Homeowner's Insurance

---

 Dwelling coverage provides protection for the physical structure of your house against perils such as fire, windstorms, hail, and vandalism. It ensures that you can rebuild or repair your home in the event of a covered loss. The best type of coverage is called Replacement Cost, which insures the home for the total cost to completely rebuild from the ground up if it was a total loss in a covered claim.

Do you have additional structures on your property, such as a detached garage, shed, or fence? Other structure’s coverage safeguards these valuable assets in case they are damaged by covered perils. It offers peace of mind knowing that your entire property is protected. Most homeowner policies include 10% of your dwelling coverage for additional structures at no additional cost.

 Your personal belongings hold both sentimental and financial value. Personal property coverage helps replace or repair your possessions if they are damaged or stolen due to covered perils, such as theft, fire, or water damage. Like dwelling coverage, you can usually purchase replacement cost coverage on your personal property which would pay for new like-items if they are damaged in a covered claim.

If your home becomes temporarily uninhabitable due to a covered loss, loss of use coverage can be a lifeline. It provides financial assistance for additional living expenses, such as hotel stays, meals, and transportation, while your home is being repaired or rebuilt. This coverage ensures that you and your family have a place to stay and maintain your normal standard of living during a challenging time.

 Accidents happen, and being held responsible for bodily injury or property damage can have serious financial consequences. Personal liability coverage offers protection in such situations, helping to cover legal fees, medical expenses, and damages if you are held liable for an incident that occurs on your property. It provides peace of mind knowing that you have a safety net in case of unforeseen circumstances. It also offers liability coverage for things like slander and libel lawsuits.

  Medical payments coverage is a coverage that can be used to pay for small medical claims arising from someone becoming injured on your property, regardless of fault. The primary benefit of this coverage is that it can be used to prevent a larger claim or lawsuit. An example would be someone is injured on your property and goes to the ER to get 2 stitches. You are unsure of whether you are at fault, but you use the medical payments coverage on your homeowner’s policy to pay the ER bill, and this prevents a larger claim and the involvement of attorneys, saving you, the other party, and the insurance company time, money, and headaches. Additionally, med pay can be used to cover medical expenses that require immediate cash payment.

Most homeowner policies offer additional coverage lines, called riders or endorsements, which cover things like water and sump pump back-up, buried utility lines, increased limits for jewelry, increased coverage to match your siding or roofing on the whole home if only part of the siding or roofing are damaged, and more.

A personal umbrella policy adds additional liability coverage to your underlying personal auto and homeowner's or renter's insurance policy. For a small amount, you can add increments of $1,000,000 of additional liability coverage to protect your assets from an unforeseen, large liability claim against you.

A personal article floater is a standalone policy used to insure high value items like jewelry, watches, furs, and valuable firearms against broad perils like a homeowner's policy, as well as mysterious disappearance, anywhere in the world. Items with high individual value, like a nice Swiss watch or expensive engagement ring, usually exceed the available limits of a homeowner's policy for these items. Consider a personal article floater, which offers more coverages against loss than your homeowner's policy, and typically for ~1% of the insured value of the item.