Your home is probably the biggest thing you'll ever insure, and most people only look at their policy twice: when they buy the house, and after something goes wrong. We'd like to change that. Troy Lentz helps homeowners across the Kansas City area — and throughout Missouri and Kansas — understand what their policy actually does before a storm, not after one.
No fine-print lectures. Just a plain-English walk-through of what each part of your policy is for, where the gaps tend to hide, and what's worth thinking about for a home in this part of the country.
Working With Shield Squad
Troy Lentz
Licensed Insurance Advisor · A Farmers Insurance Agency
Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
A homeowners policy is really several coverages packaged together. Here's what each piece is there to do.
Helps pay to repair or rebuild the structure of your home — walls, roof, floors, and built-in systems — after a covered loss like fire, wind, or hail.
The big question is whether your limit reflects what it would cost to rebuild today. That's not the same as what you paid for the house or what it would sell for. We'll also check whether your home is insured at replacement cost or actual cash value, because that changes what a claim pays.
Helps cover structures on your property that aren't attached to the house, like a detached garage, a fence, or a storage shed.
This limit is often set as a percentage of your dwelling coverage. If you've built a big workshop or put in an expensive fence, it's worth making sure the limit still fits.
Helps pay to repair or replace your belongings — furniture, clothes, electronics, appliances — after a covered loss.
Most people don't realize how much their stuff is worth until they try to add it up. A quick home inventory, even a video walk-through on your phone, makes it much easier to know what you have if you ever need to file a claim.
If a covered loss makes your home unlivable, helps pay the extra costs of living somewhere else — like a hotel or a short-term rental, plus meals — while repairs are made.
Repairs after a fire or a major storm can take months. This is the coverage that keeps a bad situation from getting worse, so it's good to know your limit and how long it lasts.
Helps protect you if you're found legally responsible for someone else's injury or for damage to their property — at your home and, in many cases, away from it.
Think about a guest slipping on icy front steps, or your dog nipping the neighbor's kid. If you have significant savings or other assets to protect, it's worth asking about higher limits or an umbrella policy on top of your home and auto coverage.
Helps pay medical bills for guests who are hurt on your property, generally regardless of who was at fault.
It's usually a smaller limit meant for minor injuries, and it can help keep a simple accident from turning into a bigger dispute between friends or neighbors.
These are the conversations that come up most often with homeowners around here. A few minutes now can save a lot of frustration later.
If you have a mortgage, your lender may require you to insure the home for at least the amount of the loan. In Missouri, you don't have to buy that insurance from a company your lender recommends — you can choose your own.
Keep your coverage in place, too. If it lapses, a lender can put its own insurance on the home, and that coverage generally protects the lender's stake in the house, not your equity or your belongings.
| Flood (rising water) | Separate flood policy, usually with a 30-day wait |
|---|---|
| Earthquake | Added by endorsement or a separate policy |
| Sewer or drain backup | Excluded by default — ask about adding it |
| Wind and hail | Check your policy — not every policy handles it the same, and some use a separate deductible |
Source:Missouri DCIMissouri DCI: EarthquakeKansas Insurance Dept.KID: 2025 storm claimsFEMA FloodSmart
In the Kansas City metro, it's pretty common to own a home on one side of State Line Road and work, shop, or keep things on the other. Your homeowners policy is written for the state where the house is, and it follows that state's insurance rules.
Many policies also extend some coverage to your belongings while they're away from home — at work, in a storage unit, or in your kid's dorm room — though often with lower limits. If you keep a lot of your things somewhere else, it's worth asking how your policy handles it.
Moving from Missouri to Kansas, or the other way around? Your coverage doesn't just transfer to the new house. Give us a heads-up early so there's no gap between closing on the new place and selling the old one.
| New home | Have coverage in place by closing day |
|---|---|
| Old home | Keep it insured until it's sold |
| Renting the old home out | Ask about a landlord policy |
| Belongings in storage | Check your off-premises limits |
Not sure what your policy should include? Let's walk through it together.
Home is already selected below. Add anything else you'd like us to look at — like auto — and a Shield Squad Agency representative will reach out with options.
Your dwelling coverage should reflect what it would cost to rebuild your home today — not its market value or what you paid for it. From there, think about your belongings, how long you might need to live somewhere else after a major loss, and how much liability protection fits what you have. We'll walk through each of those with you.
Replacement cost generally pays what it takes to repair or replace damaged property with similar new materials. Actual cash value takes depreciation into account, so an older roof or older belongings may pay out quite a bit less. Which one your policy uses can make a big difference after a claim, so it's worth checking.
Many homeowners policies cover hail damage, but what you get depends on your deductible and your policy terms. Some policies have a separate wind and hail deductible, which may be a percentage of your dwelling coverage instead of a flat dollar amount. Troy walks through what to check in our hail season article.
Read: What Independence Homeowners Should Check Before Hail SeasonNot by a standard homeowners policy. Flood insurance is a separate policy, and coverage generally doesn't start until 30 days after you buy it. You can look up your property's flood zone on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center.
FEMA Flood Map Service CenterNot in Missouri. According to the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance, you aren't required to buy insurance from the company your lender recommends. Just make sure your coverage meets your lender's requirements and stays in force.
A homeowners policy is built for a home you live in. If you move out and rent the house to a tenant, you'll generally need a landlord policy instead. Troy explains the differences in our article on landlord vs. homeowners insurance.
Read: Landlord vs. Homeowners InsuranceAbsolutely. We're happy to look at your home and auto coverage side by side. Whether combining them makes sense depends on your situation, and Troy explains how to compare the options in our article on bundling.
Read: Auto and Home Bundles — When Combining Coverage Actually HelpsHail does not wait for a convenient Saturday. Here is what I walk local homeowners through so a storm is a headache, not a financial surprise.
A regular home policy is built for you living there. The moment you hand over keys to a tenant, the insurance conversation changes.
Bundling is not a magic coupon. Here is when Auto/Home or Auto/Renters usually makes sense for Missouri and Kansas households — and when I tell people to pause.
