Insurance
Homeowners Insurance Policy
A homeowners insurance policy is the contract that covers your home and belongings against losses like fire, theft, and storm damage, and covers your liability if someone is injured on your property. The declarations page summarizes the carrier, the insured property, your dwelling and liability limits, deductible, premium, and policy term.
Written & maintained by the Granite team · Last updated June 2026
Overview
Your insurer issues a homeowners (or renters) policy that renews annually. The page you reach for most is the declarations ("dec") page — a one-page summary of the insured address, coverage limits, deductible, and premium. The full policy behind it spells out covered perils, exclusions, and the claims process. A standard policy bundles four core coverages: the structure of your home, your personal belongings, liability protection, and additional living expenses if you're displaced.
Lenders require active coverage on a mortgaged home and ask for the dec page as proof. The dwelling limit (Coverage A) should reflect the cost to rebuild, not the market price, and the deductible is what you pay before a claim pays out — both worth checking at each renewal.
When you’ll get your Homeowners Insurance Policy
- You bought a home and your lender requires coverage
- You rent and carry renters insurance for your belongings
- You renewed or switched homeowners carriers
- You need proof of insurance for a mortgage or closing
- You're filing or documenting a property claim
What’s on your Homeowners Insurance Policy
These are the fields Granite reads and extracts automatically the moment you upload one.
- Carrier
- The insurance company that issued the policy.
- Insured Property
- The address the policy covers.
- Dwelling Coverage (Coverage A)
- The limit to rebuild the home — should reflect rebuild cost, not market value.
- Liability Coverage
- The limit for injuries or damage you're legally responsible for.
- Deductible
- What you pay out of pocket before a claim pays out.
- Premium & Policy Term
- What the coverage costs and the dates it runs.
How long to keep it
Keep the current policy plus the prior year; keep records of any claim at least 5 years after it closes.
Only the active declarations page matters day to day, but the prior term proves continuous coverage when switching carriers or disputing a lapse. Anything tied to a filed claim should be held far longer, since liability and property-damage disputes can resurface years later.
How Granite handles your Homeowners Insurance Policy
Drop your declarations page into Granite and it reads the carrier, property address, dwelling and liability limits, and deductible, then files it into your home insurance documents and links it to that property. When a renewal arrives, the new policy slots in beside the old one, and because Granite tracks the policy period, it can remind you before coverage expires so a missed renewal never lapses your protection silently.
FAQ
Homeowners Insurance Policy: common questions
- What does homeowners insurance do?
- Homeowners insurance pays for losses and damage to your property if something unexpected happens, like a fire or burglary. A standard policy covers the structure of your home, your personal belongings, liability if someone is injured on your property, and additional living expenses if you're displaced. Standard policies don't cover flood or earthquake damage, which require separate coverage.
- What is a homeowners insurance declarations page?
- The declarations (or "dec") page is the one-page summary at the front of your homeowners policy. It lists your carrier, the insured address, dwelling and liability limits, deductible, premium, and policy term. It's the page lenders and you reach for most as proof of coverage — the full policy behind it details covered perils and exclusions.
- How much dwelling coverage do I need?
- Your dwelling limit (Coverage A) should reflect the cost to rebuild your home, not its market price or what you paid. An appraisal measures market value, not reconstruction cost, and the two can differ sharply. Review the limit at each renewal so you're not underinsured if you have to rebuild after a total loss.
- Why is homeowners insurance required?
- If you have a mortgage, your lender requires homeowners insurance to protect the property securing the loan. Borrowers are generally required to carry hazard coverage at least to the extent of the outstanding mortgage balance, and lenders ask for the declarations page as proof. If you let coverage lapse, the servicer can buy force-placed insurance and bill you for it.
- What's the difference between homeowners and renters insurance?
- Homeowners insurance covers the structure of a home plus belongings and liability; renters insurance covers a tenant's belongings and liability but not the building, which the landlord insures. Both protect your possessions and provide liability coverage — the key difference is whether the policy covers the physical dwelling.
- How long should I keep my homeowners insurance policy?
- Keep the current policy plus the prior year's, and keep any claim records at least five years after the claim closes. The active dec page is what you need for proof and renewals, but claim-related documents can matter long after, since property and liability disputes sometimes resurface years later.
Sources
This page is checked against primary and authoritative sources:
Keep your Homeowners Insurance Policy in one place.
Drop it in once. Granite reads it, files it, and makes it findable forever — by you today, and by the people who'll need it later.