Homeowners.
One policy covering the structure, your belongings, a place to stay after a covered loss, and your legal liability to everyone else.
One request, shopped across 60+ carriers by a licensed agent.
About three minutes. No obligation.
What it is
What is homeowners insurance?
Homeowners insurance is one policy doing four jobs: it rebuilds the house after a covered loss, replaces what was inside it, pays for somewhere to live in the meantime, and defends you when an injury or damage is called your fault. One contract, covering the largest thing most people own and the liability that comes with owning it.
Most homes are written on what the industry calls an HO-3, the standard form used across the country. It works two ways at once. The house itself is covered on an "open perils" basis, meaning any cause of damage is covered unless the policy specifically excludes it. Your belongings are usually covered on a "named perils" basis, meaning only the causes listed in the policy, fire, theft, windstorm and roughly a dozen more, are covered. A peril is just insurance language for the thing that goes wrong.
The number that matters most is your dwelling limit, and it should reflect what it costs to rebuild your home, not what you paid for it or what a real-estate site thinks it is worth. Rebuild cost and market value routinely disagree, in both directions. Getting that limit right, and choosing replacement cost over depreciated payouts wherever the carrier offers it, is most of what a good homeowners policy comes down to.
Who usually carries it
- Buyers closing on a house, since no lender funds a mortgage without it.
- Owners who have paid the house off and are tempted to let the policy lapse with the loan.
- Anyone who has renovated since the policy was written. The new kitchen is not in the old limit.
- Owners of older homes, where rebuild cost quietly outruns market value.
- Households with a dog, a pool, or a steady stream of guests. The liability half works hardest for them.
Coverage
What homeowners coverage handles.
The dwelling
The house and everything attached to it, roof, walls, foundation, the attached garage, repaired or rebuilt after a covered peril like fire, wind, or hail.
Other structures
Detached garages, fences, sheds, and gazebos, covered at a set percentage of the dwelling limit that we raise if something serious lives out back.
Personal property
Furniture, clothing, electronics, the contents of every closet, covered worldwide, with high-value items like jewelry scheduled past their small built-in sub-limits.
Loss of use
The extra cost of living somewhere else while a covered loss is repaired: the rental, the longer commute, the meals a working kitchen would have made.
Personal liability
What you legally owe when someone is injured on your property or you damage someone else's, plus the lawyers to defend you, paid on top of the limit.
Medical payments to others
A small, no-fault coverage that pays a guest's minor medical bills so a sprained ankle on your front steps never becomes a lawsuit.
Exclusions: read these first
What it does not cover.
Every policy has edges. Knowing them now is the difference between a covered claim and a surprise.
Flood
Rising water from outside is excluded on every standard homeowners policy. A separate flood policy, federal or private, is the only thing that pays at ground level.
Earth movement
Earthquake, landslide, and most sinkhole damage are excluded, and come back only by endorsement or a standalone earthquake policy.
Sewer and sump backup
Water backing up through drains or a failed sump pump is excluded unless the water backup endorsement is added, and it is cheap enough that we add it to nearly every quote.
Wear, tear, and slow leaks
The pipe that bursts tonight is covered. The pipe that dripped inside a wall for six months is maintenance, and maintenance is yours.
A business run from the house
Business gear gets a token sub-limit and business liability is excluded outright. Visiting clients, garage inventory, or short-term rental listings need an endorsement or a separate policy.
Where carriers differ
Every edge above moves with the carrier and the form: roof settlement terms, water sub-limits, what an endorsement gives back. We read the specific form before you buy, not after you claim.
A tree through the roof in an October storm
A windstorm drops an oak limb through the roof over the kitchen at two in the morning, and rain follows it in. By the time the tarp is up, the roof deck is broken, the ceiling is down, and the cabinets, counters, and floor below are soaked.
How the coverage responds: dwelling coverage repairs the roof, rafters, ceiling, cabinets, and flooring, minus the deductible, and picks up removal of the limb that caused the damage. Personal property coverage replaces what was ruined below the hole at what those items cost new, because the policy was written with replacement cost. Loss of use pays the extra cost of a short-term rental for the six weeks the kitchen takes to rebuild. Uninsured, the same storm means financing a structural repair and weeks of temporary housing out of savings, all at once, on nobody's schedule but the contractor's.
An illustrative example, not a real claim. Actual coverage depends on the policy issued.
What moves the price
We don’t quote prices on a website. Anyone who does is guessing. These are the factors underwriters actually weigh.
- What it would cost to rebuild the house at local labor and material prices, not its market value or purchase price.
- The age and material of the roof. In wind and hail states this is often the single largest variable on the quote.
- Construction type and the age of the wiring, plumbing, and heating systems, including documented updates.
- Protection class: how far the house sits from a fire hydrant and a staffed fire station.
- Regional catastrophe exposure (hurricane wind, hail, wildfire) and any separate deductibles that come with it.
- Claims history on both you and the property itself, which carriers read from a shared industry database called CLUE.
- The deductible you choose, and in most states an insurance score based partly on credit history.
Credits that can move this price
The factors above push the price up. These are the named credits that pull it back. Which ones exist, and what they’re worth, varies by carrier and state. We check every one that could apply before we quote.
- Claims-free credit for several years without a paid claim
- Multi-policy credit for pairing the home with your auto policy
- New-roof credit, largest when the roof is new, fading as it ages
- Protective-device credits: central-station burglar and fire alarms
- Smart water-shutoff or leak-detection system credit
- Wind-mitigation credits in coastal states: impact glass, roof tie-downs, documented by inspection
- New-purchase and newer-home credits in the first years of ownership
- Gated-community credit where carriers offer one
Questions
Homeowners, asked and answered.
Reviewed by a licensed property & casualty agent · Updated July 2026
Pairs with
Coverage that usually travels together.
- 01FloodThe one peril every homeowners policy excludes. Rising water gets its own policy, through the federal program or a private carrier.Explore →
- 02Personal UmbrellaLiability coverage that starts where your home and auto limits stop, for the lawsuit those policies can't fully absorb.Explore →
- 03AutoPays other people when a crash is your fault, and for your own car when almost anything else happens. Limits chosen on purpose, not by state minimum.Explore →
What happens next
A licensed agent reads it
Your request goes to a person, not a queue, the same business day.
We shop the carriers
We quote it across the markets that actually write this line and compare what comes back.
You decide
Options side by side, in plain English. Nothing is bound until you confirm it in writing.
Rather do the whole thing by phone? Call (917) 246-7038.
Carrier count reflects current appointments. Availability varies by state and line.
Start here
Let's price your homeowners coverage.
Tell us what you need. We shop it across 60+ carriers. You pick, and nothing is in force until it's confirmed in writing.
About three minutes. No obligation.
