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Protection for one of your biggest investments
Your home isn’t just where you live. It could be the most valuable thing you own, which is why it matters that the coverage actually fits it.
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Three things to consider
Your home isn’t just where you live. It could be the most valuable thing you own (it’s up there, at least). That’s why it’s important to make sure you have the right coverage. Here are three important things to consider when you go to protect it with homeowners insurance.
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Have you made any improvements to your property?
We do recommend that you contact your agent to complete an annual policy review to help determine if any updates are needed to your insurance policy. If you have recently completed home renovations, added a solar system or panels, added a pool, added a fence, or have made any major purchases, please contact your agent to ensure you carry the proper coverage for these exposures.
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Flooding isn’t covered
You may also need to consider the purchase of flood insurance. Your homeowner’s insurance policy does not include coverage for damage resulting from flood even if hurricane winds and rain caused the flood to occur. Without separate flood insurance coverage, you may have uncovered losses caused by flood. Please discuss the need to purchase separate flood insurance coverage with your insurance agent, and see our flood insurance page.
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If you have expensive items such as jewelry or artwork, you need extra coverage
Homeowners policies have limits on jewelry, artwork, antiques, and firearms. To ensure your valuables are fully covered, you might need scheduled coverage or a separate policy, which includes higher limits for specific pieces, with broader causes of loss. Please contact your agent to ensure you carry the proper coverage for these items.
Southwest Florida, specifically
Four settings that decide a Florida home policy
Home insurance here is not what it was five years ago. These are the four settings we check first when we review a policy with a client.
- You have two deductibles, not one. Most Florida homeowners policies carry an all-other-perils deductible, a flat dollar amount, and a separate hurricane or windstorm deductible written as a percentage of your dwelling limit. It is worth knowing that dollar figure before a storm rather than after one.
- Your roof is the underwriting decision. Age, material, shape and condition drive eligibility, pricing and how a roof claim is settled. Replacement cost versus actual cash value on the roof is often the single largest difference between two policies that look similar on price.
- Inspections open and close doors. A four-point inspection is commonly required on older homes, and a current wind mitigation report is one of the few things that reliably reduces a Florida premium.
- Ordinance or law coverage. When you rebuild, you rebuild to current code, which can cost considerably more than what was there before.
Which policy is yours
Homeowners, condo and renters are three different things
Homeowners
Covers the structure, other structures on the lot, your personal property, your personal liability, and additional living expense if the house is unlivable. The most common form covers the structure against risks that are not specifically excluded, and covers contents against a named list.
Condo unit owner
Your association’s master policy covers the building to a defined point, and your unit-owner policy picks up from there. Where exactly that line falls is written in your association documents, not in your policy, which is why we ask to see them. Loss assessment coverage matters here too.
Renters
Your landlord insures the building, not your belongings and not your liability. Renters coverage is usually the least expensive policy in anyone’s file and the one most often skipped. It also includes additional living expense if the unit becomes unlivable.
Broadly speaking
What a homeowners policy tends to cover, and what it does not
Every form is different and every carrier writes its own endorsements, so read this as the general shape of things rather than as your policy.
The most important line: the two biggest sources of water damage in Florida, flood and long-term seepage, are the two the standard policy is least likely to pay for.
- Typically covered: Wind damage to the structure, subject to the hurricane or windstorm deductible
- Typically covered: Fire, lightning, theft, vandalism, and a falling tree
- Typically covered: Sudden and accidental discharge of water from plumbing or an appliance
- Typically covered: Your personal liability, and legal defense, if someone is injured on your property
- Typically covered: Additional living expense while the home is genuinely unlivable after a covered loss
- Typically not covered: Flood and storm surge, which are excluded and need a separate policy
- Typically not covered: Long-term leaking, seepage, repeated water damage or resulting mould
- Typically not covered: Wear, deterioration, settling, and maintenance the roof has been quietly asking for
- Typically not covered: Jewelry, artwork, antiques and firearms above the policy’s sub-limits, unless they are scheduled
Questions we get weekly
Home insurance questions, answered straight
What is a hurricane deductible and when does it apply?
It is a separate, usually percentage-based deductible that applies to damage from a named storm rather than to ordinary claims. When exactly it switches on, and whether it resets per storm or once per season, is defined in your policy.
Do I need a wind mitigation inspection?
You are not obliged to have one, but it is one of the few reports that can reduce a Florida premium, because it documents construction features that reduce wind loss. Reports have a validity period, so an old one may need refreshing.
My roof is 15 years old. Am I uninsurable?
No, but your options narrow and how the roof is settled in a claim may change. This is exactly the situation where shopping thirty-plus carriers is worth more than shopping one, because carrier roof rules differ significantly from each other.
Does my policy cover mould?
Typically only in a limited way, and typically only when it results from a covered, sudden water loss that you reported and mitigated promptly. Reporting water losses quickly matters more than almost anything else you can do.
Is my home office equipment covered?
Personal property coverage usually includes it up to a sub-limit, and business use can complicate that. If you run a business from the house, it is often better handled on a commercial policy.
General information, not advice about your policy. Coverage definitions, exclusions, deductibles, eligibility and availability vary by carrier, by policy form and by property, and they change over time. Nothing on this page adds to or changes what your own policy says. Please talk to a licensed agent about your specific situation: call 239-482-3040 or contact the office.
Other coverage we handle
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Auto
Coverage, limits and the uninsured motorist question
Auto insurance -
Specialty
Boats, RVs, golf carts, classic cars and umbrella
Specialty insurance -
Flood
A separate policy, and a 30 day waiting period
Flood insurance -
Commercial
Liability, property, workers comp and more
Commercial insurance
Get in touch
Make sure your biggest investment is protected.
Call us at 239-482-3040 today for a check-up on your home coverage. Bring your declarations page and, if you have one, your most recent wind mitigation report.