Home Insurance Guide

Were you thinking about picking up some flood insurance after hearing the latest hurricane warning? Unfortunately, you will not be covered in time if the hurricane hits within the next thirty days. To prevent this sort of run on homeowner insurance providers, there is typically a thirty day waiting period before a flood insurance rider will take effect.

How do you avoid the 30 day flood insurance waiting period? There are several ways to avoid the 30 day waiting period:

• If flood insurance is required by your lender because you are creating, increasing, extending, or renewing your loan, then the 30 days will be waived.
• A revision of the map or property lines causes you to increase the amount of insurance you need because your property has increased, then the 30 day waiting period will be waived.
• If flood insurance is required by your lender because they deem it necessary; the coverage will start when the application is completed and payment is first made.
• A policy renewal and you’re adding insurance.

Basically the rules prevent homeowners from seeing an impending disaster and quickly signing up for flood insurance, which I believe is a fair rule. If you’re on a flood plain, flood insurance is likely a good idea.