5 Common Questions About Homeowners Insurance

Do you find homeowners insurance confusing? Most people do. This post addresses the five most common questions homeowners have about insuring their home.

Before reading the five common questions about homeowners insurance, find out how good your home insurance is. Just click the button below and get a free rating on any home insurance company. If the rating is good, tell a friend. If it’s bad, we’ll give you some options on what you can do.

1) How much should my homeowners insurance cost?

The cost of homeowners insurance is based on the risk of the home being damaged and the cost of replacing the home. To assess these points, insurance companies use a number of different data points. Some of the data points include items such as, your:

Neighborhood
Education level
Marital status
Credit score
Homes estimated value
Condition of the home
Etc.

Some of these factors probably seem like they’re irrelevant. However, these are items that have been proven over time to correlate with how frequently insurance claims are filed.

For an estimate of the average homeowners insurance cost in your area, use the ValChoice home insurance premium calculator. We believe we’re the only true calculator on the web. Most websites advertise their price calculator, but they don’t give you a price. They want to get your contact information and sell you insurance. We’re different. We’re trying to help consumers get good insurance, and get it easily. Just click the button below to use the calculator.

2) Which homeowners insurance companies are the best?

Surprisingly, good insurance doesn’t have to be expensive. However, insurance is definitely a buyer beware type of product. When you search on the web, generally speaking, everything you read is biased. For example, many reviews are paid for. Therefore, reviews will tell you the best companies are those that pay them the most money. Unfortunately, how much money they’re going make when you buy the insurance isn’t a good indicator of how good that company will be for you.

ValChoice was founded specifically to address this problem. That’s why we grade every auto and home insurance company in every state. Surprisingly, the best homeowners insurance companies are very likely companies you’ve never heard of. That’s because they don’t advertise. Instead, they focus on keeping customers happy. Just click the button below to find the best homeowners insurance companies in your state.

ValChoice uses the highest-quality data and do the most thorough analysis. We are also independent and unbiased. You can trust the ValChoice rating on insurance carriers.

3) Does my mortgage payment or mortgage insurance cover homeowners insurance?

No. You buy homeowners insurance independent of the mortgage. This is true even if you have Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). PMI is to protect the lender, not you. PMI protects the lender in the case that you stop making mortgage payments.

4) Do I have to buy homeowners insurance?

Not always. If your house is paid for, homeowners insurance is optional. However, if you have a mortgage, the lender will likely require you to have insurance. Therefore, insurance on your home is not required by law – like car insurance. Instead, it’s required as part of the business transaction to get a loan on the home.

5) Does homeowners insurance cover water damage?

Water damage can be tricky. Therefore, we will start with the black and white, then move to the gray areas.

Flood water. No. Homeowners insurance will not cover flood water. you must have separate flood insurance for this type of damage. In fact, it doesn’t matter if the flood water is from the ocean, a stream or just a big puddle after a rainstorm. Homeowners insurance will not cover this.

Broken/frozen pipes. This will depend on your insurance. Damage to your home caused by the leaking water is typically covered by insurance. However, repairing the pipes that leaked the water is frequently not covered. Be sure to read your policy. It’s common for insurance policies to have limits on how much will be paid out for this type of coverage.

Sewer backup. Sewage backup into your home not only causes tremendous damage, it is also unhealthy. Homeowners insurance typically does not cover sewage backup. However, most insurance companies offer this coverage for a slight increase in price.

If you would like to have a professional insurance person help with your insurance, just click the button below. ValChoice invites agents that represent the best companies to use our tools and list themselves on our Find Insurance Agents Page.

About Dan Karr

Dan has been a CEO or Vice President for high-technology companies for over 20 years. While working as a Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for a technology company, Dan was seriously injured while commuting to work. After dealing with trying to get insurance companies to pay his significant medical bills, or to settle a claim so Dan could pay the medical bills, he became intimately aware of the complexity of insurance claims. Dan founded ValChoice to pay forward his experience by bringing consumers, insurance agents and financial advisors easy-to-understand analysis needed to know which insurance companies provide the best price, protection — claims handling — and service.