The beginning of hurricane season should serve as a reminder to homeowners in affected areas -- all roughly 33 million of them, according to data from Cotality -- to make sure their homeowners insurance is up to date. But it should also be a reminder for everyone to review their policies once a year.

For starters, shop the market to be certain you aren’t paying too much for coverage. The premiums for nearly identical policies can vary by hundreds of dollars, depending on the carrier. You don’t want to skimp on coverage, but you still want to pay a good price.

Ask friends and relatives for recommendations, and do your due diligence on the ones they suggest. That means checking the financial health of each one by comparing information from independent rating agencies, and asking your state insurance department for each company's consumer complaint ratios.

Once you settle on, say, three companies, call each one for a price quote, making sure you are able to compare the policies line for line. Your state insurance agency may also provide price comparisons, but only from major insurers.

In comparing estimates, look at the policies’ limits: These represent the largest amounts the insurer will pay for covered damages or a full loss. Not only do you want to be certain the amounts match, but also that they are large enough that you won’t be underinsured.

Most insurance companies go by the 80% rule, meaning that customers must purchase coverage equal to at least 80% of the property’s value. Otherwise, homeowners run the risk that their insurance company will only pay 80% (at most) of their claim.

The issue is that house values and their replacement costs have been marching ever higher, even as sales have slowed in the face of high mortgage rates and economic uncertainty.

Most insurers calculate policy limits by taking into account the size of a property and the local replacement costs. And according to the Insurance Information Institute, replacement costs rose 55% between 2020 and 2022. With tariffs setting an uncertain picture for 2026 and beyond, it’s important to sit down with an agent to calculate the right amount of coverage for your property.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when doing an insurance checkup. One is the deductible, which is the amount you’ll have to kick in before the insurer pays a dime. Of course, the higher the deductible, the lower your monthly cost.

Consider how much of a deductible you can afford. If you've been in your home for a long time, you may have originally chosen the lowest deductible possible -- perhaps things were tight back then, and now your financial situation has improved. Insurance costs, meanwhile, have exploded, so it's a difficult balancing act.

According to LenderDock, if you currently have a $500 deductible, raising it to $1,000 could lower the cost of your policy by as much as 25%. Raising it higher could lead to even bigger savings.

Keep in mind that if you live in a natural-disaster-prone area, your policy may have separate deductibles for certain kinds of damage. If you live on the East Coast, for example, you may have a separate windstorm deductible. If you live in an area vulnerable to hailstorms or earthquakes, you may have separate deductibles for those.

There are other ways to save money on homeowners insurance: Buy your home and auto policies from the same insurer, for one. Update your home’s security by adding smoke detectors, burglar alarms and deadbolt locks. Maintain a good credit rating. Ask for a military or senior discount, if applicable.

Not every company offers these and other discounts, and those that do may vary the terms or amounts by state. But the savings can be considerable -- anywhere from 5% to 20%.

So far, we’ve discussed how to save money. But you might want to spend some extra cash to purchase flood insurance. Homeowners policies do not cover flood damage, so to protect yourself from that catastrophe, you’ll have to buy a separate policy.

Lenders require flood coverage in flood-prone areas. But even if you are not in one, and even if you don’t have a mortgage, at least consider buying coverage. According to Insurify, floods are the most common natural disaster in the country -- and the costliest.

"Just 1 inch of water can cause around $25,000 in damage to a home," reads a report from the company.

But non-weather-related water damage -- from leaks, ruptures and water heater failures, for example -- make up a large portion of flood losses. Overall, from 2016 to 2023, the average insurance payout for water damage through the National Flood Insurance Program was $66,000.

Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of condominium apartments are languishing on the market these days, and not just because high interest rates and high prices are combining to keep would-be buyers at bay.

Some buyers are being scared off by the possibility that once they take occupancy, they’ll be hit with a special assessment: an obligation to pay for repairing or replacing things that were neglected long before they ever moved in.

That’s the situation that confronted Laura Renaldo of TRD Property Group in Chicago when she listed an apartment in an older building. It had been poorly managed and was “light on reserves” to cover the cost of much-needed repairs, she said: “A special assessment was probably coming soon.”

So in the listing, Renaldo included a new warranty program that protects buyers against assessments for up to three years. “That sealed the deal,” she said. “It gave my seller the opportunity to make the buyer a lot more comfortable” knowing they wouldn't be on the hook for any repair costs that may be forthcoming.

Don Wilson of the Wilson Realty Group in Chicago was confronted with a similar situation when he listed an apartment in an older downtown high-rise. In his case, the building had been well-kept but still needed roof and facade work. “The possibility of a special assessment could have been substantial enough to stall a deal,” he said.

So he discussed the situation with his seller, and they agreed to add an assessment warranty to the listing as a way to “set the buyer’s mind at ease."

"It’s all about being flexible enough to find creative solutions" to real or perceived problems, said Wilson.

Offered by HOA Warranty, the product is the brainchild of Rhett Graves, a former Chicago agent. Now available in six states -- Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania -- he hopes to add more states in the next month or so.

Eventually, Graves anticipates the assessment warranty will be as regular a part of condominium sales transactions as home inspections and home warranties are in the sale of single-family houses.

He certainly has a big enough market. There are on the order of 369,000 homeowner associations nationwide, of which perhaps as many as 147,000 are condo groups, according to the Foundation for Community Association Research. And an estimated 70% of them are underfunded, with little or nothing in the tank to cover the cost of replacing an aging roof or fixing a leak in the community pool.

Enter HOA Warranty, which launched in March. For $380, it will protect condo buyers for one year against a one-time special assessment of up to $10,000. For $600, protection is extended for two years. And for $800, you’re covered for three years.

