By Jeanine Donohue, Of Counsel, Buchalter (Jeanine is an experienced litigator with broad & diverse experience in insurance recovery, commercial, and real estate matters.)
In California, fire season officially starts June 1st but as anyone who resides in California knows, our fire season is all year long now. I am sure that you are aware of the physical steps that you can take to harden your home, but have you considered what steps you should take now to make your homeowner’s insurance work best for you? Here are some tips:
Take photos and videos of your entire home-open each cabinet, drawer and closet and get photographic evidence of what your home looks like and what personal property you have in your home. Should your home suffer damage due to a natural disaster or even water leaks, you will have evidence for your insurance carrier and having the photos and videos will make inventorying what is damaged or lost a much easier task. Save the videos and photos to the cloud for future access.
Check your homeowner’s coverage for your amounts of coverage-the general rule is to consider your square footage and multiply it by the amount that it would cost to rebuild your dwelling. Here, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the price to rebuild per square foot is anywhere from $600 a square foot up to $1200 a square foot depending on quality of the home. Check with a licensed contractor to find out what it would cost to rebuild and make sure that you have that coverage. Many people who lost homes in the LA Wildfires were underinsured and are struggling to rebuild.
Many insurance companies send out an analysis of the cost to rebuild each year-you should go over it in detail and call your insurance company with any identified discrepancies.
I recently reviewed my insurance company’s analysis of my home and found that it had my house with only one bathroom when we have three! I also noticed that the insurance company had that all my counters were laminate when, in fact, they are quartz and marble. These errors could have cost me a lot of money if I need to rebuild.
Finally, check to see how/who your insurance covers-is your home in a trust? Please make sure that your insurance company is aware of how you hold title to your home. In the recent LA Wildfires, some insurance companies were claiming that people were not covered because their homes were in a trust but their insurance was in their name. Most companies backed down from that claim but one does not need that hassle.
A great free resource for all things insurance is United Policyholders, a non-profit 501©(3), at https://uphelp.org/.
From Connections Newsletter (Member Tips): June 2025
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The suggestions of the contributor do not constitute professional advice and are intended for general informational and educational purposes only. Nothing contained herein is intended to be or should be used as a substitute for professional advice, and readers should not act or rely on this information without seeking specific guidance directly from a qualified professional.
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