Home / Home insurance
Rebuild cost, not market value.
Homeowners, renters and condo cover priced honestly for wildfire and brush exposure in the Antelope Valley.
The most common problem we find on an existing homeowners policy is not the deductible or the carrier. It is a dwelling limit set years ago against what the house was worth, rather than what it would cost to rebuild today.
Replacement cost versus market value
Market value includes the land. Insurance does not rebuild land. What matters is the cost of materials and labour to put the same house back up, which has moved sharply in recent years. A policy written before that shift may be well short.
Extended replacement cost is worth asking about. It adds a percentage above the dwelling limit — often 25% or 50% — for the case where rebuilding costs come in higher than anyone estimated. After a widespread event, they usually do.
Wildfire and brush
Brush scoring drives both price and availability across the valley, and carriers have become far more selective about where they will write. Defensible space, roof material and the distance from your structure to unmanaged vegetation all feed into it. If you have been non-renewed, that is a situation we deal with regularly — including the FAIR Plan paired with a difference-in-conditions policy where the standard market will not participate.
What a policy should include
- Dwelling limit tied to current rebuild cost, reviewed at renewal
- Other structures — detached garage, shop, fencing, RV cover
- Personal property, and scheduled items for anything above the sub-limits
- Loss of use, which pays for somewhere to live while the house is rebuilt
- Personal liability, usually the cheapest limit increase on the whole policy
- Water damage endorsements, since the standard policy is narrower than most people assume
Renters and condo
Renters cover is inexpensive and covers your belongings plus liability — the landlord’s policy covers the building and nothing of yours. Condo owners need HO-6, which fills the gap between the association’s master policy and the walls of your unit.
Ready when you are