Frequently Asked Questions about Home Insurance

Just a small amount of water in your home can lead to substantial damage to your house and belongings. So, you’ll be happy to know that a homeowners policy typically covers some types of water damage, but only if that damage is caused by something sudden and accidental and the water involved has never touched the ground outside your home. For example, home insurance generally covers water damage to your home’s structure and contents if it is the result of:

• A burst or broken pipe.
• Extinguishing a home fire.
• An ice dam.
• An accidental overflow of an appliance or fixture, like the toilet, washing machine, or bathtub.
• Tearing, cracking, burning, or bulging of a steam, heating, AC, or automatic fire protection system.

Even though you may have coverage in your policy, it’s critical to take immediate action if you discover water damage to your home. Contact your insurance professional and take pictures of where the water came from, the affected area, and everything that was damaged. In addition, if any water damage to your home has occurred gradually and gone either unnoticed or untreated for some time, your claim could be denied. So, we encourage you to regularly inspect your property for any warning signs of a water leak or damage and address any issues you find right away.

There are also several common home water damage scenarios that are not usually covered by a homeowners policy, including a water and sewer backup, basement seepage, and flooding. Again, we have some positive news to share—the Austin team may be able to help you secure additional coverages that may protect your home against these types of events, such as a water backup and sump overflow endorsement, a water seepage or leakage endorsement, and a flood insurance policy.

Dwelling coverage is the part of your home insurance policy that helps you pay for the cost of repairing or rebuilding the physical structure of your home, as well as any attached structures, installed fixtures, and permanently attached appliances, if damage is caused by a covered event. That being said, you require enough dwelling coverage to be able to afford to put your house back together again if it is declared a total loss after a fire, theft, storm, or other event included in your policy.

For this reason, we typically recommend to our clients that they secure a dwelling coverage limit that is at least equal to the cost to reconstruct their home today. However, based on what we learn about your distinct house when we personally inspect it and what we know about the community you live in and the cost of construction and labor in the area, we may encourage you to get more coverage. For example, extended replacement cost coverage typically increases the limits of your dwelling coverage by 25% to 50% and guaranteed replacement cost coverage offers even more complete financial protection.

An important choice a homeowner needs to make when putting together a home insurance policy is whether they want actual cash value (ACV) or replacement cost value (RCV) for their personal property coverage. This will be a much easier decision once Austin explains the difference! First, let’s suppose you have ACV coverage when you experience an event that ruins many of your belongings. If this incident is covered by your insurance and your claim is accepted, your insurance company reimburses you the actual cash value of the items that were damaged or stolen. This means you’ll receive the original amount you paid for these things (no matter how long ago that was), minus depreciation.

This option may sound fine to you right now. But, as we all know, the cost of most items goes up year after year. So, the amount you end up getting back from your insurance company may not be nearly enough to cover the cost of buying replacement items of the same or similar make and model at today’s prices.

Now, let’s see what happens if you have RCV in the same scenario. Now, your insurance company reimburses you the replacement cost value, or the amount that new and comparable items cost at the time of your loss. In other words, you can go out and buy the same or similar items to replace what’s been ruined and get 100% reimbursement. And here’s the kicker—getting RCV does not significantly increase your home insurance premium. Want help deciding which personal property coverage is right for you? Reach out to the team at Austin for assistance.

To determine if your home insurance will cover damages from a fallen tree, we need to know a few things, including what caused the tree to fall and what did it damage on your property.

Let’s assume the tree fell due to a covered event, like a lightning strike or the weight of snow and ice from a storm, and damaged your home or another covered structure on your property, such as a garage, driveway, or fence. In this scenario, a standard homeowners policy generally provides coverage to help you pay for repairs and for the removal of the fallen tree from your property. This is true even if the fallen tree came from your neighbor’s yard. However, even though it’s not your tree, you’ll still have to be the one to file a claim. So, if this situation does arise, just give your Austin professional a call and we’ll make the claims process as nuisance-free as possible.