It should be noted that the policies don’t protect buyers against increases in their regular association dues, only special assessments.

Graves won’t say how many warranties he’s sold to date. But he’s set to make his very first payout this month -- $6,000 to cover the policyholder’s share of an assessment to replace the roof on his building. The money is coming from Graves’ savings. But he hopes to build his company to the point where investors are beating down his door.

The ex-agent says he came up with the idea after he saw several deals fall apart because buyers were worried about surprise assessments voted into effect by the condo boards.

“When buyers discover something during a transaction -- whether it’s a real issue or just a perception -- it often creates major friction,” Graves told Real Estate News. “Buyers usually expect the worst, while sellers naturally assume the best. The gap between these viewpoints can be so large that deals fall apart.”

Graves maintains that there's plenty of demand for the warranty, which can be offered as an inducement by sellers, purchased by buyers at closing as an added protection, or offered by agents to grease the skids and make a deal go more smoothly.

“When I was doing real estate," Graves said, "I would have paid for a warranty on maybe half my transactions.”

“There are lots of variables when buying and selling” apartments and condos, he explained. “Sometimes the home inspector doesn’t have access to the roof, for example. Or no one knows how old things are because management changes every few years and there are no records.”

The warranty is not insurance, Graves stresses. It doesn’t cover a random event like a fire. Rather, it covers common-area physical items that can be repaired or replaced: roofs, HVAC systems, balconies, pools and sidewalks, among others.

Buyers in self-managed properties with five or more units are eligible for one-year policies; those in professionally managed buildings can extend coverage for one or two more years. Townhouse properties also are eligible.

Graves says he wants to allow consumers to get out from under the vagaries of the often-confusing real estate market and “keep more money on their plates.”

Thefts from the houses of sports stars Ketel Marte, Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and Rob Gronkowski should raise the hackles of every homeowner -- celebrity or not.

These players were away for several days at the time when the burglaries occurred, rendering their places more vulnerable. But homes are susceptible to break-ins at any time -- whether we are on vacation, at work, out for the evening or still inside.

Fortunately, burglars tend to go out of their way to avoid bumping into occupants. Indeed, many will either abandon a robbery attempt or hide to avoid discovery when they hear someone in the house (or returning home). They sometimes case their targets several times to make sure they don’t meet anyone inside.

The trick, then, is to make your home appear occupied -- even when it isn’t.

Many homeowners install expensive alarm systems or keep a gun in the nightstand. But alarms only work once the intruder breaks a window or blasts through a door. An experienced thief can be in and out in five minutes, whereas the police often take four times that long. And a gun only works if you are home, awake, alert and trained -- and also if you have the gun handy, and loaded, at the crucial moment.

While there’s nothing wrong with taking those precautions, simply adding lights to your property may prove to be a better deterrent. Some bad guys operate during daytime hours, but most prefer the cover of darkness. So light things up.

To make it less obvious your place is empty, set up nightlights and timer-controlled lights throughout your home. This one step can give the impression that someone is inside. Program your lights to turn on in various rooms at different times to mimic regular activity. To guard against power outages, consider solar timers.

Leave the light above your kitchen range on at all times. The kitchen is one room that tends to have lights on the most. Put your TV on a timer so it goes off and on in the afternoon and evening, or leave a radio on. Tune it to a talk station, as opposed to music, because the pattern of human speech is more consistent with someone being home.

Outside lights are an important protective barrier, too. They should be on motion sensors so they turn on when someone approaches, and mounted high enough so they can’t be reached without a ladder. While some thieves are high-wire aerialists, most know that putting up a ladder after the sun goes down is too conspicuous.

Also, trim your shrubs back from the walls of your house so intruders can’t hide behind them and peer through your windows to determine if anyone is actually home.

Dogs also are a great deterrent -- especially big, loud ones who bark at the slightest sound outside. Thieves don’t like running into unfriendly dogs any more than humans. Absent a real dog, though, consider playing a recording of a dog growling and barking. Not constantly, but programmed so that a woof or two is heard every few minutes. Maybe the audio could be triggered by motion or noise outside.

Also, secure all potential entry points. We not only lock our garage doors every night, for example, but also the door from the garage into the house itself. And that’s on top of a monitored security system.

Lock all your windows, not just those on the ground floor. And reinforce your doorframes so your deadbolt lock goes deep. That way, an intruder will have less success putting a shoulder to the door or kicking it in.

Don’t leave spare keys outside; burglars already know the best hiding places. And don’t leave your valuables lying around where they can be spotted through a window. Put your wallet, purse, watch and jewelry away when you walk in the door. Leaving them on the table or kitchen counter is an open invitation.

If you still have a landline, turn down your phone’s ringer so a long series of unanswered rings doesn’t draw attention. Your voicemail message should be along the lines of, “We can’t come to the phone right now,” rather than, “We’re out of town, but will call you back Tuesday!”

Speaking of being out of town, if you are away for more than a night or two, consider either hiring a house sitter or asking a neighbor to check on your place every day. If you plan to be gone for an extended period, hire someone to visit your house periodically to make sure it has not been visited by any unwanted guests. They should also make sure that the heat or air conditioning systems are working properly and that there are no plumbing leaks.

Don’t advertise that you are away, either. Don’t post online that you are having a wonderful time in Greece, and don’t send back photos for your friends and family. Save the “how I spent my vacation” slideshow for after you return.

Unfortunately, none of these steps stop crime; that’s impossible. But they can make it less likely that a robbery will happen to you. Make it difficult, and a thief is likely to move on to the next house.

Remember, robbers are a lazy bunch. They tend to go for the low-hanging fruit.