Home Insurance
As your largest investment, it's important to make sure your home has the proper insurance coverage. We'll protect your home and everything in it for the lowest possible price.
What is Home Insurance?
Home insurance, also commonly referred to as hazard insurance, homeowner's insurance or HO3, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence.
It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insurance protections, which can include losses occurring to one's home, its contents, loss of use (additional living expenses), or loss of other personal possessions of the homeowner, as well as liability insurance for accidents that may happen at the home or at the hands of the homeowner within the policy territory.
What is Condo Insurance?
Typical Home Insurance Coverages
Section I — Property Coverages
- Coverage A – Dwelling
Covers the value of the dwelling itself but does not include the land itself. Typically, a coinsurance clause states that as long as the dwelling is insured to 80% of actual value, losses will be adjusted at replacement cost, up to the policy limits. This is in place to give a buffer against inflation. HO-4 (renter's insurance) typically has no Coverage A, although it has additional coverages for improvements. - Coverage B – Other Structures
Covers other structure around the property that are not used for business, except as a private garage. Typically limited at 10% to 20% of the Coverage A, with additional amounts available by endorsement. - Coverage C – Personal Property
Covers personal belongings, with limits for the theft and loss of particularly valuable items like banknotes, bullion, coins, medals or jewelry. Personal property coverage is usually set to 50-70% of coverage required for coverage A, which means that some consumers may pay for much more insurance than necessary. - Coverage D – Loss of Use/Additional Living Expenses
Covers additional living expenses, such as temporary rental costs or if your home becomes uninhabitable due to damage. It also compensates for lost rental income if you were renting out part of your property, but only for the actual rent received—utilities and other services are not included. - Additional Coverages
Covers a variety of expenses such as debris removal, reasonable repairs, damage to trees and shrubs for certain named perils (excluding the most common causes of damage, wind and ice), fire department changes, removal of property, credit card / identity theft charges, loss assessment, collapse, landlord's furnishing, and some building additions. - Exclusions
In an open perils policy, specific exclusions will be stated in this section. These generally include earth movement, water damage, power failure, neglect, war, nuclear hazard, septic tank back-up expenses, intentional loss, and concurrent causation (for HO3). The concurrent causation exclusion excludes losses where both a covered and an excluded loss occur. In addition, the exclusion for building ordinance can mean that increased expenses due to local ordinances may not be covered. - Floods
Flood damage is typically excluded under standard homeowners and renters insurance policies. Flood coverage, however, is available in the form of a separate policy both from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and private insurers.
Section II — Liability Coverages
- Coverage E – Personal Liability
Covers damages which the insured is legally liable for and provides a legal defense at the insurer's own expense.
Condo Insurance is designed for individuals who live in a unit structure owned and insured by a condo association, townhouse association cooperative, homeowner's association, planned community or other similar type of organization.
The insurance the association provides only covers the outside dwelling, not the contents of your unit, so it's important to consider purchasing this type of insurance to protect against personal property losses and liability
Typical Benefits of a Condo Insurance Policy:
- Coverage for damage to personal property such as furniture, electronics, clothing, and more
- Fill in the gaps of the master insurance policy and cover losses under master policy deductibles
- Personal liability coverage for accidents or injuries
- Coverage for interior walls, flooring, and other structural elements within the unit.
- Coverage for improvements or upgrades, as most master insurance policies only cover the original condition and value of the unit.
- Usually has small deductible and relatively inexpensive
Contact us to learn more about the right homeowners insurance for you.
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