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Understanding Your Homeowner’s Coverage

Homeowner’s Coverage:

Your homeowner’s insurance policy is designed to protect your home and your belongings, as well as your financial well being. For most people, a home is their biggest purchase and asset, and their most prized possession. For these reasons, a homeowner needs to make sure that they are adequately covered against anything and everything that Mother Nature or society might throw at them. Being prepared and understanding your personal homeowner’s policy is the first step to solidifying this protection.

Homeowner’s Coverage can be divided into four basic types of coverage: dwelling and personal property, personal liability, medical payments and additional living expenses.

Dwelling Coverage:

The dwelling portion of your personal homeowner’s policy is designed to cover and protect your home as a structure. Some of the basic perils that your insurance policy covers against are: wind, hail, fire, and vandalism. This portion of your policy will include, but is not limited to coverage for walls, flooring, ceilings, doors and windows, studs, attached garages, decks and porches. Each company offers varying coverage and limitations, so be sure to check with your agent for company specific coverage.

Other Structures:

A basic homeowner’s policy will also cover detached structures that you may have on your property, such as garages, sheds, and gazebos. The portion of your policy will usually cover up to 10% of your dwelling coverage, but can be increased with an endorsement.

Personal Property:

Your personal belongings are a very important part of your lifestyle and thus are included in your homeowner’s policy. This coverage will provide protection to a stated amount for all of your personal belongings, including but not limited to furniture, appliances, clothing, and electronics. With a basic policy your personal belongings are covered to present day value, unless the replacement cost endorsement is included, so be sure to add this coverage onto your policy.

If you have any valuable personal items such as jewelry, furs, fine arts or firearms, that you would like named specifically on your policy, this can be done with a simple endorsement for additional premium.

Personal Liability:

In order to protect your personal assets and your financial well being it is important to make sure that you have the correct amount of liability coverage. Your liability coverage will allow for the payment of court costs as well as any damages that you may be assessed due to a non-auto accident that may occur on or away from your property. This portion of your homeowner’s policy does not have a deductible that you must meet before the insurance company’s settlement.

Medical Payments:

This coverage is afforded to others that are not currently members of your household that may be injured while on the insured’s property. This portion will cover reasonable medical expenses up to a certain amount, for injuries that were sustained on the property regardless of fault, up to one year after the injury. They will also cover medical expenses for non-resident household members away from the property if the named insured is at fault.

Additional Living Expense:

Should your home suffer a covered peril making it unlivable for a given amount of time, this portion of your homeowner’s insurance policy will pay for you to rent an apartment or stay at a hotel until your home is functional ready again. This may be set up as a specified dollar amount, or it may be set up as a length of time. Check with your specific company coverage to verify.