Homeowners insurance helps cover your home and personal belongings in a covered loss. In general, homeowners insurance pays for damages and/or losses due to things like theft, fire, severe weather, and injuries due to an accident on your property. Accidents happen and the weather’s outside of our control. Homeowners insurance is one way to help you prepare. If you own a home and value the things inside, make sure you’re protected with homeowners insurance. Some policies can also cover things like
- A hotel if your home is unlivable
- Roof repair
- Personal property replacement
- Drying out services, and more
How does homeowners insurance work?
In general, homeowners insurance is a contract between you and your insurance company. This contract works like this
You pay a premium (money) to your insurance company
In return, the insurance company promises to cover future damages (per the contract) to your home if a covered loss happens
All homes are different. Your premium, or amount you pay, for a homeowners policy is based on many factors including
- Location
- Materials used to build the home including foundation, walls, and roof
- Personal items in the home
- How the home is used (rental, business, etc.)
- Credit score, and other factors
OK, so you pay your bill, and then you have a covered loss. This is where your insurance company comes in. Let’s pretend that there’s a hailstorm causing damage to your roof. In general,
- You’d file a claim with your insurance company
- The insurance company would assess the damage and verify it’s a covered loss per the contract
- If it’s covered, they would pay for the damage minus any deductible (the amount you owe)