Question 1

Does homeowners insurance cover flood damage?

Accepted Answer

No. A standard homeowners insurance policy does not cover flood damage. This catches many Georgia homeowners by surprise, so it is worth knowing the line clearly. Homeowners insurance covers water that comes from inside your home, like a burst pipe or an overflowing washing machine. It does not cover rising water that comes from outside, such as a swollen creek, a storm surge, or heavy rain that pools and enters your house. Think of it this way. If a tree falls and rain pours through the broken roof, that is usually a covered storm loss. But if the Chattahoochee River jumps its banks after days of rain and floods your basement, that is a flood, and your homeowners policy will not pay for it. To protect against flooding, you need a separate flood insurance policy. Many Georgia properties sit in flood-prone areas near rivers, lakes, and low-lying neighborhoods, and even homes outside mapped high-risk zones can flood. Flood policies usually have a 30-day waiting period before coverage starts, so buying ahead of storm season matters. It is also smart to check your exclusion list so you understand exactly what your current policy leaves out. A flood gap is one of the most common and costly surprises we see. Flood is excluded from standard homeowners policies, which is where the exposure comes from. Get a free coverage review and we will spot the gaps before a storm finds them.

Question 2

What happens to my homeowners policy if I rent out my home?

Accepted Answer

If you rent out your home, your standard homeowners insurance may no longer cover it the way you expect. A homeowners policy is written for a place you live in yourself. Once tenants move in, the insurer sees a different kind of risk, and many of the protections you paid for can quietly stop applying. The reason is simple. Homeowners policies assume the owner occupies the home. When you hand the keys to a renter, you change how the property is used. If you keep a homeowners policy on a rented home and file a claim, the insurer can deny it because the home was not owner occupied. That is a costly surprise to discover after a fire or a burst pipe. The right answer depends on how long you rent. For an occasional short stay, your insurer may allow it or offer a small add-on. For an ongoing arrangement where tenants live there month to month, you usually need a landlord insurance policy. Landlord coverage protects the building, covers loss of rental income if the home becomes unlivable after a covered event, and adds liability protection for tenant related injuries. Here is a real example. Suppose you move for a job and rent out your Marietta house for $1,900 a month. A kitchen fire makes it unlivable for four months. A landlord policy can pay to repair the structure and replace the roughly $7,600 in rent you lose while it is being fixed. A homeowners policy, by contrast, could deny the whole claim because the home was not owner occupied. One more point. Your policy will not cover your tenant's belongings. They need their own renters insurance for that, which you can require in the lease. Renting out a home, even for a season, is exactly the kind of change that creates a coverage gap. We can confirm the right policy before tenants move in. Start with a free coverage review to confirm whether your home is properly protected.

Question 3

How much dwelling coverage do I actually need?

Accepted Answer

Set your dwelling coverage at the cost to rebuild your home from the ground up, not at its sale price. For most Georgia homes, a starting estimate is square footage multiplied by a local per-square-foot construction cost, plus an allowance for upgrades. Then add endorsements that keep the number current as construction costs rise. What is the difference between rebuild cost and market value? Market value is what a buyer would pay for your home. It bundles in the land, the school district, and the mood of the housing market. Rebuild cost is the labor and materials needed to put the same house back on the same lot after a total loss. The land survives a fire, so you do not insure it. Georgia's Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire tells homeowners that the amount of insurance you buy should be based on rebuilding costs, not the market value as determined by a real estate agent or by the local property tax appraiser. The two numbers often sit far apart. In an older intown neighborhood, the lot can be most of the price, so rebuild cost runs below market value. In a newer subdivision, rebuilding one home without a builder's bulk pricing can cost more than it would sell for. How do I estimate my rebuild cost? Start with square footage times a local reconstruction cost, then adjust for what makes your home yours. Square footage. Use finished, heated space from your county property record or appraisal. Local cost per square foot. Reconstruction pricing varies by market and by year. Your agent's replacement cost estimator carries current local figures. Features. Custom kitchens, hardwood floors, masonry exteriors, high ceilings, and finished basements all raise the rebuild number. For illustration, a 2,400 square foot home in Athens at $165 per square foot pencils out to $396,000 in dwelling coverage before feature adjustments. Treat that as a planning figure, not a quote. We run a room-by-room replacement cost estimate with every homeowners insurance quote. Why do dwelling limits fall behind? Construction costs climb, and sometimes they jump. CoreLogic, now operating as Cotality, measured an average 16.6 percent spike in reconstruction costs nationally between the second quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 2021. A dwelling limit set before a run-up like that can be short by tens of thousands of dollars. Georgia's insurance regulator also warns against settling for the common 80 percent threshold. Insuring for 80 percent of replacement cost, the standard coinsurance line in many policies, can leave you underinsured if you have a total loss. The regulator's guidance is to carry coverage equal to the full cost of rebuilding, not a percentage of it. Age cuts the other way too. The Insurance Information Institute notes that on older roofs, some policies pay actual cash value, which means depreciation comes out of the payout instead of the full replacement cost. If your roof is past fifteen years, ask how your policy treats it. Our explainer on actual cash value versus replacement cost walks through the math. What add-ons close the gap? An endorsement is an add-on that changes what your base policy pays. A few exist to keep your dwelling limit from drifting below real costs. Inflation guard nudges your dwelling limit upward at each renewal so it tracks construction costs instead of freezing in place. Extended replacement cost adds a cushion above your limit, commonly 25 to 50 percent, for years when rebuilding costs outrun estimates, such as when a major hailstorm spikes contractor demand across a region. Ordinance or law coverage pays the extra cost of rebuilding to today's building codes, which a decades-old home would not meet. These add-ons cost little relative to the gap they close, yet many homeowners go without them. In 2022, the Insurance Information Institute, citing research from the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, reported that approximately two-thirds of insured U.S. homeowners could be without key additional coverages, including automatic inflation guard, extended replacement cost, and building code coverage. What does this look like for a north Atlanta home? U.S. Census Bureau figures put the median owner-occupied home value at $629,400 in Johns Creek and $649,000 in Alpharetta for 2020 through 2024. Those are market values, and they include the land, so they are not the number to insure. They do show the scale at stake in these neighborhoods. For illustration only, a 3,200 square foot Johns Creek home at $175 per square foot of reconstruction cost needs about $560,000 in dwelling coverage before features. Add a brick exterior, a finished basement, and upgraded kitchens, and the rebuild estimate can climb past $600,000. A homeowner still carrying the limit set at purchase eight years ago could be $100,000 or more short. We cover that pattern in our piece on underinsured north Atlanta homeowners. Your deductible is a lever here too. Raising it lowers your premium and frees up budget for a stronger dwelling limit. If your dwelling limit has not been checked since you bought the house, a review takes about fifteen minutes. Olive Cover, the consumer brand of Olive Insurance Services, LLC, an independent property and casualty agency in Johns Creek, will run a current replacement cost estimate, check for inflation guard and extended replacement cost, and compare options across the carriers available through us. Start with a free coverage review and find out where your number stands.

