Home Insurance – What’s Covered, What’s Not?

Having home insurance is part and parcel to owning a home. Here is a list of what’s covered and what’s not under most home insurance policies. Bottom line…make sure your clients to read the fine print.

1. Liability insurance covered
   1. Helps pay for legal and medical costs when someone is injured on your property.
   2. Helps to pay for the injured person’s lost wages due to injury on you property and their pain/suffering
   3. Some policies protect the policyholder outside the home if they damage someone else’s property.
2. Theft from property when home is burgled is covered
   1. “Extra” valuables such as jewelry, art, technology, furs, etc.) may need riders attached to the regular policy for extra coverage (costing “extra” on top of policy
3. Personal Property covered
   1. Same deductions/limits/restrictions apply to both on-property and off-property (your car) theft
4. Falling objects covered
   1. Damage from falling satellites, meteors, trees, planes
   2. Preventable damage is not covered so cover any gaping holes that were caused by the falling objects
5. Loss of use covered
   1. When home is unusable due to covered losses, additional living expenses for hotels, rentals, food, transportation are covered – make sure to know time limits of coverage
6. Smoke and soot damage to walls, carpets, furniture, clothing covered
7. Natural disasters such as fires, windstorms, lightning, hail covered
   1. Roof damages caused by the weight of snow, ice, sleet, other natural disasters
8. Auxiliary structures covered
   1. Most policies cover attached structures such as garages; some policies cover detached structures such as garage, storage sheds, fencing but usually at 10% lower than the main home structure
   2. Be sure to read the fine print!
9. Flooding not covered
   1. Flood insurance is ONLY available through government sponsored programs AND there is a one month waiting period for those government run programs to kick in
   2. Think of the last several hurricane/flooding seasons!
10. Earthquakes not covered
    1. Earthquake insurance IS available SEPARATELY
    2. States such as California sell earthquake insurance separately.