Whether it be your primary residence or a lake house, some of the coverages needed for waterfront homes are different than homes that are landlocked. Waterfront homes come with additional features and characteristics that traditional land locked homes do not always have. With this, there are coverage options available to help protect your waterfront home against perils that could damage it or the structures on your lot.
Many lake homes in the Midwest are on watersport lakes. Summertime means getting the boat ready and hitting the water for wakeboarding, tubing, and other watersports. For convenience purposes, many lake homes have a dock on the water so you do not have to go to the boat ramp and put the boat in every time you wish to use it. In addition to the home, there are coverage options for your lakefront home to protect the dock against weather perils. Your homeowner policy may not provide coverage for a permanent pier, wharf, or dock when physical damage is caused by freezing, thawing, pressure or weight of water or ice, whether driven by wind or not. Coverage to protect your permanent pier, wharf, or dock is available through an endorsement, or additional coverage, on the home policy with select insurance companies. This can be a nice piece of mind to have in addition to the coverage on the home.
Home surrounding water might also require you to have a flood insurance policy. FEMA is the government issued flood insurance carrier that many people who need flood insurance use. However, there are other options. There is a private flood insurance market available through some independent insurance agents that can be used as a substitute for FEMA. This flood insurance can be less expensive than the FEMA option, while providing the same coverage. Talk to your independent agent that has access to the private flood market to see if this is a good option for your home.
Waterfront homes can be more complex to insure and might also require additional coverages than other homeowner’s policies. To make sure that you have the coverages you need for your waterfront home, talk to your independent agent about the options they have available to protect your piece of the world.