Home insurance

Home insurance for the house you actually live in.

First home, forever home, or the one that came with two centuries of history. We shop it across a diverse stable of carriers and write the policy around the building, not a template.

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The basics

What a homeowners policy is made of.

A homeowners policy bundles several separate coverages behind one premium. Knowing which is which is what lets you tell a cheap quote from a thin one.

  • Dwelling, which rebuilds the house itself
  • Other structures: the detached garage, the fence, the barn, the shed
  • Personal property, meaning everything inside that is not attached to the building
  • Loss of use, which pays for somewhere to live while the house is being repaired
  • Personal liability, for injuries and damage you are responsible for, at home or away from it
  • Medical payments, a smaller no-fault amount for someone hurt on your property
The number that matters

Insure the rebuild, not the purchase price.

What you paid for the house and what it costs to rebuild it are two unrelated numbers, and only one of them belongs on the policy. Land value is in the price and not in the rebuild. Meanwhile older homes, and this region is full of them, are built out of materials and methods that cost more to reproduce than to buy: plaster, real millwork, slate, oversized framing.

Ask two questions before you sign anything. Is the dwelling limit set to replacement cost or to actual cash value, which subtracts depreciation exactly when you need the money. And does the policy include ordinance or law coverage, which pays for the code upgrades a town will require on the way back up. On an older house, that second one is not a detail.

The exclusions

What a standard policy leaves out.

None of that is a carrier being difficult. It is how the standard form is drawn, and every item on the list has a fix. The work is knowing which fixes your house needs before a claim asks the question for you.

  • Flood, which is never covered by a homeowners policy and needs its own
  • Sewer and drain backup, usually available by endorsement but rarely included by default
  • Earthquake and earth movement
  • Wear, rot, mold, and deferred maintenance, which are ownership costs rather than insurable losses
  • A business run out of the house, which needs a commercial policy or an endorsement
  • Valuables above the policy's internal caps: jewelry, art, silver, collections, which need to be scheduled
Pricing

What underwriters actually look at.

  • The roof: material and, above everything else, its age
  • Heating, wiring, and plumbing, and when each was last updated
  • Distance to a fire hydrant and to the responding station
  • Claims history, on the house and on you
  • Deductible, and whether the coverage is written at replacement cost
  • Protective devices, and the features carriers ask about: wood stoves, pools, trampolines, oil tanks
The process

One agent, one conversation.

You work with your dedicated agent, who learns the house once and does not hand you off, and the principal reviews the file behind them. Start online and a person responds.

We market the house to the carriers whose appetite fits it, which matters more on an older or unusual property than on new construction, and bring back the options side by side with what actually differs between them.

Go deeper

Historic house, second home, or a rebuild cost that is not standard?

This is the plain-language page for anyone comparing home insurance in New York. If the property needs more than a standard form, a historic house, a portfolio across more than one state, valuables worth scheduling, then our homeowners coverage practice covers how we place those. Same agency, more detail.

Related coverage

The lines that sit alongside this one.

Questions

What clients ask before they begin.

Written by

Armor Group Insurance Agency
New York licensed independent insurance agency

Armor Group Insurance is an independent insurance agency licensed in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Coverage availability, limits, endorsements, exclusions, and premiums vary by carrier, by underwriting, and by the specific facts of an account. Flood is excluded from standard homeowners policies and is written separately. Descriptions of covered perils, endorsements, and exclusions here are general summaries of common policy forms and never replace the language of the policy issued to you. This page is a general description of the coverage we place. It is not a contract, a binder, a quotation, or a guarantee of coverage, and nothing is bound until a carrier issues the policy. Contact the agency to review your situation and obtain a quotation.

Begin

Start your home quote.

Tell us about the house. Your dedicated agent will come back with options from the carriers whose appetite actually fits it.

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