Homeowners Insurance - What to know before you buy!

Most homeowners are aware their homeowners insurance covers both their home and personal belongings in the event of a disaster. What many homeowners fail to realize is their homeowner policy can cover so much more! Insurance, in short, is protection from a potentially devastating financial loss. You often hear commercials dropping lines such as “when disaster strikes” and “peace of mind”… And that pretty much sums it.

So what else does your homeowners policy cover? Most policies automatically include coverage for alternative housing or extra cost of living expenses, as well as coverage for legal expenses, medical expenses to others and damage to others property. Most agents will also include coverage for water-sewage back-up, ID fraud, replacement cost of your personal belongings and increased replacement cost on your home. That said, there are tons of items you can also include such as coverage for your sewage line, matching of undamaged roofing/siding, home share endorsements if you’re renting any portion of your home out, and the list goes on and on!

That’s great, but what are you not covered for? The goal of insurance is to protect you from instantaneous losses such as a tornado, fire, or pipe burst. Insurance often times provides little to no coverage for damage sustained through a period of time. This is often considered general “wear and tear”. For example, due to settling overtime your home requires foundation repairs, or your air conditioning unit stops working. Most policies also name exclusions such as flood, earth movement (unless otherwise endorsed via and Earthquake Endorsement), neglect, war, power failure and intentional acts.

The Alms Group Insurance will help explain the specifics and personalize your policy so you know what to expect in the event you need to submit a claim.