If you’re looking for homeowners insurance in Michigan, you’ll want to make sure your policy offers you adequate coverage for the unexpected, including windstorms, fire, and theft. You can increase your odds of finding the best policy for you by gathering multiple quotes from multiple insurance companies.

Purchasing a house is a major decision that has a big impact on your finances, which is why you should have a homeowners insurance policy that treats it that way. If you’re ever to experience damages or loss because of theft, fires, water backups, or wind damage, you’ll want a policy that has you covered.

Imagining everything that can go wrong with your home and whether your

homeowners insurance

policy will cover can become stressful, to say the least. That’s why

Jerry

, the home and

car insurance

broker and comparison app, is here to give you the rundown on what you should know about homeowners insurance in Michigan.

What is homeowners insurance?

Homeowners insurance will protect your home and your personal belongings from loss, damage, or theft, as well as cover personal liability.

Depending on your policy, it also can protect additional structures on your property.

Basic components of homeowners insurance

What a homeowners insurance policy includes will vary depending on your location, your insurance company, and your specific policy.

Here’s what a standard homeowners insurance policy usually includes:

Coverage A (Structure): Covers repairs and replacement costs for your house itself

Coverage B (Additional structures): Covers repairs and replacement costs for additional structures on your property, like a detached garage, shed, or fence

Coverage C (Personal property): Covers damage to or loss of personal belongings, like electronics, furniture, or appliances

Coverage D (Loss of use/Additional expenses): Covers your living expenses if your home becomes temporarily uninhabitable

Coverage E (Personal liability): Covers legal expenses if someone is injured or their property is damaged on your property

Homeowners insurance will cover property loss and damage based on either actual cash value (ACV) or replacement cost, depending on the policy you choose.

Actual cash value will provide coverage based on the item’s current market value, which may have depreciated since you first bought it. Replacement cost would provide coverage for today’s cost to replace your item with a comparable one.

It’s fairly common for insurance companies and mortgage lenders to require that you get a policy that covers at least 80% of the replacement cost.

It’s worth noting that replacement cost policies will typically have higher premiums.

MORE: What does actual cash value coverage mean on insurance?

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Named perils

What your homeowners insurance policy will cover depends on your insurer and where you live. One thing you’ll want to read closely in your insurance policy will be the named perils. Named perils are the specific circumstances that cause damage or loss that are covered by insurance.

Some examples of common named perils are:

Theft

Vandalism

Falling objects

Windstorms

Hail

Lightning

Fire

Smoke

Riots

Damage from vehicles

Explosions

Don’t forget: damage or loss has to be caused to be a named peril in your policy for it to be covered. Before you sign on your policy’s dotted line, read the language closely so you understand what will be covered, what won’t be, and whether you’ll need to purchase additional coverage.

Is homeowners insurance required in Michigan?

Homeowners insurance isn’t required by law in Michigan. However, if you’re using a mortgage to purchase your home, it’s more likely than not that your lender will require you to buy homeowners insurance.

It’s also likely that a lender will require you to have coverage in your policy up to a certain amount because they have a vested interest in your property until you pay off your mortgage.

How to get homeowners insurance

Finding the right homeowners insurance policy can be a tedious task, but it’s not as difficult as it might sound. Start by gathering multiple quotes from multiple insurance companies (

Jerry

can help you do this!) and then compare them.

It’s also important to research these insurance companies and take a look at their customer reviews, as well.

Sometimes, you may want to settle on the first policy you can find to get the process over with, but doing so could cheat you out of a better policy for a better price. Even if that first quote ends up being your final choice, it never hurts to get multiple homeowners insurance quotes.

If you’re looking for lower rates on your policy (who isn’t?), it’s also worth looking into

bundling

your homeowners and car insurance policies. Those who do so can see savings of 5% to 15% or more.

MORE:

How to find car and home insurance quotes online

Recommended home insurance coverage in Michigan

If you’re searching for homeowners insurance in Michigan, it’s a good idea to look into policies that include coverage for wind and hail damage, flood damage, debris removal, and water backup. You may also want to consider identity theft coverage and replacement cost coverage.

