Individual Homeowner Residential Insurance Coverage

Some homeowners associations who carry property/general liability insurance extend their coverage to include residential insurance in a portion of homeowner's association fees. If you are in a situation where you have HOA insurance coverage, does that mean you as an individual homeowner don't need an additional insurance policy on your residence? The answer is a resounding NO.

As a property manager over the past six months I have had two homeowners who depended on the coverage provided by their homeowners association and found out they are responsible for covering all of the deductible. Depending on the HOA insurance coverage, the deductible could range from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Since I have been through this with distraught homeowners recently, I wanted to tell anyone who is listening that really understanding your HOA insurance coverage before something goes wrong is incredibly important.

How do you make sure you have enough insurance to cover your insurance needs? I know, the last thing you want to hear is that you need more insurance, but the good news is that there are fairly inexpensive ways to solve this so that you don't get caught with an unexpected deductible. Below are a couple of suggestions to get you started.

1. As a member of a homeowners association or condominium association, you can purchase H06 insurance for just a few dollars a month from your current insurance provider or through your association's agent. The H06 insurance covers the deductible and personal contents, related with the homeowners association insurance. For further information you can visit http://www.ho6insurance.com/ and read up a bit on what coverage this kind of policy provides.

2. We would also suggest that you contact your current insurance agent and discuss bundling an auto policy with residential insurance to save money. A good agent will not only be able to clearly explain what your current HOA insurance coverage is, but also provide you with the peace of mind you need that you are well covered. It is always prudent to discuss your insurance needs with a professional insurance agent. It is also always best to find out where things stand before something goes wrong instead of after the fact!

If your homeowners association is one that covers residential needs in their property/general liability insurance, you might want to consider broadcasting this information about individual residential coverage to all of the homeowners in your association. You can let them know through the association newsletter, Board Meetings, general mailing, etc. that they need to also have insurance coverage that covers the association's deductible. The more informed the members of your homeowners association are before there is an incident, the fewer instances occur where you have a disgruntled homeowner.