Homeowner Insurance

Your home is a valued possession. Whether you live in a house, condominium or apartment, your home is a vital asset to you and your family that you want to adequately protect.

Homeowners InsuranceHomeowner insurance includes two areas of protection—property and liability. The property protection includes your home, other structures on the premises, and your personal property. The liability insurance protects you for accidental bodily injury to others that is attributed to the actions of you or your family members. Ask us about limitations of this coverage.

Protection Options Back To Top

While the basic Homeowner Policy offers broad protection, insurers place necessary limits on that protection to make the policy affordable.  If your protection needs exceed the limits of the policy, you can tailor-make the policy with protection options.  These include:

  • Back-Up of Sewer and Drains pays to repair damage to your home and replace contents damaged from the back up of sewer and drains.
  • Home Based Business protects your business property and/or business liability for your business operations from your home.
  • Earthquake protection pays for earthquake damage to your home and is an affordably priced option in Ohio.
  • Expanded Replacement Cost pays to replace your home for up to 25 to 50 percent beyond your policy limits, in the event of a covered loss. (The percentage varies by policy.)  This valuable extension comes in handy when widespread regional damage drives the cost of materials up and contractors are paying overtime wages.
  • Identity Theft offers services to help protect your family, finances and future if you ever become a victim of identity theft.
  • Inland Marine Protection broadens the causes of loss or increases the amount that would otherwise be paid for certain types of personal property.
    • Bicycles
    • Coins and stamps
    • Firearms
    • Jewelry
    • Boats
    • Computers
    • Fine arts, antiques
    • Musical instruments
    • Cameras
    • Farm equipment
    • Hearing aids
  • Loss Assessment pays your share of a property association assessment levied against all members due to direct loss to property collectively owned by the members, liability for which your personal liability applies, or liability for acts of volunteer directors, officers, or trustees on behalf of the association.
  • Personal Injury Liability protects you against claims of libel, slander and false arrest.
  • Replacement Cost pays the full cost of repair or replacement of your home and contents without deduction for depreciation in the event of a covered loss up to the policy limits subject to policy terms.
  • Special Personal Property broadens the protection on your personal property from a specified list of 16 to 18 causes of loss to any direct physical damage to personal property that is not otherwise excluded in the policy.

Save Money on Home Insurance Back To Top

Insurers will reward you for efforts to reduce the likelihood of a loss by offering discounts.  Since these vary considerably from one insurer to the next, ask us what discounts you are eligible for and if there are other ways to reduce your premium. This is a sampling of the discounts:

  • Smoke, fire and burglar alarms
  • Newer home
  • Sprinkler system
  • High deductible
  • Home/auto package
  • New roof
  • Prime of Life (age-related)
  • Longevity discount
  • Loss free
  • Deadbolt locks
  • Good credit

Q&A Back To Top

Q: What is not covered under the Homeowner Policy?

A: Generally, a homeowner policy limits or excludes things that are:

  • available as an optional coverage like earthquake, home-based business, high-valued jewelry or firearms, sewer backup, etc.
  • more appropriately insured under a separate policy like autos, motorcycles, mopeds, flood, boats, airplanes, etc.
  • generally uninsurable like war, nuclear attack, insects, vermin, communicable diseases, intentional damage to your property, intentional injury to others, etc.
  • home maintenance or aging issues like furnace breakdown, roof wear, cracking or settling of a basement wall or a foundation or a driveway, deterioration or corrosion that occurs to a structure or to personal property, etc.

Q: How much should I insure my home for?

A: Two key values apply to your home—market value and replacement cost. The market value, or what you might sell it for, and the replacement cost, or what it would cost to restore or rebuild, may be very different.  In recent years and in most locations, replacement cost may substantially exceed market value. From a home insurance perspective, the key value and the coverage goal is replacement cost. We can assist you in determining the replacement cost of your home.

For More Information Back To Top

For more information about homeowner insurance, please contact us at (330) 725-4543 or fill out our contact us form.