Home Insurance: An Introduction
Home insurance is also known as homeowner's insurance, hazard insurance or
property insurance that covers private homes. Home insurance can be building
insurance that only covers the outside of the buildings or contents insurance
which will cover the contents of the house against theft or other damage from
fire, vandalism, lightning, storms, explosions, etc. There are some things that
are usually excluded and you have to get a special insurance policy to cover
them. These include, "acts of God", floods, earthquakes, and war (meaning
nuclear explosion). You can combine both these for coverage of the outside and
the contents also. Home insurance also includes comprehensive personal liability
coverage that protects you, the homeowner, from lawsuits in case someone gets
hurt on or off of your property.
The purpose of homeowner's insurance is to help you as the homeowner to replace
your home if it has been destroyed or damaged and to replace the belongings that
have been damaged, destroyed or stolen.
The next step in determining which home insurance you need is called risk
analysis. Risk analysis is determined by the risk factors that are in certain
areas of the country. If snow, earthquakes, tornado damages, etc. are a risk
factor then this puts you in a different category to figure your homeowner's
insurance cost. This is where the special insurance policies come into play.
Make sure you get all the details and facts about the policy that you feel is
right for you because in the aftermath of a fire or flood you may realize there
were many gaps in your policy. Be very careful in choosing your policy so you
can have the best protection and be taken care of in case of a disaster.