HOMEOWNERS AND CONDO INSURANCE

Homeowners and Condo insurance, protects you against losses to your home and your possessions inside it. Home insurance also protects you if you're legally liable for someone's injuries on your property, as well as from financial losses caused by storms, fire, theft and other events outlined in your policy.

A Condo policy typically covers interior structures like wallboard and lighting fixtures. Depending on your state, your association by-laws, and insurer, external walls may not be covered.

With a Home insurance policy, usually a home's entire structure is covered along with sheds and detached garages.

Standard home insurance coverage policies provide the following types of coverage, up to the limits outlined in the policies:

Dwelling

Pays for damage or destruction to your house and any unattached structures and buildings, such as fences, detached garages, and storage sheds.

Personal Property

Covers the contents of your house, including furniture, clothing and appliances, if they are stolen, damaged, or destroyed.

Liability

Protects you against financial loss if you are sued and found legally responsible for someone else's injury or property damage.

Medical Payments

Covers medical bills for people hurt on your property. Medical Payments coverage also pays for some injuries that may happen away from your home, such as if your dog bites someone.

Loss of Use

Pays for additional living expenses if your home is too damaged to live in during repairs. Most standard home insurance coverage pays 10 to 20 percent of the amount of your dwelling coverage.

RENTERS

Renters insurance protects you in situations that everyone can face: fire, theft, water damage and other unforeseen circumstances - situations your property owner's policy doesn't cover.

A Renters insurance policy typically has no physical structure coverage at all, but it often provides essential liability and contents coverage. Research has shown the average renter owns $30,000 in personal property.

FLOOD INSURANCE

Rising Waters Require Special Coverage

Floods and flash floods can occur anytime, anywhere, in all 50 states - on coasts, in the mountains, along rivers and in the middle of the desert. In fact, roughly 25% of all flood insurance claims come from areas not considered high risk.

The Federal Government runs a National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which is why most home and property insurance typically doesn't cover flooding.

The government draws a Flood Hazard Boundary Map that divides the country into flood zone risk areas, and their Flood Insurance Rate Map sets the coverage and premiums for those areas.

You can enter your address at www.floodsmart.gov to find out your risk.