Shopping for Homeowners Insurance

by Mike A. Zubero

Homeowners Insurance products have been in place since the early 1900's. The products have changed over the years but have remained constant over recent years. The Insurance Services office (ISO) has developed industry standards which must be followed by all insurance companies that do business in America. The standards have been established to protect consumers from insurance company contracts and exclusions. Companies are required to give the ISO standard coverage or better; they can never take away coverage.
Keeping the above in mind the following Homeowners Policy Forms are available: DP1,2, & 3. These three policy forms are the least used and offer the most restrictions. The DP1 is a basic fire policy. Some other coverage can be added but only by endorsement. The DP2&3 simply add a few more covered lossses in addition to fire but are both stripped down policies.

HO1,2 & 3 are the newer policy forms which come as a packaged. They give coverage for your Dwelling, Other Structures, Personal Property, Loss of Use, Personal Liabilty and Medical Payments. All items are included in the package which makes it much easier to shop for homeowner's insurance. HO1 and HO2 actually list the perils that they insure. In other words, for your home to be covered in case of a loss, the Peril must be found in the policy jacket. HO3 is the most comprehensive of all the policies and it insures all Perils except for those specifically excluded. Since your home is, in most cases, your largest investment, it is a good idea to always go with the HO3.

In addition to the policy forms there are many endorsements, actually to many to go into here. The most often used are the Replacement Cost (RC) on Contents and Scheduled Personal Property endorsements. RC removes the depreciation factor from your policy. For example, in the case of a loss, if your 10 year old dishwasher is damaged and you do not have RC you will get no money to replace the item since the life expectancy is ten years. With RC you will be given the ammount of money needed to purchase a new dishwasher regardless of the age of your damaged one. This is really nice when you are trying to get back on your feet after a loss. Finally, remember that there are exclusions and restrictions on every policy including the HO3. To cover Antiques, Jewelry, Guns or any other collectibles they must be scheduled seperately. These standard policies are not intended to cover these items beyond specified amounts. You will have very little coverage for these items on your HO3. (See http://www.fossremodeling.com for the life expectancy of your household items).

Now that you have a basic knowledge of the Homeowners products take a good look at your policy and get some quotes. You will find that you can get a lot covered for pennies.

Mike A. Zubero may be contacted at zubero@msn.com.

Born in June of 1968 in California my family moved to Florida when I was about Ten. I have grown up in South FLorida and after one tour in the Coast Guard I went to Florida State University. I started in the Insurance Industry in 1988 and have devoted most of my studies to the industry. After graduating from Florida State with a BS degree in Risk Management, Insurance & Business Law, I began to look for work. Since I had graduated top of my class, offers came in but the job market was tough. Most jobs were paying very little and I decided to go on my own. I opened Zubero Insurance Group, Inc. in January of 1994. Fortunately, starting my own agency went very well. Hurricane Andrew had just devastated the area and although most companies stopped writing insurance in the area I sought out those which stayed and prospered from writing the tough to place business. Some times a crisis is not just that but it is in fact an opportunity. Six years later I have a full staff which specialize in Auto Insurance, Homeowners and Commercial General Liability. My agency represents hundreds of Insurance carriers and we only write with A rated carriers or better. The agency clientelle is diverse and although we specialize in a few fields I can not help but write a tough policy when presented. I am on my 14th year in the Insurance Industry and I enjoy giving people information about it. An Insurance Contract is a complex instrument without a basic understanding of it the consumer is at the mercy of their Insurance Company. I hope to help consumers with problems they are likely to run into.

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