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What is homeowners insurance?

Home insurance protects your finances when damage to your home or claims of liability puts them at risk. Policies typically safeguard your home, belongings, personal liability as well as other structures on your property, an injured guest’s medical expenses, and your additional living expenses if covered damage makes the home where you live uninhabitable.

*But the world is an ever-changing place, so we’ve updated our offerings to bring homeowners outside of Florida and Louisiana innovative home insurance: House & Property policy. 

House & Property insurance adapts to how you use your home. The base policy provides the coverage you need when you rent your home to others – similar to a dwelling fire (DP3) insurance policy other insurers may offer. Customers who live in their home full or part time can add  the owner-occupied endorsement to get the coverage of a typical homeowners policy – similar to a HO3 policy. 

Start protecting your home today. Enter your address for a quick quote.

What does home insurance cover?

Homeowners insurance policies are usually for properties that you live in for more than half the year and include six coverage parts that protect:

  • The actual structure of your home, inside and out (this is Coverage A in your policy).

  • Other structures, like your garage, fences, and sheds (Coverage B).

  • Your belongings that make your house a home (Coverage C).

  • Loss of use expenses when a covered loss forces you to temporarily relocate (Coverage D).

  • Your personal liability if you’ve accidentally caused someone bodily injury or property damage (Coverage E).

  • Medical expenses when a guest has an injury at your home (Coverage F).

Scroll down for more information on each coverage part.

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What's Covered?

  • Covered,Fire / smoke damage
  • Covered,Hurricanes
  • Covered,Hail
  • Covered,Lightning
  • Covered,Theft
  • Covered,Water damage from burst pipes and appliance flooding
  • Covered,Vandalism
  • Covered,Water overflow
  • Covered,Civil unrest
  • Covered,Explosions
  • Covered,Falling objects
  • Covered,Power surges
  • Covered,Freezing of household systems
  • Covered,Damage caused by vehicles
  • Covered,And more
Learn More About Perils

What’s Not?

  • Not Covered,Earthquakes
  • Not Covered,Flood
  • Not Covered,General wear and tear
  • Not Covered,Negligence (or lack of regular and proper maintenance)
  • Not Covered,Business liability

What other risks does homeowners insurance cover?

Your home insurance quote covers far more than basic property claims for your dwelling. When you get a quote for home insurance, it includes other benefits that provide important protections for your and your family. For example, home insurance can cover:

Identity theft

You can add identity fraud expense coverage to your policy by opting for an endorsement. It covers expenses involved in repairing the damage as well as notary costs, lost wages, and legal fees.

Please note that this endorsement adds coverage to your policy, and so it may change your original homeowners insurance quote.

Incidents away from home

Here’s an interesting benefit of homeowners insurance: many policies can cover some incidents even when they occur away from your home. For instance, your insurance policy may kick in if:

  • Someone breaks into your car. While your auto insurance policy covers damage to your car, it usually excludes your stolen personal property. Home insurance, however, can cover that.

  • You caused an injury to another person while on vacation. Your personal liability typically goes with you as you move about the world, so many events are covered even if you're far from home.

  • Property in an off-site storage suffers water damage. Home insurance typically includes some off-premises coverage, so you may not need storage unit insurance.

When you’re looking for insurance on a home, you want to weigh all the coverages available in the policy. That way, you can tell if you’re getting the right kind of protection and services for your money when you get a home insurance quote.

Homeowners insurance coverage levels explained

Not all insurance policies are created equal. Your policy can pay for claims differently depending on the coverage level you choose:

  • Actual cash value coverage. This type of policy only pays the depreciated value of your home or lost belongings. In other words, it only pays for what they’re worth at the time of the loss, not what you paid for them or what it really costs to replace them.

  • Replacement cost coverage. This pays for what it actually costs to rebuild your home or replace your belongings. Unlike actual cash value, this provides payment to replace what’s damaged or stolen.

  • Additional Coverage A. Also called guaranteed, increased or extended replacement cost coverage, this is an inflation buffer in case building and repair costs soar when you need to make a claim. For example, with Kin, this provides more coverage than you purchased, extending your dwelling coverage limits by up to 25%. Another option is to get our Signature Collection Coverage which offers even more coverage.

All the policies we sell are offered on a replacement cost basis. That’s because we want you to be able to bring your home back to its original glory when you need to. It’s one less thing to worry about when you’re dealing with a major loss.

Is homeowners insurance required?

You’re usually required to have home insurance if you have a mortgage. Even if you own your home outright, homeowners insurance is essential protection for perhaps one of life’s biggest investments.

You likely need insurance no matter what kind of home you own. But don't worry - we also offer condo insurance and mobile home insurance. 

Who needs homeowners insurance?

All homeowners need home insurance. New homeowners need homeowners insurance in place to close on their house if they have a mortgage lender. And yes, you still need insurance even if you’ve paid off your mortgage (Congratulations!).

