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What you need to know:

Here’s what you need to know if you’re in the market for homeowners insurance coverage to protect your biggest investment - your home.

The law doesn’t require home insurance. However, you’ll have a hard time coming up with good reasons not to insure. That's because homeowners insurance protects your most valuable assets. This includes the structure of your “dwelling” (which could be a house, townhouse, condo, or co-op). And your belongings and possessions. Home insurance protects you in other important ways, too. It provides money for living expenses if you’re forced out of a damaged or destroyed home. It also includes liability protection.

Not Required? Not Entirely…

Only people who pay for their homes in cash or those that have paid off their mortgage can avoid home insurance. Pretty much everyone else must insure their homes, as most mortgage lenders require it. That’s why you should know as much as possible about homeowner’s insurance coverage.

Basic Components

Homeowner’s insurance policies typically cover the following:

Your home and "structures"—this includes plumbing fixtures, electrical wiring, and heating and permanent air-conditioning systems inside your home. It also includes external ones like fences, garages, gazebos, and sheds. Your Stuff—Clothes, electronics, furniture, and the like are included here. So are less obvious items like plants, shrubs, and trees. Bonus: these are protected even when they’re not on your property. For example, when they’re in your car or with you at work or on vacation. Your insurance company will repair or replace all of the above if they’re stolen, damaged, or destroyed by:

• Lightning
  
• Fire
  
• Hail
  
• Hurricane
  
• Or any disaster listed in your homeowner’s policy
  

Note: disasters like floods and earthquakes aren’t usually covered by standard homeowners insurance. However, many companies will sell you earthquake coverage as a separate policy or as an endorsement to your homeowner’s policy. The National Flood Insurance Program and a few private insurers offer flood coverage.

Standard homeowners policies also:

• Cover you when you’re hit with a lawsuit related to bodily injury or property damage caused by you, your family members, or your pets
  
• Provides no-fault medical coverage, which means your insurance company will pay the medical bills for people who are hurt on your property or are hurt by your pets
  
• Pay some of your living expenses if your home is damaged or destroyed and you’re forced to live elsewhere. Living expenses include hotel bills, restaurant meals, and more.
  

Increasing Coverage

You can supply your home with extra protection from flood and earthquake damage with additional policies. You can also bolster the coverage that your home insurance provides. For example, insurers typically pay up to $2,000 for antiques, electronics, jewelry or silverware. What if your items cost more than $2,000 to replace? We recommend purchasing a scheduled personal property endorsement or riderto insure them for their full, appraised value. (Personal property replacement cost endorsements or floaters are another option here.) You can also buy personal umbrella liability insurance to raise the limits of your liability coverage and protect yourself against claims of libel or slander. Rates and coverage vary. Some Carriers also have “Special Insurance Riders for Valuable Items”

Different Policies for Different Homeowners

Here are the most common homeowner’s insurance forms:

Basic Form (HO-1)—this protects your home from the following disasters but is no longer available in most states:

• Fire and lightning
  
• Wind and hail
  
• Smoke, explosion
  
• Riots or civil commotions
  
• Theft
  
• Aircraft damage
  
• Vehicle damage
  
• Vandalism
  
• Volcanic eruption
  

Broad Form (HO-2)—this covers every disaster included in the “Basic Form” plus a few others including:

• Falling objects
  
• Damage caused by weight of ice
  
• Snow and sleet
  
• Damage resulting from an “accidental discharge or overflow of water” from a plumbing, heating, or air-conditioning system
  

Special Form (HO-3). The most popular homeowners insurance policy because it provides people with the broadest coverage

Co-op, Condo and Renter Policies

If you own a condo or co-op or rent a home, you should check out these policies:

• Tenants Form (HO-4). Perfect for renters, this policy type protects their possessions as well as various components—like cabinets—they may have installed
  
• Condominium Unit Owners Form (HO-6). This policy type insures the floor, ceiling, and walls against all of the disasters covered by the “Broad Form” policy. It also covers a condo owner’s belongings.
  

Protect your home and family belongings. Find low rates with top homeowners insurance providers!

