Homeowner’s and Renter’s

Protect Your Home and Belongings

Homeowner’s, Condo, and Renter’s policies, Rental Properties, Vacation Homes, Vacant Properties and Brush Fire Risks.

Homeowners Insurance

Homeowners and Renters Insurance is vital to protecting your long-term assets. Whether its an apartment, condo, single family home, or multi-unit dwelling, HVH Insurance will shop the marketplace to find you the right coverage for your needs. Below is a quick rundown of how Homeowners and Renters Insurance works…

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HO3 Vs. HO5

Homeowners 3 and Homeowners 5 policies will and do vary from company to company so its always important to discuss the difference with your agent, but the main different has to do with what “Perils” are covered and what aren’t. Specifically, “Open Peril” Vs. “Named Peril” Policy Form, usually affecting contents more so than dwelling. Open Perils Form is more broad coverage than Named Perils Form. Under named peril form, only specifically named perils are covered (See definition of Peril).

Renters Insurance or HO4

This is one of the more commonly overlooked types of insurance that millions of people need and it’s less than you think! Renters Insurance covers everything from liability for someone that slips and falls in your home to personal property coverage, earthquake, water damage and loss of use. The best part is it can be as low as $10 a month! The way Renters’ Insurance is priced is very similar to how Homeowners’ Insurance is calculated below.

Dwelling value

The rates for HO3 (Homeowners) are based in part by how much your home is currently worth. An agent may use any number of tools to assess the value of your home. They take into account your neighborhood home values, current condition of the home, market prices, quality of building materials used to build the home, etc.

Replacement cost

Insurance companies use various programs to calculate the cost to replace your home for a covered loss. For instance, your home may be worth $500,000 but it may only cost $135,000 to rebuild. The insurance companies use this as one of the main measures in calculating Replacement Cost.

Inflation Guard

Inflation guard will automatically increase the amount of coverage on your home with the pace of inflation. Typically 2-3% per year, however remember that the cost of your insurance will typically increase with this rider as well.

Risk Rating

Risk rating is taking into account environmental concerns that may increase the risk of a loss. For instance, this is why home insurance in California typically does not automatically include Earthquake coverage. In fact, most policies would explicitly exclude earthquake unless an extensive premium is paid above and beyond the normal cost of HO3 insurance. This is due to the inherent catastrophic risk of a major earthquake in California. The same applies to Flood Zones or Fire zones. If your home is located in a fire zone, an insurance company may make an exception and cover your property if you have the right brush clearance around your property. Other small details like keeping your trees properly trimmed, your roof and plumbing updated and maintained, and keeping your fence secure all help in keeping your rates low and preventing claims!

Animal Liability

If you have dogs, cats or otherwise, make sure your policy includes animal liability. Thousands of people are sued every year for dog bites and cat attacks so if your company doesn’t include animal liability, make sure you find a company that does! We can’t predict how our animals will react around our family, friends, or neighbors, but we can at least plan to protect ourselves if the worst does happen.

California Fair Plan (Insurance for high brush fire danger)

The California Fair Plan is used as a “Last Resort” for home or commercial buildings that are located in a high brush fire area, or high danger of fire. If a diligent effort is made to place a stand alone policy and one cannot be found, a home owners insurance policy can be used in conjunction with the Fair Plan (called a DIC or Difference in conditions) to provide coverage for your home when no other carrier will. In other words, you would have a wrap around policy; one policy for risks other than fire, and the fair plan to cover fire only. Ask your agent for more details.

Home insurance can subjective and no 1 policy is the same… All Insurance companies have a cookie cutter approach to where and what they will insure. Call your Agent annually and update them on any and all changes, big purchases, and more so they can properly assess your risk as it evolves from year to year. Often people purchase home insurance and never look at the policy again, this can be a huge mistake. If you aren’t sure, give HVH Insurance a call so we can give you a complimentary Home Insurance Review.

As a friendly reminder; always have your smoke and fire alarm batteries replaced every 6 months, keep an unexpired or full fire extinguisher on premises at all times, know where your gas and water shut off valves are, and keep your property maintained (trees and bushes trimmed, attic and vents properly secure to prevent rodents, etc). Take photos of every room and save them ideally to a cloud based storage every 6 months so you have photo evidence in the event of a major claim.