Published by RGC Insurance
With a mortgage: not optional
Every lender requires insurance protecting their collateral, and if you drop it they'll buy force-placed coverage on your dime — several times the price, protecting only the lender's interest, covering none of your contents or liability. Letting a policy lapse with a mortgage is the most expensive way to own less protection.
Paid off: now it's really about you
No lender, no requirement — just arithmetic. The house is likely most of your net worth, and the two risks don't care about the mortgage's absence:
- The rebuild risk. A total fire loss on an uninsured paid-off home doesn't take your payment — it takes your largest asset. Decades of equity, gone in an afternoon.
- The liability risk. The policy is also your lawsuit shield — the guest on the icy steps, the dog, the bonfire. Own assets, get sued, and homeowners liability (plus an umbrella) is what stands in between.
The cottage corollary
Seasonal places tempt owners to skip coverage — "it's just the cabin." It's also a wood-heated, winter-vacant structure at the end of a long fire-department run: exactly the risk profile that burns. Seasonal and secondary-home policies exist for this; it's our specialty.