One of the largest investments for most people is their home. The best way to protect your home is to purchase a homeowner's insurance policy. If you have a mortgage on your home, it is mandatory to have insurance coverage. So just what does homeowner's insurance cover?

According to Rick Stevens, owner, Lakewood GEICO, homeowner's insurance covers things you might not expect. "If the appliance has a sudden leak, the damage to the floors are covered up to the amount of coverage, but not the appliance. Loss of use is covered if your house can't be lived in while being repaired for a covered loss up to the amount of that coverage," he said.

Dana Reinking, Allstate Lakewood agency owner says, "A feature of the homeowner's policy that is often a surprise to customers is ‘additional living expense coverage.' This coverage comes in to play when the insured has a covered loss, such as a fire, that makes their residence uninhabitable. When that happens, we cover the cost of putting our customers in a temporary place to stay, AND we cover other additional living expenses. For example, if the customer's temporary residence is further to and from their job, we even pay their extra gas expenses. Those are things people don't think about until something major happens, but we deal with this every day and are ready to help."

It is important for homeowners to know not everything is covered by homeowner's insurance. "One of the most common is Flood -- especially living here in Washington state. Flood insurance is actually almost exclusively covered by the National Flood Insurance Program. Most people do not expect this. We, as agents, can write the policies for customers, but the coverage is still through them. There are some older policies in the industry which still provide that coverage, but far more often than not, it is only covered through a separate Flood policy," said Reinking.

Some other areas are not covered by homeowner's insurance. "Normal wear and tear of the roof or other parts of the house is not covered. Slow leaks in the water line or damage from the leak. Break in the water line between the street and the house," Stevens listed.  

Reinking offers some important things to consider when purchasing homeowner's insurance:

"Make sure the policy offers replacement cost. For contents coverage, for example, if a client has a 10-year-old couch that is damaged by a small fire and needs to be replaced, we will replace it with what it costs to buy a NEW couch today. Policies without replacement cost coverage for contents would only give their customers what the couch might have been valued at, or what they could have sold it for, which is often a small fraction of what it costs to buy a new one."

"Another consideration is your deductible. Many clients have no idea what their deductible is on their homeowner's policy. They know they have a low annual premium, but they don't always know why. During customer reviews we look at the policy that they have with a different company, they might have a low annual premium, but a $5,000 deductible. That means they pay the first $5,000 out of their pocket in the case of a claim. A deductible can be set at a large number like that, or it can be a percentage of coverage. I see customers who come in with a two percent deductible, so if their home is insured for $300,000, then their out-of-pocket cost is $6,000 before any coverage kicks in. That is not the kind of thing you want to find out AFTER you have a claim. In my opinion, it's best to go with a reputable company who has a local agent for you to deal with."

Stevens offers some advice for homeowners, "Normal upkeep of your property can save you a lot of money in the end. Making small claims could have a significant impact on your insurance policy," he said.

While a homeowner's insurance policy may seem expensive; the cost is far less than you will pay for costly repairs or liability issues. For more information on homeowner's insurance contact your insurance agent. You can reach local agents Rick Stevens at Lakewood GEICO, 253.584.7755 and Dana Reinking at Allstate, 253.582.8200.