The Austin team will also make sure that filing a claim makes sense for your specific tree scenario. For example, if the tree landed in your yard but didn’t cause any damage to your home or any other detached or attached structures on your property and is not blocking access to your driveway or a ramp or other fixture designed to assist a disabled person, your homeowners policy may not cover the removal of it.

Home insurance typically includes coverage for your belongings, such as your clothes, furniture, appliances, and more, under the personal property coverage section of your policy. However, for some of the items in your home, particularly, higher-value ones, there might be a limit on how much your insurance company is willing to pay if you experience a covered loss. In addition, your policy may only cover certain events, such as a theft, and not provide protection against other forms of potential damage or loss.

If you own jewelry, sports equipment, tech devices, musical instruments, collectors’ items, or other similar possessions of greater worth, one of the best ways to get broader protection for them is by adding a scheduled personal property endorsement to your homeowners policy. With this endorsement in place at the time an item is lost, stolen, or destroyed, you may get reimbursed up to the appraised value of the item, with no deductible and no deduction for depreciation or wear and tear. The Austin team would be happy to speak with you about the benefits of this endorsement, so give us a call.

We hope you never have to deal with an event that causes you to have to file a home insurance claim, but if you do, the team at Austin is here to help make the process as easy as possible. In fact, we have a dedicated team member available to assist you with paperwork, answer questions, uncomplicate any issues, and much more. The sooner you get in touch with us when you have a claim, the quicker we can help you begin the resolution process.

Another simple way to report a claim to us is through Austin’s online client portal, which is available to our clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you haven’t set up an account yet, please contact us for assistance.

We also have extreme confidence in all our insurance company partners and know they will provide you with excellent care if you end up calling them directly to file a claim. Once your claim is filed with your provider, please follow up with us so we can continue to facilitate the process. We will work closely with you and the insurance adjuster assigned to your file until the situation is resolved.

To help the claims process go a bit smoother, you may want to make a list of the damages to your home or belongings and take photos or videos of them. Also, while your claim is being handled, it’s important to make sure additional harm does not befall your home. This may mean making temporary repairs, like boarding up a broken window so rainfall doesn’t get in. Whether you do it yourself or use a professional, just remember to save all your receipts because your insurance company may reimburse you for any materials and labor costs as well.

At Austin, we understand how important it is to have the right coverage at an affordable price. So, we will leave no stone unturned as we work to get you the most competitive home insurance rates. One of the ways we do this is by assessing every discount or credit available through our insurance partners to see if you’re eligible for one or more of them, including:

• Bundle and Save Discount
• New Homebuyer Credit
• Loyal Customer Credit
• Home Protection Systems Upgrade Credit
• Mature Homeowners Credits for Homeowners 65 and Older
• Loss-Free Credits for Homeowners Who Have No Claims History
• And More…

An Austin team member would be happy to review your homeowners policy to see if you’re taking advantage of all the home insurance savings available to you.

While your homeowners policy premium is based on a number of factors, following are a few things that may have a big impact on what you pay:

• The replacement value of your home. This is the actual cost that it would take to rebuild your home to its pre-loss condition if it were destroyed. To make an accurate determination of your home’s replacement value, the Austin team prefers to come out to your property in person to evaluate all the factors that go into the replacement value estimate. We never want you to pay more than you need to for your home insurance, but we also want you to have the peace of mind that you have sufficient coverage to restore your property after a covered loss.
• How protected your home is from threats. If your home includes safety features like dead bolts, smoke alarms, and security or sprinkler systems, it may help lower your premium. In addition, insurance companies will evaluate the safety of the surrounding community, how close you are to the nearest fire station, and any conditions that might heighten the risk of loss in your neighborhood.
• The age of your home. The older your home is, the more vulnerable it is to damage and the more likely it is to have systems and structural elements that no longer meet current building codes and regulations. If you have an older home, especially with materials and features that might be costly to repair or replace, Austin is here to help you think through ways to lower your insurance rates.