For many people, their home is their greatest asset. To protect their investment, homeowners should update their insurance regularly to include improvements, major purchases and increased rebuilding costs.

To properly insure your home, it is important to ask your agent or company representative three key questions.

Many rustic regions have become popular home-building areas, placing more Californians in danger of brushfire than ever before. Since 1970, the population of 11 California counties – nine of them forested – has grown by more than 150 percent.

Hundreds of California communities in urban/wildland areas are considered high-risk.

Sinkholes are a natural component of the landscape in many states. Simply put, sinkholes are depressions in the surface of the land caused by sudden settlement or collapse. They occur when underground voids are created by the action of water on limestone or similar rock. Moving water dissolves small amounts of rock and carries it away, which enlarges natural pores and cracks in the bedrock. Over time, the process may form large cavities and caves, causing the land surface to give way.

A standard homeowner or renters insurance policy provides policyholders coverage against theft and liabilities, such as someone slipping and falling on the property or against injuries sustained from a dog bite. These policies also provide some coverage for firearms.

We don't often think of damage from frozen and broken water pipes as being on the same scale as a natural disaster, but damage from water is the most prevalent -- yet least recognized -- catastrophe. In fact, frozen and broken water pipes rank No. 2 behind hurricanes in terms of both the number of homes damaged and the amount of claim costs in the U.S.