Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.
A homeowner association, or a homeowner community, is a private association-like entity in the United States, Canada, The Philippines and certain other countries often formed either ipso jure in a building with multiple owner-occupancies, or by a real estate developer for the purpose of marketing, managing, and selling homes and lots in a residential subdivision. The developer will typically transfer control of the association to the homeowners after selling a predetermined number of lots.
Owner-occupancy or home-ownership is a form of housing tenure in which a person, called the owner-occupier, owner-occupant, or home owner, owns the home in which they live. The home can be a house, such as a single-family house, an apartment, condominium, or a housing cooperative. In addition to providing housing, owner-occupancy also functions as a real estate investment.
A condominium is an ownership regime in which a building is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual owners. These individual units are surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned and managed by the owners of the units. The term can be applied to the building or complex itself, and is sometimes applied to individual units. The term "condominium" is mostly used in the US and Canada, but similar arrangements are used in many other countries under different names.
In the United States, rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on the rent of residential housing to function as a price ceiling. More loosely, "rent control" describes several types of price control:
A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user to pay the owner for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial or business equipment are also leased. Basically a lease agreement is a contract between two parties: the lessor and the lessee. The lessor is the legal owner of the asset, while the lessee obtains the right to use the asset in return for regular rental payments. The lessee also agrees to abide by various conditions regarding their use of the property or equipment. For example, a person leasing a car may agree to the condition that the car will only be used for personal use.
Earthquake insurance is a form of property insurance that pays the policyholder in the event of an earthquake that causes damage to the property. Most ordinary homeowners insurance policies do not cover earthquake damage.
Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner's insurance, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insurance protections, which can include losses occurring to one's home, its contents, loss of use, or loss of other personal possessions of the homeowner, as well as liability insurance for accidents that may happen at the home or at the hands of the homeowner within the policy territory.
Property insurance provides protection against most risks to property, such as fire, theft and some weather damage. This includes specialized forms of insurance such as fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance, home insurance, or boiler insurance. Property is insured in two main ways—open perils and named perils.
Water damage describes various possible losses caused by water intruding where it will enable attack of a material or system by destructive processes such as rotting of wood, mold growth, bacteria growth, rusting of steel, swelling of composite woods, de-laminating of materials such as plywood, short-circuiting of electrical devices, etc.
Flood insurance is the specific insurance coverage issued against property loss from flooding. To determine risk factors for specific properties, insurers will often refer to topographical maps that denote lowlands, floodplains and other areas that are susceptible to flooding.
The term replacement cost or replacement value refers to the amount that an entity would have to pay to replace an asset at the present time, according to its current worth.
Farmers Insurance Group is an American insurer group of vehicles, homes and small businesses and also provides other insurance and financial services products. Farmers Insurance has more than 48,000 exclusive and independent agents and approximately 21,000 employees. Farmers is the trade name for three reciprocal exchanges, Farmers, Fire, and Truck, each a managed by Farmers Group, Inc. as attorney-in-fact on behalf of their respective policyholders. Farmers Group, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss-based Zurich Insurance Group.
Mercury General Corporation is a multiple-line insurance organization offering personal automobile, homeowners, renters and business insurance. Founded in 1961 and headquartered in Los Angeles, Mercury has assets in excess of $4 billion, employs 4,500 people and has more than 8,000 independent agents in 11 states.
Renters' insurance, often called tenants' insurance, is an insurance policy that provides some of the benefits of homeowners' insurance, but does not include coverage for the dwelling, or structure, with the exception of small alterations that a tenant makes to the structure. It provides liability insurance and the tenant's personal property is covered against named perils such as fire, theft, and vandalism. It also pays expenses when the dwelling becomes uninhabitable. Due to renters' insurance existing mainly to protect against losses to the tenant's personal property and provide them with liability coverage but not to insure the actual dwelling, it is significantly less expensive than a homeowners' policy.The owner of the building is responsible for insuring the dwelling itself but bears no responsibility for the tenant's belongings.
Western Mutual Insurance Group is an American group of Property and Casualty Insurance companies, made up of Western Mutual Insurance Company, its sister company Residence Mutual Insurance Company, and Arizona Home Insurance Company. Based in Irvine, CA, the group writes direct property and casualty insurance in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Texas for preferred homeowners. The Western Mutual Insurance Group has a financial strength rating of 'A' (Excellent) by A.M. Best, a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
NJM Insurance Group is an American mutual insurance group of companies, offering personal auto, commercial auto, workers' compensation, homeowners, condo, renters, and umbrella insurance. It is headquartered in the West Trenton section of Ewing Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, and serves markets in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Peer-to-peer carsharing is the process whereby existing car owners make their vehicles available for others to rent for short periods of time.
California voters passed Proposition 103 on November 8, 1988. It in effect made insurance companies require "prior approval" from the California Department of Insurance before implementing property and casualty insurance rates. It passed with 51% of the vote.
A residential red zone is any of several areas of land in and around Christchurch, New Zealand, that experienced severe damage in the 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and were deemed infeasible to rebuild on. Through voluntary buyouts, the Crown acquired and demolished or removed over 8,000 properties. The majority were located in a broad swath of the eastern suburbs along the Avon River / Ōtākaro that had suffered damage from soil liquefaction.
