Home · What the HO form leaves out
Homeowners insurance is one contract. Flood, earthquake, a sewer backup, and a lawsuit above the liability limit are usually other contracts, or endorsements with their own limits. Buying “more home insurance” does not fill those holes.
An HO-3 pays for the perils it does not exclude on the dwelling, and for the named perils on the contents. Flood is outside water and is not one of those perils. A lender may require a flood policy in a high-risk zone. Being outside that zone does not add flood to the homeowners policy. Earthquake and earth movement are usually excluded. A buy-back is an endorsement or a separate policy, often with a large deductible that is a percent of the dwelling limit. This page will not quote a percent. Water that backs up through a drain is a sublimit endorsement, not the dwelling limit. A personal umbrella pays only after the underlying auto and home liability limits are used up. It does not insure the building, and it does not sit on a loss the homeowners form already excludes.
The base contract: what homeowners covers and Texas homeowners. Flood: Texas flood and, if the house is in Colorado, Colorado flood. Shaking: earthquake. Above the liability limit: umbrella and excess liability versus umbrella. Riders are still limits: what a rider does. A small expense benefit, not a second policy: identity theft coverage.
