Two Policy Options All Homeowners Should Know About

If you are a California homeowner, most likely you expect your homeowners insurance policy to cover all the costs of repairing your house if its ever damaged or destroyed by a hazard. But are you certain you have enough coverage? Below we provide some information about two common situations you may be unaware of — and the affordable options that can help put your mind at ease.

Extended Dwelling Coverage

Since reconstruction costs are different from market value, your current  homeowners policy may not accurately reflect the true costs of rebuilding your home. Extended dwelling coverage helps you rebuild if construction costs change and add up to more than your current homeowners insurance limits.

To illustrate this concept, consider this real-life scenario. Say your home is currently insured for 100% of its replacement cost, with the cost based on the value of your house when the policy was originally written. However, a wildfire sweeps through your area destroying your home along with many others nearby.

Due to the high demand caused by the natural disaster, construction materials and labor costs increase 20% in your area. So your $200,000 home will now cost $240,000 to rebuild. If you had 20% extended dwelling coverage, you’d get the $240,000. Without it, you get $200,000 and will have to make up the difference out of pocket or settle for less house than you originally had.

Building Ordinance of Law Coverage

If your home is damaged by a covered loss and needs to be rebuilt or repaired, you are required to build according to current building codes. And since codes have grown more rigorous over the past 20 years, this could mean much higher costs to rebuild than you anticipate. That’s where a building ordinance policy, or law coverage, comes into effect — and it could save you thousands of dollars.

Again, let’s take the example from above and assume you have a $200,000 homeowners policy. With a 10% building ordinance policy, you would get an extra $20,000 to apply to the new building code requirements you must meet. Without this policy option, you’ll have to pay the difference to bring your house up to code.

Extended dwelling and building ordinance insurance policies offer valuable protection from gaps in coverage in case of an unforeseen covered event, and all for an affordable annual premium.

Peninsula General is the top Insurance Agency in Los Angeles.  To learn more about your homeowner insurance coverage, simply give us a call or complete our short contact form.

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