Home Insurance

What Is Homeowners Insurance?

Homeowners insurance is a package policy that protects your house, the belongings inside it, and your personal liability if someone is injured on your property. If a covered event damages your home or possessions, your policy helps pay to repair, rebuild, or replace what was lost. Our independent agents help you build a policy that matches how you actually live.

A standard homeowners policy bundles several coverages into one contract: dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, personal liability, and medical payments. Mortgage lenders almost always require it before they'll close on a home loan, but the real reason to carry strong coverage is what would happen without it. Replacing a roof after a hailstorm, rebuilding after a kitchen fire, or defending a lawsuit from an injured guest can easily run into six figures.

Homeowners insurance is not the same as a home warranty. A warranty covers wear-and-tear breakdowns of appliances and systems. Homeowners insurance covers sudden, accidental losses like fire, wind, theft, and certain water damage.

What Does Homeowners Insurance Cover?

Most homeowners policies are written on an HO-3 form, which covers your home on an open-perils basis and your belongings on a named-perils basis. Translation: your house is covered for any cause of loss except those specifically excluded, while your belongings are covered only for the perils listed in the policy.

The core coverages inside a typical homeowners policy include:

• Dwelling (Coverage A): The structure of your home, including the roof, walls, foundation, and built-in systems.
• Other Structures (Coverage B): Detached garages, fences, sheds, and similar structures on your property.
• Personal Property (Coverage C): Furniture, electronics, clothing, and other belongings, whether they're at home or temporarily elsewhere.
• Loss of Use (Coverage D): Hotel bills, restaurant meals, and other extra living expenses if a covered loss makes your home unlivable.
• Personal Liability (Coverage E): Legal defense and damages if you're found responsible for injuring someone or damaging their property.
• Medical Payments to Others (Coverage F): Smaller medical bills for guests injured at your home, regardless of fault.

What it usually does not cover: flood, earthquake, normal wear and tear, pest damage, and intentional acts. Floods and earthquakes are written as separate policies, and they're worth asking about depending on where you live. High-value items like jewelry, firearms, fine art, and collectibles often have sub-limits in a standard policy and may need a scheduled endorsement to be fully covered at their replacement value.

You can also strengthen the policy with options like replacement cost on contents, water backup coverage, service line coverage, and identity theft protection.

How Much Does Homeowners Insurance Cost?

Premiums vary widely from one home to the next, even on the same block. Carriers price each policy based on the cost to rebuild the home, the likelihood of a claim, and the coverage choices you make. A few of the biggest factors:

• Rebuild cost: Carriers price based on what it would cost to reconstruct your home today, not its market value or what you paid for it.
• Location: ZIP code, distance to a fire station, hail and wind exposure, and local crime patterns all influence rates.
• Home characteristics: Age of the roof, type of plumbing and electrical systems, square footage, and construction materials.
• Coverage limits and deductible: Higher dwelling limits, lower deductibles, and added endorsements raise premiums; choosing a higher deductible lowers them.
• Claims history: Both your personal claims and prior claims on the property can affect pricing.
• Discounts: Bundling auto and home, security systems, impact-resistant roofs, and a claims-free history can all lower the cost.

The smartest move is to get personalized quotes rather than relying on averages. Two homes a mile apart can price very differently based on roof age alone. We compare carriers side by side so you can see how each factor moves your number.