Buying a home is an exciting time, but can also be stressful and hectic. With all the craziness that is happening around you, it is really easy to overlook things like insurance. Make sure when writing an offer to include insurance as one of your subjects. Overlooking this can possibly mean incurring huge additional expenses to make the home insurable.

A few things to consider, especially when it comes to older homes is:

• What kind of electrical system does it have? Fuses, knob and tube? Is the panel big enough to handle planned renovations?
• How about the water lines? Are they copper, plastic or something different.
• Also think about wood burning stoves, fireplace inserts, maybe a fuel tank leftover from an old heating system and has the home ever had a grow op?

All of these are important facts that need to be considered before completing on any home. Finally, be sure you leave at least a week for your insurance broker to organize and place protection. Most times we can arrange it same day but special circumstances may require longer. Especially if there’s a mortgage on the property… as nothing can happen until the bank has confirmed protection is in place.