Levels of Coverage

After selecting a homeowner’s insurance policy, you must choose a level of coverage.

The two main options are:

• Actual cash value (ACV). Your insurer will pay you “market value”. This means depreciation will be factored into the final cost for your home or possessions if they're lost or stolen.
  
• Replacement cost Your insurer will refer to the original price of any items that need to be rebuilt, repaired, or replaced. It does not matter how old or worn they were when they were destroyed, damaged, lost, or stolen.
  

What you need to know:

What is a Flood Insurance?

As defined by FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program:

Flood insurance covers direct physical loss caused by “flood.” In simple terms, a flood is an excess of water on land that is normally dry. Here’s the official definition used by the National Flood Insurance Program.

A flood is “A general and temporary condition of partial or complete inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is your property) from:

• Overflow of inland or tidal waters
  
• Unusual and rapid accumulation or runoff of surface waters from any source
  
• Mudflow: defined as “A river of liquid and flowing mud on the surfaces of normally dry land areas, as when earth is carried by a current of water…”
  
• Collapse or subsidence of land along the shore of a lake or similar body of water as a result of erosion or undermining caused by waves or currents of water exceeding anticipated cyclical levels that result in a flood as defined above.”
  

What Does Flood Insurance Cover?

Flood insurance policies cover physical damage to your property and possessions. You can use the following list as a general guide to what is and isn’t covered.

Building Property:

• The insured building and its foundation
  
• Electrical and plumbing systems
  
• Central air conditioning equipment, furnaces, and water heaters
  
• Refrigerators, cooking stoves, and built-in appliances such as dishwashers
  
• Permanently installed carpeting over unfinished flooring
  
• Permanently installed paneling, wallboard, bookcases, and cabinets
  
• Window blinds
  
• Detached garages (up to 10 percent of Building Property coverage) Detached buildings (other than garages) require a separate Building Property policy
  
• Debris removal
  

Personal Contents Property:

• Personal belongings, such as clothing, furniture, and electronic equipment
  
• Curtains
  
• Portable and window air conditioners
  
• Portable microwave ovens and portable dishwashers
  
• Carpets that are not included in building coverage
  
• Clothing washers and dryers
  
• Food freezers and the food in them
  
• Certain valuable items such as original artwork and furs (up to $2,500)
  

What's Not Covered?

• Damage caused by moisture, mildew, or mold that could have been avoided by the property owner
  
• Currency, precious metals, and valuable papers such as stock certificates
  
• Property and belongings outside of an insured building such as trees, plants, wells, septic systems, walks, decks, patios, fences, seawalls, hot tubs, and swimming pools
  
• Living expenses such as temporary housing **(some of our private carriers DO cover this exposure)
  
• Financial losses caused by business interruption or loss of use of insured property **(commercial policies by private companies may include coverage)
  
• Most self-propelled vehicles such as cars, including their parts.
  

What you need to know:

Personal or Commercial Umbrella

Umbrella insurance refers to liability insurance that is in excess of specified other policies and also potentially primary insurance for losses not covered by the other policies. When an insured is liable to someone, the insured's primary insurance policies pay up to their limits, and any additional amount is paid by the umbrella policy (up to the limit of the umbrella policy).

What you need to know:

Commercial Insurance definition

Commercial Insurance is a contract between an insurer and a business owner whose purpose is to minimize the owner’s risks against losses, whether from weather, theft, vandalization, lawsuits, accidents or any other reason.

As the name suggests, commercial insurance protects businesses, including business owners and their employees. Because every business is different, there is no one-size-fits-all insurance policy for small business owners. For instance, an ice cream shop has very different insurance needs than an auto repair shop or a golf course. That’s why many small businesses opt for a business owners policy (BOP), which combines commercial property insurance, general liability insurance, crime insurance and other coverages into one convenient package.

Business owners also have the option to choose coverage based on their industry.

Put quite simply, commercial insurance consists of one or more types of coverage designed to protect businesses, their owners and their employees. Many business insurance policies include basic coverages such as property, liability, crime and other optional insurance, such as business interruption insurance, equipment breakdown insurance, and workers compensation.