Question 4

What is a wind and hail deductible in Georgia?

Accepted Answer

A wind and hail deductible is a separate, often higher amount you pay out of pocket when a claim is caused specifically by wind or hail damage. In Georgia, where strong thunderstorms, hail, and the remains of tropical systems are common, many homeowners insurance policies apply this special deductible instead of your standard one for these storm losses. Here is the part that surprises people. A wind and hail deductible is frequently written as a percentage of your home's insured value, not a flat dollar figure. For example, if your home is insured for $400,000 and your policy has a 2 percent wind and hail deductible, you would pay $8,000 before coverage kicks in. That is much higher than a typical $1,000 flat deductible. So if an April hailstorm in metro Atlanta dents your roof and siding and the repair costs $12,000, you would pay $8,000 and your insurer would pay $4,000 under that example. Check whether your wind and hail deductible is a flat dollar amount or a percentage. Know the actual dollar figure that percentage works out to today. Keep that amount in savings so a storm does not catch you short. Georgia's storm history makes this deductible widely used here, and the difference between policies can be significant. We can walk you through exactly how yours is structured. Request a free coverage review and we will translate the fine print into plain dollars.

Question 5

What is the wind and hail deductible on my Georgia homeowners policy?

Accepted Answer

The wind and hail deductible on a Georgia homeowners policy is the amount you pay out of pocket before your insurance pays for damage caused by wind or hail. Unlike your standard deductible, which is often a flat dollar amount, the wind and hail deductible is frequently a percentage of your home's insured value, usually 1 percent to 5 percent. Because Georgia sees frequent severe storms, many insurers apply this separate, higher deductible to wind and hail losses. The key point is that a percentage deductible can be much larger than you expect. It is based on your dwelling coverage amount, not on the size of the claim. Example: Your home is insured for $400,000 and your policy has a 2 percent wind and hail deductible. A hailstorm damages your roof. Before the insurer pays anything, you owe 2 percent of $400,000, which is $8,000, not a typical flat $1,000. If the repair is $15,000, the insurer pays $7,000 and you cover the $8,000. To learn how these deductibles are calculated and how to plan for them, read our guide on Georgia wind and hail deductibles. It is smart to check your declarations page now, before a storm, so the number does not surprise you at claim time. Request a free coverage review and we will confirm exactly how your wind and hail deductible works.

Homeowners insurance for the home you actually live in.

What a standard homeowners policy covers.

Dwelling and structures

Personal property

Liability protection

Loss of use

What a standard homeowners policy does not cover.

Flood damage

Earthquake damage

Wear, tear, and maintenance

Business activities

Who needs Homeowners Insurance.

What you can expect to pay.

Claims tips

Carriers We Work With

AIG

Branch

Chubb

Hippo Insurance

National General Insurance

Nationwide Insurance

Openly Insurance

Progressive Insurance

Stillwater Insurance

The Hartford

Travelers Insurance

Georgia homeowners face hail, wind, and coastal-specific coverage considerations

If you have a claim in Georgia

Common Homeowners Insurance Questions

Homeowners Insurance: frequently asked questions

When did you last review your homeowners coverage limits?