When you invest in homeowners insurance, you must be sure that understand exactly what you are getting. For most people, the home is the largest asset that they will ever invest in. The proper homeowners insurance will make sure that this investment is properly taken care of if something happens to it.

Here is a rundown of the different types of homeowners insurance packages that you may want to consider if you live in the great state of Texas.

Dwelling Insurance

A dwelling policy is the basic homeowners insurance policy in Texas. This is the part of the policy that will pay if your home is damaged by a covered loss. Dwelling insurance also pays in the case of a total loss.

Personal Property Insurance

This is a part of homeowners insurance that many people do not understand: The homeowners insurance policy only protects the actual outer dwelling of the home unless a personal property insurance clause is added. Only then will the homeowners insurance policy cover the items that are in the home such as furniture, jewelry, appliances and clothing.

A homeowner should also look into individual insurance for especially important or expensive items such as jewelry, as there may be a limit as to the amount of money that an insurance company will pay on luxury items under a personal property insurance policy. Personal property is meant more for large items that are necessary as opposed to luxury items.

Other Structures Insurance

If you do not primarily dwell in a piece of property that is on your real estate but not attached to your primary dwelling, then you will need other structures insurance in the state of Texas. This homeowners insurance policy format covers structures such as fences, storage sheds and your garage. Even if your garage is physically attached, there are certain laws that may apply in Texas that view this part of the home as a non-primary dwelling. It will therefore need to be covered under this policy rather than under a dwelling policy.

Loss of Use Insurance

If your home must be repaired because of a loss that is covered by any part of your homeowners insurance policy, then a loss of use insurance clause on your homeowners insurance policy will come in quite handy to you. This policy can be equated to an attached rental car policy on your vehicle insurance.

If repairs need to be made because of a covered loss for any reason, then you and your family will be accommodated if you need to move out of the home temporarily. Although the exact nature of this help will be spelled out in the policy itself, it can include other lodgings, food for yourself and for your family and many other essential expenses that you may incur. When negotiating your homeowners insurance policy, you should make sure that the expense allotment is of a large enough size to accommodate all of the people in your home.

The loss of use policy has two ways in which it usually pays out. The first way is by paying a percentage of the amount of the dwelling coverage. This may be as much as 20% of the coverage. The second way that a loss of use insurance clause may payout is through paying you during a specific period after the loss. In most cases, the payment here can be stretched out to as long as 24 months.

Personal Liability

Personal liability is a very important policy to have if you have neighbors that are relatively close to your dwelling. For instance, if there is an incident with the weather that blows one of your trees into your neighbor’s fence, you can be held legally responsible for this. The expense for this can be quite large if all of it is coming out of your own pocket, and especially if there is damage done to a neighbors dwelling. A personal liability clause in a Texas homeowners insurance policy is one of the easiest ways to avoid an unexpected large out-of-pocket expense, especially when considering all of the weather based damage that is done in the state of Texas.

Personal liability homeowners insurance may also be expanded in order to protect you from having to pay on any personal injury that you are found legally responsible to cause. Keep in mind that just because you may not be directly responsible for an injury does not mean that you will not be held legally responsible. It is in every homeowner’s best interest to check the laws on the books in Texas when it comes to real estate and personal injury claims.

Medical Payments Insurance

If you hold social gatherings on your property, then you may also want to invest in medical payments insurance. A medical payments insurance clause in your Texas homeowners insurance policy is the part of your plan that will pay for people who become injured on your property.

This part of your homeowners insurance policy can also be expanded to include other instances that happen away from your home, such as a dog that you own biting someone in the grocery store. This part of your homeowners insurance can be modified to include much larger amounts than the base coverage pay that is initially negotiated.

Wind-related Incidents

Contrary to popular belief, most Texas homeowners insurance packages do not include coverage for any wind related events. However, the wind is usually what separates the homeowners insurance industry from profitability in most years. There are more accidents around the home that have to do with when than any other type of weather-related accident in the state of Texas.

If it is at all possible, be sure that your homeowners insurance package covers all wind related incidents. This includes damage from surrounding trees that wind may blow onto your property. This part of your homeowners insurance package should be detailed down to the letter so that you know exactly the type of coverage that you can expect from the company if something happens.