Home Insurance

Just like any other insurance policy, liability coverage protects you against financial damage in incidents that you’re deemed liable for.
With auto insurance, for example, liability coverage protects you against the financial costs of accidents you may cause while driving. Similarly, when it comes to homeowners insurance, liability coverage covers incidents that happen on your property. It can even cover damages or injuries caused by a pet.
Every insurance company has what’s called a liability limit, which is typically around $100,000. That said, you can always choose to pay a higher limit for a corresponding increase in premiums.
This amount will go towards replacing, restoring, or repairing any damages that may fall on you, your property, or the structure of your house. It can also cover the costs of living in an alternative place while your home is being restored.s on your property for:

Your insurance company will have a list of ‘perils’ that your home and assets will be protected against. Usually, this includes hurricanes, fire, lightning, or even theft and vandalism.
However, some types of disasters may require separate coverages, such as earthquakes, floods, and wildfires. Damage or loss due to negligence can also result in denial of coverage.
Your health, the structure of your home, as well as any furniture, appliances, clothing, and other assets will be included under this umbrella. However special, expensive assets such as designer clothing, antiques, art pieces, or fine jewelry will need a separate type of coverage.

Fires are one of the most common reasons for injuries and damages in the home, so run-of-the-mill insurance companies will typically cover fire damage, provided that the cause of the fire is within your provider’s list of acceptable causes.
Your provider might also offer separate fire coverage for fire damages that go beyond the typical homeowner’s insurance limit. This will cover the repair of the fire damage, and even the additional living expenses while your house is being rebuilt.

Homeowners insurance will typically cover personal assets, even those that are separate from the house itself such as clothing, jewelry, and appliances. However, what happens if your car is broken into while it’s parked in your garage or driveway? Will it be covered by your car insurance or your homeowners?
While most homeowners insurance won’t cover the cost of the car itself, there are specific coverages that include assets that were in your car when it was stolen on your property. The bad news is that the limit is typically much lower, especially if the stolen items are used for driving, or can only be used in the vehicle. On the upside, you can depend on your car insurance policy for those items.

While a typical homeowners insurance policy will cover a large range of natural disasters, it won’t cover all of them. The most common disasters that are included in most policies are thunderstorms, hurricanes, lightning, and hail. Fire and smoke damages caused by natural disasters are also commonly covered.
However, disasters like earthquakes and landslides are typically not covered by common homeowners insurance. If you live in an area prone to those disasters, you might want to look into a separate kind of coverage for those disasters. The same goes for natural floods and wildfires.

This type of insurance typically covers flood damage if the cause is a problem in your home, such as an overflowing toilet or a burst pipe. However external causes such as storms, rising rivers, damaged dams, and the like are usually not included. There are insurance policies for those, but they are separate from the main policy.

Damage due to vandalism is usually included in your homeowner’s insurance. However, there can be differences in application depending on the status of your home.
Vandalism coverage applies normally to unoccupied homes but has a certain time limit for vacant homes. Unoccupied homes are houses with an absent owner, although their personal property is still present. Meanwhile, a vacant home is one in which the owners’ assets have been moved out, such as in the case of you selling your home.