Homeowners Insurance

You buy homeowners insurance to protect the money you have invested in your property and lifestyle. After all, you never know when a challenging event might arise that damages your property, harms someone or exposes you to lawsuits. Homeowners insurance can help you receive a financial settlement for many of these losses. You won’t run the risk of losing a lot of your own money as you try to recover.

There are many types of homeowners insurance policies on the market. Some are designed to cover standard properties, while others cover specialty homes — such as high-value properties, vacation homes and mobile homes.

Some of the coverage that a policy might offer includes:

• Dwelling Insurance: This covers damage to your home following such hazards as fires, severe weather, vandalism or theft.
• Other Structures Coverage: This extends to structures not attached to your home like carports, gazebos, storage sheds and fences.
• Possessions Insurance: This pays for damage to personal belongings following a qualifying peril.
• Liability Insurance: This protects the policyholder if their negligence or mistakes harm someone. If a neighbor falls in your house and sues you for their injury costs, this coverage can pay.
• Accidental Medical Payments: This covers a third party’s medical costs, regardless of whether the accident was the policyholder’s fault.
• Loss Of Use Insurance: This pays for certain living expenses if a damaging event forces you to temporarily move out of your home.

Depending on your location, you might also need specialized coverage for winds damage, named storms and floods. In certain areas of North Carolina, these types of hazards are not covered by standard homeowners policies.

Looking for renters insurance? We’ve got you covered for that, too. You can receive possessions and liability coverage without the burden of coverage designed for property that isn’t your responsibility.

Your homeowners insurance must match the investment you have made in the property. Keep a few tips in mind to help yourself make the best choice of coverage options:

• Deductibles will apply to most property damage and possessions claims. You must pay the cost of the deductible before your insurer pays the remaining value of a claim.
• Your dwelling coverage limit is the maximum amount your policy will pay to rebuild or repair your home. The limit will need to reflect the home’s replacement cost value.
• The limit of your other structures coverage will be a percentage of your full dwelling coverage.
• Possessions settlements usually are based on damaged items’ actual cash values. These are the items’ used value at the time of the loss.

Once you know your standard policy limits, ask your agent about adding endorsements to your policy. You can use them to insure special items like antiques or jewelry, increase your other structures coverage, insure yourself against pet liabilities or obtain replacement cost coverage for possessions.

When you make a claim on your policy, your insurance agent will review your policy to determine which damages qualify for coverage. They will then review your coverage limits, deductibles and endorsements to determine your settlement. Afterwards they will send you the appropriate reimbursement.