If you own a home, chances are you already have homeowners insurance, if for no other reason than it’s near impossible to get a mortgage without it. Included within this homeowners coverage is something called dwelling insurance, or dwelling protection. This is a type of coverage for the structures attached to your home, like a garage or porch.
If any of these structures are damaged, your dwelling insurance may pay for the repairs or replacement costs—depending on your insurance policy, of course.
Let’s dive more into dwelling insurance so you know what it is, exactly, and why you need this type of coverage.
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Your home is one of the most significant investments you’ll make. Protecting that investment is important—many people don’t realize how important until they find themselves caught short on their homeowners insurance, which as we mentioned includes dwelling insurance.
After all, if damage happens to one of the structures on your property, it can be incredibly expensive to repair or replace.
Dwelling home insurance helps protect you in the event of the unexpected, whether it be small or significant. From trees falling over to leaks, you’ll want to have dwelling home insurance to help offset or cover the expenses that can ensue.
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Understanding the limits of dwelling insurance will better prepare you when/if damage occurs. As mentioned before, dwelling insurance does not cover detached structures on your property, but there are a few other exclusions from most insurance policies.
Knowing these exclusions will help you purchase the additional coverage and protection you need while being more prepared when it comes time to file a claim for damage.
If you ever need to repair or replace part of your home’s structure, the costs add up very quickly. Hence, the benefits of dwelling insurance coverage.
To determine how much dwelling coverage you need, you should figure out the value of your home’s structure and any attached structures. You want to be able to repair or replace any part of the structure with the same value, style, and design. It’s better to have more coverage than you think you need so that in the event of a disaster, you’re not financially devastated.
It’s also important to note that the replacement cost of your home and structure is not the same as the market value of it: you would only be covered for the actual cost to repair or rebuild, not the amount that the home would have sold for on the market.
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If you have any type of homeowners insurance, you likely have dwelling policy coverage automatically included. This means that your house and any attached structures would be insured in the event of any covered damage, which is laid out in your specific policy.
It’s important to remember, however, that dwelling policy coverage alone isn’t enough: maintenance and upkeep is also critical to keeping your insurance active and applicable so that if you ever have to make a claim, you’ll receive full coverage, minus your deductible.
Jessica Fox Jessica Fox has been a freelance writer for five years, with a specialty in health, wellness, and insurance. During this time, she’s written for some of the biggest B2B and B2C brands from around the world. Jessica is also the mother of two young daughters and loves coffee, writing, and working out.
