When you purchase homeowners insurance, did you know that you are buying coverage not only to replace the cost of damage to your home, but also damage to personal property within your home? Homeowners insurance can also offer liability coverage to any injuries that occur at your property. Let’s explore homeowners insurance: what it covers, what it doesn’t cover, and whether it makes sense to tack an endorsement (add-on) to your policy.

What’s covered and what’s not?

No matter how well you plan, lots of things could happen to your home that are out of your control. The bright side is that many of these incidents, listed below, are generally covered on homeowner’s policy:

• Fire
• Theft
• Vandalism
• Wind
• Hail
• Smoke
• Vehicles/aircrafts

Unfortunately, not all perils are covered under homeowners insurance. Here are a few that aren’t typically covered, but the good news is you can get special insurance for some of these events if you’re in an area that’s exceptionally vulnerable.

• Flood
• Earthquake
• Power failure
• War
• Nuclear damage
• Damages from poor maintenance
• General wear and tear

What do I need to know about personal property coverage?

First, when your valuables are damaged in an event that is covered on your policy, the typical contents coverage limit (for your personal property), is set at 70% of the value of the dwelling where the contents reside.

Second, most homeowners policies pay for the replacement cost of the item as opposed to actual cash value (which deducts depreciation).

Third, there are some items you may consider to be your personal property that aren’t covered under your homeowners policy in the eyes of your insurance company. These items may include:

• Money, gold, silver
• Jewelry
• Items you use for a business purpose
• Silverware
• Firearms
• Animals
• Motor vehicles and aircrafts
• Property of tenants in a space you are renting out

If you own personal property that many others don’t, like a valuable art collection, connect with a broker to discuss adding scheduled personal property protection to your homeowners policy to protect your valuable property.