A typical homeowners insurance policy would likely cover most of these, but read your policy carefully, and pay attention to any exclusions. More often than not, you’ll need to purchase water backup and flood damage coverage separately.

Here are a few coverage options to consider when looking for flood damage coverage:

Flood insurance will cover damages and losses from flooding when the water source has come from outside your home. You can find flood insurance through FEMA’s

National Flood Insurance Program (FLIP)

or a private carrier.

Water backup coverage would cover repair and water removal costs after a backed-up or burst pipe. This coverage is often an add-on and commonly includes both sewage backup and sump overflow, but check your policy to make sure that’s the case for you.

An HO-5 or open perils policy is the most extensive type of homeowners insurance and covers virtually any peril, as long as your policy doesn’t name it as an exclusion.

MORE: How to decipher home insurance quotes

What impacts the cost of homeowners insurance in Michigan?

Determining the cost of homeowners insurance gets complicated because it’s influenced by so many different factors: your home’s age and square footage, your claims and credit histories, your marital status, where you live—the list goes on.

Depending on the estimate, the average cost of homeowners insurance in Michigan is right around the national average, ranging from $1,100 to $1,500 per year.

Here are other factors that could impact your homeowners insurance premium in Michigan.

Severe weather

Michigan is no stranger to severe weather, so you’ll want to make sure you’re covered for wind and hail damage, as well as tornadoes. Usually, tornadoes are covered under windstorms as a named peril, but you’ll want to read the language of your particular policy carefully to verify.

Flooding

Flooding can happen anywhere, and it’s also one of the most expensive types of damage your home can experience. When the source of water is inside your home (like a burst pipe) a standard policy will likely cover the damages, but again, read your policy carefully—backed-up sewage pipe might be an exception, for which you might need to add water backup coverage.

For flood coverage when the water source is outside your home, you’ll need to buy flood insurance separately in most cases.

When it comes to getting additional coverage, it can be tempting to put it off, but it’s a good idea to set these protections up as soon as possible so coverage is there if and when you need it.

Homeowners insurance discounts in Michigan

There are all sorts of ways you can save money on your homeowners insurance. Here are just a handful of common types of discounts on homeowners insurance:

Discount	How to get it
Bundling	Bundling homeowners and car insurance can get you sizable discounts on both your policies.
First-time homeowner	Many insurance providers will give you a discount if you’re buying a house for the first time.
Claims-free	If you end up not making a claim for a given period of time (often a few years), you might earn an insurance discount.
Storm proofing	Adding protection to your home against severe weather, like storm shutters, could get you a discount on your homeowners insurance.
Security system	If you’ve added a security system to your home for theft protection, you might get a discount from your insurer.
Upgraded fire alarm	If you’ve installed a fire alarm system that can alert your fire department directly (increasing the odds they get to you sooner), that could get you an insurance discount.

How to save on home and auto insurance

Searching for a new

homeowners insurance

policy can get disorienting pretty quickly, but insurance broker and comparison app

Jerry

can make the process much easier.

Once you’ve answered a few brief questions, you can begin comparing quotes from top insurance companies, like State Farm or Progressive, all in one spot. You can also review quotes for bundling with your

car insurance

for added savings.

Another bonus: Jerry’s team of experienced agents is here if you encounter any questions during the process.

“
Jerry
was wonderful! I used it for my auto and renters policies. I trusted it so much that I signed up my homeowners insurance under Jerry as well. All of the agents are amazingly nice and knowledgeable.” —Mary Y.

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FAQs

Is homeowners insurance required in Michigan?

No law in Michigan requires you to have homeowners insurance, but most mortgage lenders will require you to get it.

Certain lenders will have certain requirements about the type of coverage you purchase. At the end of the day though, this is the place you’re calling home, so make sure your policy is also covering what you want it to.

What is the average cost of homeowners insurance in Michigan?

The price of homeowners insurance varies depending on many factors, but in Michigan, a standard homeowners insurance policy on average can range from $1,100 to $1,500 per year.

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