Home insurance in Maryland covers your home and most of your belongings. Insurers typically combine home insurance with liability insurance, which pays for property damage and injuries family members and pets cause. Property insurance also covers temporary living expenses when a natural disaster requires you to live away from home.

MD homeowners insurance also covers most natural disasters such as fire, hurricanes, hail and lightning. The policy may specify other perils, although you should insure against earthquakes and floods with individual policies. Property insurance in Maryland will not cover losses poor maintenance causes.

Three key factors affect the cost of Maryland homeowners insurance:

1. The specific location of the property can require additional insurance that geography dictates. For example, home insurance in Maryland should include coverage for ice, sleet and snow.

2. Effective loss-control measures can lower MD property insurance premiums. This most commonly refers to an alarm system.

3. Home insurance should allow you to replace detached structures in addition to rebuilding your house. Policies typically cover up to a fixed percentage of the value of the house.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Collect quotes for a variety of Maryland homeowners insurance plans

Multiple quotes from different sources is an effective method of identifying the general terms of these policies and the premiums you can expect to pay.

I recommend: Go to InsureHome.net and enter your zip code to start your search for Maryland house insurance quotes. HomeInsuranceQuotes.com finds quotes by zip code and represents the largest carriers of homeowners insurance.

Find Maryland property insurance companies through brokers who represent major carriers

You may want to obtain Maryland homeowners insurance through an agent who works with major carriers and who can make a recommendation based on the specific needs of your situation. An agent also will handle much of the paperwork required by an insurance carrier.

I recommend: Safeco Insurance provides a range of property insurance and allows you to find agents within a given area. Nationwide has agents throughout the country and its website offers an agent search capability by name or location.

Get a Maryland home insurance policy from an independent agent

You may wish to contact local independent Maryland home insurance providers rather than dealing with different national insurers. Often, a local independent agent can write a more customized plan for you.

I recommend: The Brown Insurance Group provides home insurance in Maryland as well as northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. Prudential Carruthers Realtors offers a range of homeowner services including homeowner and property insurance in Maryland.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Expensive items such as furs, jewelry and silverware are typically only covered up to a fixed amount by Maryland property insurance. A special property endorsement is necessary to replace these items if the primary policy does not cover their value. The policy will cover these items if they are lost or stolen.