Homeowners Insurance

For most, your home is more than a place with 4 walls and a roof. It’s the largest asset you own! Naturally, it makes good sense to protect it against the risks associated with home ownership. We can prepare you a homeowner insurance policy built to stand up against those risks. We offer a variety of home insurance options to make sure all your bases are covered against destructive weather, theft, accidents and more.

 

Personal Liability Insurance is Important

You invite guests to your house for dinner and one of them falls down your stairs. In the event you get sued over this accident, your personal liability insurance will protect you and your financial assets against the cost of legal fees.

 

Protect Your Property

You can put a new roof on your house or cover it with the best quality siding. Yet, there is nothing you can control when it comes to weather. Whether a hail storm damages your new roof or lightning strikes your property, the only control you have is to be prepared with a Property Insurance policy. The uncontrollable damages will be covered and your financial assets will remain in tack.

 

Personal Umbrella Insurance

No one can predict what is going to happen but everyone can prepare for what may happen. That’s what a personal umbrella insurance policy does for you. It provides an extra layer of protection on your home and car in the event someone experiences an accident on your property or you are the cause of an accident on the road.

It is our job to make sure you have the coverage in place if you are ever faced with an unpredictable incident in your home or your car. The cost of a personal umbrella insurance policy is very small compared to the cost of not having coverage if needed.

If you are not certain whether you need a personal umbrella insurance policy, our agents at Professional Insurance Services suggest you answer the following questions.

• Do you own a home?
• Do you own a vacation home?
• Do you own waterfront property?
• Do you have a swimming pool on your property?
• Do you own more than one automobile?
• Do you own a luxury automobile?
• Do you own a power or sail boat?
• Do you own a dog?
• Do you have above-average family income?

If you answered YES to any of the above questions, you may want to consider adding a personal umbrella policy to your insurance portfolio.

 

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In addition to the standard homeowners policy, we offer insurance for other types of property as well as coverage for weather related damage.

 

Condo Insurance

If you own a condo or are going to be purchasing one, you will need a condo insurance policy. Condo insurance, also referred to as an HO-6 policy, is different than homeowners insurance in that you as the condo owner are not responsible for the exterior of your unit because you don’t own that part of the property. You only own the interior and all items within the interior of your condo.

The condo association carries a master insurance policy which covers the building and any common areas such as hallways, pools, tennis courts, etc. It is very important to know what exactly is covered by the association’s master policy – it may be an all-in policy which covers anything that is original to the unit like cabinets and plumbing, or it may be a bare-walls policy which only covers the floors, walls and ceiling. Knowing this information upfront will prevent any surprises in the future and ensure that your policy covers all that is not covered by the master insurance policy.

Condo Insurance covers the following:

• Significant losses and damages to the interior of your condo caused by a fire or some other damaging event. This is very important in the event your condo association only carries a bare-walls master policy.
• Protection against damage or theft of your personal property like clothes, furniture, electronics, etc.
• Personal liability in case someone gets hurt while visiting you in your unit – this will cover any medical or legal expenses you may incur.
• If you find yourself in a situation where you cannot live in your condo for an extensive period of time, your condo insurance policy may help you cover some, or all, of the hotel and living expenses you accumulate over this period of time.
• Loss assessment coverage becomes necessary when your condominium building suffers an extensive loss and the costs to repair or rebuild go above those covered by the master policy. The condo association may ask you and the other condo owners to assist with this overage at which point you would be covered if your condo policy includes loss assessment coverage.

Items typically not covered by condo insurance include wear and tear on the unit, earthquakes, flooding, and sewer backup.

 

Earthquake Insurance

Earthquakes are becoming more and more common and even occurring in areas that rarely if ever have experienced one. A standard homeowners insurance policy does not cover damage done to your property in the event of an earthquake. An earthquake insurance policy covers the cost of rebuilding or repairing your home, replacing damaged or destroyed personal property and expenses incurred while having to live in temporary housing should your home become inhabitable.

 

Flood Insurance

The worse thing homeowners can do is find out after a flood has occurred in their home that the damage is not covered by their homeowners policy. Also, many homeowners are under the assumption that if they don’t live in a flood plain then they don’t need flood insurance.

Floods can occur as a result of a storm, melting snow, hurricane, water backup due to inadequate or overloading drainage or a broken water main. FEMA estimates that 30% of flood claims are filed by homeowners living in low to moderate flood risk areas.

The cost of flood insurance is based on the area you where you live. The average cost of flood insurance is $958 per year or $80 per month. However, keep in mind this may vary if you live in a flood plain or if you live in a low flood risk area.

 

Mobile home

Whether you own a mobile home, manufactured home or modular home, they are all covered by mobile home insurance. In North Carolina, there are two forms of mobile home insurance. One is known as the MH (C) form and the is the MH (F) form. Though there are many similarities between the two types of coverage, there are differences in what is covered if your property is destroyed and differences in the coverage limits paid out in the event your mobile home becomes inhabitable.

A mobile home insurance policy provides coverage for a peril, the dwelling (property), other structures, personal property, loss of use, and moving the structure. In addition, you may want to consider personal liability coverage and medical payments to others coverage as protection against an accident that occurs on your property.

 

Rental Property Insurance

Rental property insurance, also referred to as landlord insurance, is necessary for any dwelling you own but is occupied by tenants or is rented regularly to vacationers. Your homeowners policy only covers you and your belongings in your owner-occupied home.

The three main areas protected by a rental property insurance plan are property damage, lost rental income and liability protection. As the landlord of your rental property, you are covered in the event the dwelling suffers exterior damage or property inside the home is damaged, if the property is deemed uninhabitable due to things like extreme mold or termites, and if a tenant or visitor suffers an injury resulting from a property maintenance issue like icy sidewalks.

In addition to the three main areas of coverage, you may decide you need additional coverage for things like a tenant who fails to pay rent or flood damage or emergency coverage for unexpected events like a leaking a dishwasher. At Professional Insurance Services, we will review all of your options for rental property insurance and help you determine which plan best fits your needs as a landlord. Contact us to get started.

 

Renters insurance

If you plan to rent the place you call home, it is very likely your landlord or property management company will require you to carry renters insurance. Even if it is not a requirement, it is in your best interest to have insurance that covers you and your personal property.

The cost of a renters insurance policy averages around an affordable rate of $180 per year. Many factors like the amount of coverage you need and the type of coverage you choose will determine the actual cost of your policy.

A typical renters insurance policy, also known as a HO-4 policy, covers damage and loss of your personal property due to events such as Smoke, Fire, Theft, Vandalism, Falling Objects, Windstorm, and Hail. It is important to know that losses due to floods and earthquakes are not covered by your renters insurance. If you live in an area where either of these is common, you may want to inquire about a separate policy that will cover your personal property.

Another coverage that is included in your renters insurance policy is liability coverage. This protects you when someone is injured in your home or if you accidently injure someone who is visiting you in your home. You may be faced with paying legal expenses, court judgements, and medical-payments for the injured person, which will be covered by your renters insurance up to the limit stated in your policy.

Tenant insurance, another name for renters insurance, is very similar to homeowners insurance; however, it is less expensive since it is not necessary to have coverage for the outside of the building nor the building structure itself. Similar to homeowners insurance, your renters insurance will even cover you if you are displaced from your home due to it being destroyed in one of the events listed earlier.