being a homeowner means you get to take property tax deductions – and a whole lot more. To take advantage of these breaks, you just need to implement a few tax planning strategies.