Why? Because you never know who might get hurt on your property and losses are expensive.

For example, fire claims cost $77,340 on average. They’re also the second most common home insurance claim. Total losses – instances where fires destroyed the whole home – are even costlier.

Assuming it costs about $150 per square foot to build a home, then you could be looking at $225,000 in construction costs alone just to rebuild a 1,500 square foot house.

Imagine paying that out of pocket!

How much homeowners insurance do I need?

You should have enough homeowners insurance to cover the costs to fully rebuild your home, plus an additional 60%. The extra is the additional 20% of your rebuilding costs for each of the following three coverage areas:

  • Personal property

  • Additional living expenses / loss of use

  • Liability insurance

The cost to rebuild your home is calculated roughly by the square footage of your home multiplied by building costs per square foot in your area.

For your belongings, other structures, and additional living expenses, the general rule is to have at least 20% of your dwelling insurance. So if your home is insured for $300,000, you’d want about $60,000 for each.

If you have high-value belongings and fixtures, it might make sense to increase that coverage to 50% of your dwelling. You may also want to look at our Signature Coverage Collection to boost your protection.

Choosing your
coverage limit

Type of coverage Standard limits
Dwelling Home's full replacement cost
Other structures 10% of dwelling amount
Personal property 50% of dwelling amount
Loss of use 20% of dwelling amount
Personal liability $300,000 minimum
Medical payments $1,000 minimum

How are homeowners insurance rates determined?

The biggest factor in how much home insurance costs is where you live. Your state, city, or even your neighborhood can indicate the likelihood of loss. The more claims an area has, the higher the insurance rates will usually be.

For example, coastal communities in Florida besieged with hurricanes or rural areas in California suffering wildfires are becoming more and more expensive to insure. Insurance companies have to price these policies to address the increased risk and the chance of paying a lot of claims at once.

It’s also worth noting that a home’s claims stay on the record for three to seven years, even if the claim came from a previous owner. 

But a lot of other factors can affect homeowners insurance premiums, too, including:

  • Your home’s construction, roof type, and age.

  • Your home’s heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing.

  • Attractive nuisances – a fun way to refer to trampolines or swimming pools, things known to tempt trespassers or cause injury.

  • The deductibles you choose – the higher the deductible, the lower the premium.

  • The coverage types and amounts you choose.

  • Your home’s safety features – these can fetch you some common home insurance discount.

When you apply for homeowners insurance, make sure to ask about available discounts. Our quotes are customizable, too, so you can see how your coverage types and amounts impact your premium in real time.

How to get homeowners insurance quotes

In the past, getting a home insurance quote was fairly daunting. You usually had to make an appointment, go to a brick-and-mortar agency, and answer a ton of questions – sometimes guessing at the answers! – just to find out if you were eligible for coverage. 

It doesn’t have to be that way.

We’re revolutionizing the home insurance industry with a model that makes getting homeowners insurance quotes faster and easier. The key is technology – using publicly available insurance data to offer you a more accurate premium.

Enter your address to see just how easy it is to get home insurance with us!

Types of homeowners insurance policies

These are the different policy forms insurance companies use to write home insurance policies. Learn what they mean for your coverage. (We offer HO3 policies for single-family homes in Florida and Louisiana, but the House & Property policy in all other states).

  • HO1 policy – This covers an owner-occupied standalone home against 10 named perils.

  • HO2 policy – This can cover the home against 16 named perils.

  • HO3 policy – This is the most common type of homeowners insurance. It offers replacement cost coverage for the home and covers all perils except those the policy names as exclusions.

  • HO5 policy – This protects the home and personal property for their replacement cost. It also covers all perils except those named as exclusions.

  • HO6 policy (condo insurance) – This policy protects the part of the condo unit that the condo association's insurance doesn't.

  • HO7 policy (mobile home insurance) – This is like an HO3 policy but for folks who have mobile or manufactured homes.

  • HO8 policy – This is the policy that can insure older homes with replacement costs that outweigh the market value. It offers coverage for 10 named perils.

  • DP3 policy (landlord insurance) – Also called dwelling fire insurance or hazard insurance, this policy covers residential buildings that the owner leases.

Why choose Kin?

Between climate change and ever-increasing digitization, the world is constantly facing new challenges. We’re an insurance provider that’s built for the future and ready to help you protect your home – whatever tomorrow brings.

The average Kin customer saves an average of $977 on their home insurance.* Get your personalized home insurance online quote or give us a call to learn more. Start saving on premier coverage for your home today.

*Customers who switched to Kin report annual savings of $977 on average. Based on Kin Customer Savings Survey conducted January 2023 - December 2023.

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The opinions expressed belong solely to individual reviewers and do not reflect the opinions of the Kin Insurance, Inc. group of companies or affiliates. Reviews are provided for informational purposes only.

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