Flood Insurance

Flooding is one of the most common causes of property damage in the US. Water damage is difficult and expensive to fix and devastating to your property, and potentially a significant health risk. It can weaken the foundation of your home, cause mold to grow in your walls, cause your paint to bubble and peel, make your drywall crumble and none of it’s covered by homeowner’s insurance.

Homeowners insurance will typically cover water damage from another source. Burst pipes?Covered. Overflowing sinks or bathtubs? Usually covered. Rain damage? Should be covered. Damage caused by sewage backup? Gross, but your insurance company probably has your back. However, flooding, which someone could easily assume would be under the same umbrella as storm damage, is not covered.  

Which means flood insurance is its own separate entity. Flood insurance is administered by the federal government. That means You can only get flood insurance from insurers that are a part of the National Flood Insurer Program (NFIP). Your insurance provider may not participate in the NFIP program if it doesn’t you may need to either contact an NFIP center for a referral or do a google search.

The rate of flood insurance is also set by the government and not by insurance providers. The rate varies dependent upon risk. This means that the rate of your flood insurance would depend upon the flooding risk inherent of your geographic location. The premiums for low risk areas cost around $405 annually, there are some variations depending on whether or not the property has a basement; there’s also a surcharge that changes depending upon whether the property is a primary or secondary residence. In high risk areas, the same coverage can cost around $2,500. There are government run websites that can give you an estimated rate.

You also can’t just buy flood insurance for that single nasty looking storm or hurricane that all the weather channels are talking about. There is a 30-day waiting period in the majority of cases. So technically you can buy it for a nasty looking, incoming storm season.

So, now for the real question. Should you get flood insurance? The decision might actually be out of your hands. Some mortgage lenders might require you to buy flood insurance if you live in a special flood hazard area. Which at least means that if the structure of your home is damaged by flood water, your utilities are affected, if your appliances are damaged, if your flooring gets messed up, any installed or built-in fixtures get damaged, if secondary structures on your property incur damage, or anything happens to valuable personal items worth up to $2,500, you are covered for that. You can get extensions for other items added on your insurance to cover more valuable items.

If flood insurance isn’t mandatory for you, first congratulations, mandatory anything is usually unpleasant. However, like I said at the beginning, flooding is one of the most common causes of property damage in the US. According to the “Insurance Information Institute,” more than one-fifth of claims for flood damage are from moderate to low-risk areas, areas not required to buy flood insurance. So, it is at least worth looking into.

Delana Cotton servers the north east Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.

Beginners Guide to Homeowners Insurance

What do I know about home insurance? Do you know what types of policies there are? Do you know what type you need personally or can afford? I mean you hear the term home insurance and you think, I get the drift, it’s insurance… on your house. Yes, but home insurance policies can be extremely varied depending on a bunch of different variables such as the possibility of risk based on personal information, geography, the fiscal value of the property and/or home, etc. In a market full of different insurance providers, varying policies, and the differing needs of clients.

Most homeowner policies cover these basics. These basics do not include things like flooding or earthquakes. That’s a different type of insurance that we’ll go over in part three of this series. Basic homeowner policies should include you’re home (Dwelling coverage). Dwelling coverage pertains directly to your house, meaning the structure itself. If your home is majorly damaged in some way out of your control, accidents, acts of nature (yes flooding and earthquakes don’t count but fire, tornadoes, and storms do it depends on your policy. Make sure you know what your coverage is). You should be able to make a claim, there will probably be a deductible (a fee) as a deterrent from making excessive or false claims. However, if your home is somehow entirely destroyed you should be given enough money from the insurance company to recover the amount of money you took out in the loan to purchase your house. You should be able to rebuild the house with the money you claim from the insurance company.

 Basic Policies should also cover personal property (Personal property coverage). This insurance focuses on the items inside your house. This insurance focuses on the personal items inside of your house due to damage to the structure of the house, someone breaking into the house, or something else outside of your control pertaining to the dwelling itself, that should be covered by personal property coverage. If any of those things occur, you should be able to file a claim and get reimbursed for the item or items that were damaged or taken from you.

Other structure coverage: Structure on your property that isn’t your house, a shed or something, fences, I don’t know I don’t go outside.

Loss of use coverage: Something happened and now you can’t stay at your home until the problems are solved. This coverage covers your cost of living outside of your home. There’s a cap, they’re not going to give you more than necessary. If you run out of money before you can move back into your house, you’re screwed.

(Personal liability coverage): Covers accidents that could happen to people who don’t reside on your property or damage on someone else’s property that occurs due to something on your property. Literally an oopsie, that wasn’t on purpose, but it occurred on or due to something on my land insurance.

Finally, there is Additional Coverage: It’s exactly what it sounds like. It covers optional things you choose to add to your coverage because you’re just that ready. These are things that won’t apply to most people in most situations but like I said in the first part of this series, shit happens. It’s best to check for things that could happen in your area but aren’t covered by general policies because they’re not concerns for the population on mass.

These are the types of policies that can be a part of your homeowner insurance. Check out our next article in this series where we talk about insurance not covered in general homeowner insurance FLOODING. 
https://thecottonhometeam.blogspot.com/2018/08/flood-insurance.html

Delana Cotton servers the north east Atlanta region that includes Dacula, Winder, Lawrenceville, Buford, Snellville, Conyers and surrounding areas. Delana treats every transaction as if she were you, the buyer or seller. If you have a real estate transaction on the horizon, meet Delana for a no pressure chat over coffee.