What are the different types of insurance for a home?

Answer 1

the four standard policy types are;

• fire/homeowners (this is standard coverage that most people have/should have on their home. These policies can be written to include or exclude any number of things, but will cover your home at the very least in case of a fire)
• wind (almost always included in fire coverage, except in costal states like Florida and Texas. These states have separate entities such as Texas Windstorm that provide the coverage)
• flood (only required for your home if it is located in a special flood hazard area, or SFHA. This is determined by FEMA, but you can find out for free here; https://msc.fema.gov/ on the left side of the page, search for your property by either address of map panel id, if by some chance you know it. if you are in a zone that starts with either A or V, then flood insurance is required as long as you have a mortgage.)
• earthquake (not very common, can be included in the fire/homeowners policy, but not common. Probably not necessary in most place, but obviously if you live somewhere near a fault line, you might want to check into it.)

additionally, if your home is a condo, you will have a different fire/flood coverage, this is due to the close nature of the properties, so the policies are written a little differently.

There are also policies if you are renting, known simply as "renters policies". These cover damages to the property and your own personal articles, in case of theft, or damage that is not covered by the landlords policy.

Conversely, there is a landlords policy which would cover things like damage to the property.

also, if you own a condo or a PUD (planned unit development), then you can get a contents policy, or unitowners policy. these policies cover your personal belongings which aren't covered by your associations master policy.

hope this helps!