If you live in an area where these sorts of things occur or may occur, you may find it difficult to obtain a homeowners policy. These are a few factors that high risk homeowners insurance providers look at when evaluating whether to write coverage for your home.
High risk home insurance providers other considerations are; credit history, age of home, structural integrity, and claim history on that or other property you have owned. FEMA provides data to insurers about hazards such as flood or earthquake information. Hurricane and tornado areas are based on occurrence experience. Crime statistics are provided by both state and federal sources. However, for the past 20 years, the greatest losses have been brought about by storm damage.
Free Home Insurance Comparison - Save up to 30%
No junk mail. No spam calls. Free quotes.
No Signup required
You probably have a pretty good idea of what high-risk homeowners insurance is just from reading that introduction. However, let’s the recap.
High-risk homeowners insurance is insurance for people living in areas prone to natural disasters and people whose history of behavior has put them in the high-risk category.
These behaviors include:
All of these factors can lead to you being classified as a high-risk homeowner, but there are few lesser-known red flags for insurance companies. They include:
Procuring high-risk homeowners insurance is not often as easy as getting traditional home insurance, and some providers—especially private providers—can give high-risk owners a hard time.
But that doesn’t mean getting high-risk home insurance is impossible. You just have to know how to go about accessing your coverage.
Here are a few tips:
Here’s a list of states that currently have FAIR plans:
Contact your state’s insurance department to see if you are eligible to enroll in a FAIR policy. Not only will they let you know if FAIR is available in your state—and if your home is located along hurricane-prone Gulf and Atlantic coasts or wild-fire prone California, chances are, it is—but FAIR will connect you with a licensed provider.
Just bear in mind that FAIR insurance is where your search for high-risk home insurance should end, not start since FAIR plans are more expensive and usually provide less coverage.
Free Home Insurance Comparison - Save up to 30%
No junk mail. No spam calls. Free quotes.
No Signup required
High-risk home insurance is not as comprehensive as standard insurance and varies depending on where you live. The majority of these policies cover the structure of the home (called dwelling insurance), and sometimes, personal property and liability. These are the cornerstones of most standard insurance policies too.
When it comes to high-risk home insurance, it’s important to remember that the kind and scope of coverage you receive will depend largely on why you’re considered high-risk.
This is why getting a quote and talking to an agent is so important: It moves this speculation into the specific and puts you one step closer to getting a high-risk insurance plan that works for you.
Unlike high-risk auto insurance, which tends to have more to do with how you act and less to do with what you drive, high-risk homeowners insurance is just as much about your home as it is about you and your behavior.
High-risk homeowners insurance is a type of coverage made for homeowners who live in peril-prone areas and/or who have a history of filing a lot of insurance claims—and just like high-risk drivers, these homeowners can have trouble finding affordable home insurance. In fact, they may have trouble getting homeowners insurance, period.
But we can help. We’re going to give you the rundown on high-risk homeowners insurance so you know why, how and where to get the best coverage.
Free Home Insurance Comparison - Save up to 30%
No junk mail. No spam calls. Free quotes.
No Signup required
No one wants to have to get high-risk home insurance. It can be more work to find and it’s unequivocally more expensive than traditional homeowners insurance. An equal truth is that it’s also necessary. Mortgage companies need proof of home insurance to provide financing and even if you could afford to buy your home outright, could you afford to replace the entire home if something happened or cover an expensive lawsuit?
You don’t have to get all possible coverage options, but you should get some basic dwelling, liability, and personal property insurance to cover the basics.
If you don’t have a mortgage, you may not need a high-risk policy, but by virtue of being classified as someone who is high-risk (and therefore more likely to file a claim), chances are, you should have it.
If you have a history of filing many claims, have poor credit, a criminal record, a high-risk pet, an older home, or live in an area prone to natural disasters, you are likely classified as a high-risk homeowner and require high-risk homeowners insurance.
Margaret Huntley Margaret Huntley is a creative writing and philosophy student at Western University. She has been working as a freelance writer for over two years and has written about everything from insurance, to poker, to health and wellness for international businesses.
