Is Your Home (and Home Insurance) Ready for Extreme Weather?

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Hurricanes. Heat waves. Earthquakes. Tornadoes. Today’s headlines are awash in extreme weather, and whether you blame climate change or just plain bad luck, the simple truth is that the damage from these disasters is impossible to ignore.

Realtor.com® teamed up with HarrisX to conduct a poll of 3,026 adults on their extreme weather concerns and homeowners insurance know-how—and the results suggest that many Americans may be more vulnerable than we think.

Here are some of the key highlights:

The natural disasters homeowners are most worried about are tornadoes (39%), severe winter storms and cold weather (38%), floods (35%), and hurricanes (29%). To a lesser degree, they’re also concerned with earthquakes (21%), wildfires (17%), and droughts (11%).

All that said, only 52% of American homeowners took natural disasters into account when choosing the location of their current home.

Just over half (56%) of homeowners knew what to look for in their homeowners insurance policy when buying their home, with 15% admitting they had no clue what to check. Meanwhile, almost one-third (29%) said they thought they knew what to look for, but learned a lot they didn’t know while buying insurance.

The youngest generation is the least likely to understand homeowners insurance: only 39% of Gen Z said they knew what to look for in their policy when buying a home, compared with 58% of Millennials, 58% of Gen X, and 57% of baby boomers.

In short, these survey results suggest that while many Americans might assume their home insurance will foot the bill for any extreme weather–related damages that come their way, they could be in for a rude awakening if disaster strikes.

Topics covered in this Realtor.com® article include:
Does home insurance cover floods?
Does home insurance cover wind damage and tornadoes?
Does home insurance cover hurricanes?
Does home insurance cover wildfires?
Does home insurance cover damage from cold weather and snow?
Does home insurance cover damage from hail?
Does home insurance cover earthquakes?

And remember: what you don’t know can and – in terms of home insurance – probably will cost you.

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Andrew Oliver, M.B.E., M.B.A.
REALTOR®| Market Analyst | DomainRealty.com

Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers
Andrew.Oliver@DomainRealtySales.com
m. 617.834.8205
www.AndrewOliverRealtor.com
www.OliverReportsFL.com
_____________
Market Analyst | Team Harborside | teamharborside.com
Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
One Essex Street | Marblehead, MA 01945

www.OliverReportsMA.com
Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com

Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated

“If you’re interested in Marblehead, you have to visit the blog of Mr. Andrew Oliver, author and curator of OliverReports.com. He’s assembled the most comprehensive analysis of Essex County we know of with market data and trends going back decades. It’s a great starting point for those looking in the towns of Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, Lynn and Swampscott.”