Manufactured Home Insurance Guide for 2022

Buying A Manufactured Home

Congratulations! You’ve decided to buy a manufactured home, and that is a great decision and now its time to take a look into a manufactured home insurance guide. Manufactured housing is one of the highest value housing options in the country, and you’re going to have an incredible home that will keep your family safe, secure, and happy for decades to come. They’re energy-efficient, well built, and available across the country. Whether you’re in the mountains of California or the plains of Kansas, there is a manufactured home retailer near you that can help you find your new home.

Buying a manufactured home is one of the wisest and most exciting purchases you will make. Owning your property is a part of the American dream and a significant step towards accumulating wealth and becoming financially secure. According to the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, a triennial survey that collects detailed accounts of households’ finances, the median homeowner has 40 times the household wealth of a renter – $254,900 for the former compared to $6,270 for the latter. Manufactured Homes are a great housing option to help you begin earning that wealth. They are well constructed, modern, and 

Because manufactured homes are built in factories, builders control many of the construction costs, which means a better value for you, the homebuyer. Builders use production lines, climate-controlled construction, economies of scale, and materials engineering to construct these homes efficiently. That efficiency translates to a much better price for the homebuyer. Manufactured homes are filled with modern, convenient features such as Energy Star appliances, hardwood floors, granite, tile, and others. Your new home will be one of the most important purchases of your lifetime, so you will need to insure against damage and catastrophe. CoverTree is the premier insurance company for manufactured homeowners, so we’ve created a guide to help you purchase manufactured home insurance in 2021.

Types and Amount of Manufactured Home Insurance Coverage

The first step in acquiring manufactured home insurance is determining what type of coverage you need. If you used financing (mortgage, for example) to purchase your home, your lender will have insurance requirements to ensure that the house, and the loan, are covered. Your first step will be to ask them what coverage they require. If you paid cash for the home, your coverage amount will be entirely up to you. Keep in mind that buying a home is the largest purchase in most people’s lives, so we recommend thoroughly insuring your home against any damage or catastrophe.

The first step in determining your type of coverage is deciding whether you want replacement cost insurance or ACV insurance. If you have an ACV (actual cash value) policy, your payment will be based on the cost of buying items in a similar condition to the ones you lost; depreciation will be factored into your payment. For example, if a flood ruins your 10-year-old refrigerator, your insurance company will determine the current value based on its condition prior to the flood and then give you that amount.

You might also have replacement cost insurance. In this case, your claim covers the cost of restoring or replacing items without deduction for depreciation.

This means if that same 10-year-old fridge is stolen (by some very strong thieves!), you’ll receive enough to get a new fridge with features as clos as possible to the original version. Since your old fridge may be lacking modern features, the amount of money you’ll get here will probably be less than you originally paid for the fridge. 

You will also need to look at where you live to see if there are any additional environmental risks you will need to cover. For example, living near a creek or river may put you in a flood zone, and you would need to have flood coverage as part of your manufactured home insurance. If your manufactured home is in a coastal region, you will need both flood AND wind coverage. Click here to see a flood map of the United States and click here to see a wind zone map. There are even areas of the United States that are prone to earthquakes. If you live in one of those areas, earthquake coverage is a good idea to help cover your manufactured home.

Additional Coverage

Once you’re satisfied with the coverage level and type on your manufactured home, you need to choose which additional coverages you’ll need. These cover items other than the physical structure of your home that can be damaged in a covered event. We’ve listed common additional coverages below:

Personal Liability Coverage

This kind of coverage protects you from having to pay if you are held legally responsible for injury or property damage done to a third party on your property. If someone sues you for an injury they got while at your home, personal liability coverage will pay for the legal bills, court costs and settlements. It can only pay for as much as the coverage is worth, however. 

Examples of personal liability claims include:

• Medical bills for someone injured in your manufactured home
• Legal bills if someone sues you
• Lost wages of someone injured on your property

Additional Living Expense Coverage

This kind of coverage pays for expenses incurred from having to live outside of your manufactured home. Generally, this is because of some sort of disaster. So if your manufactured home is caught in a wildfire, this coverage pays for things like a hotel or restaurant bills. 

The covered amount will be the difference between your regular living expenses and the cost of living after the covered event. Moving out of your manufactured home at a moment’s notice because of a disaster can be stressful, and having the coverage to take care of food and shelter makes a difficult time a little easier.

Medical Payments to Others Coverage

This kind of coverage is related to personal liability coverage. It specifically pays for the medical bills of anyone who is injured on your property. For this kind of coverage, legal fault doesn’t actually matter. As long as someone is injured, this coverage kicks in. 

Other Structures Coverage

This kind of coverage is a sort of manufactured homeowner’s insurance that would apply to structures on your property that are NOT your dwelling. Examples would be a fence, tool shed, detached garage, or something similar. The coverage will pay to replace or repair these structures if they are damaged in a covered event. For example, if your fence is destroyed by a fallen tree, other structures’ coverage would help you pay to fix that fence.

Personal Property Coverage

Personal property covers your personal belongings – the things that you own. If you own a manufactured home, there is undoubtedly a lot of value in your personal belongings, and you need to make sure that value is protected. Personal property coverage helps you replace your personal items in the event of loss, such as theft or in a fire.

How To Apply

With CoverTree, applying for your manufactured home insurance is easy. Simply click here to start the application. Once that is complete (it won’t take long…), a representative will be in touch with you to finish the process. We will need some personal information and some basic information about your home. The documentation will be similar to a loan application but not nearly as long or complex. We need the information so that our insurance underwriters assess the level of coverage you need and the potential risk to your home. Know that you are working with the #1 insurance agency for manufactured homeowners, and we will keep the process quick and straightforward.

Purchasing and owning a manufactured home is a great decision, and we’re here to help you ensure that decision for as long as you live in your home. Click here to start the application process today.