Find Cheap Homeowners Insurance in Florida: Read This First

Having home insurance isn’t necessarily required, unless it’s a requirement of your mortgage. But even if you don’t need to have home insurance, it’s strongly recommended for every homeowner, especially in a state like Florida that’s prone to severe weather events. 

But there’s no one prescribed policy for home insurance. You have options for coverage, which can help you prioritize what you need, whether that’s staying on budget or feeling as protected as possible. 

Here are the main buckets of coverage that you’ll see in all home insurance policies:

• Dwelling: This protects the structure of your home, including the walls, roof, and foundation. It also extends to other structures on your property, like a shed, fence, and garage.
• Personal Property: This covers your belongings, like your clothing, electronics, furniture, jewelry, and more. Keep in mind you’re only covered for a set amount and each category tends to have limits, so you may need added coverage if you have collectibles.
  
  • Your policy will also differentiate between actual cash value and replacement cost. This difference is important to know. Actual cash value means that your insurance will reimburse you for the current, depreciated value of the item. Replacement cost means you’ll be reimbursed for what it currently costs to buy that item new.
• Liability: This covers your personal liability, whether someone gets injured on your property or you damage someone else’s property. It covers medical costs for the injured person, as well as provides you a legal defense if you’re sued.
• Additional Living Expenses: If your home is damaged from a covered peril and needs to be repaired/rebuilt, this covers your temporary living expenses, like lodging, food, and transportation. Find out more here.

All home insurance policies cover these base items, but you can add to the coverage if needed (more on that later). Where policies differ is in what damages they cover you for. Most policies tend to cover you for the following damages, also known as perils:

• Fire or lightning 
• Smoke
• Windstorms
• Hail
• Weight of snow, ice or sleet
• Explosions
• Theft
• Vandalism
• Falling objects
• Damage from aircraft or vehicle
• Water overflow/discharge or freezing from plumbing, air conditioning and appliances
• Sudden tearing, cracking or bulging of a hot water system, steam system, air conditioning or fire protective system
• Volcanic eruptions
• Sudden damage from a power surge

Knowing what you’re covered for is important, so be sure to read your policy thoroughly. But what you’re not covered for is possibly even more important. Here are the typical exclusions in most home insurance policies:

• Flooding
• Earthquakes
• Drain and sewer backup
• Nuclear hazard
• Wear and tear or neglect
• Power failure
• Infestations 
• Mold
• War

You might notice that flooding tops the list of exclusions. This is key in Florida, a state especially prone to flooding. You can purchase separate flooding insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for roughly $910 per year. Keep in mind, these policies can take about 30 days to go into effect, so plan ahead. Note that if you have Citizens Insurance, which is affordable insurance provided by the government if you can’t find it elsewhere, you’ll be required to have flood insurance.