The Home Page — August 2026 | The fine print that costs five figures
It is peak hurricane season and the hottest stretch of the year, which is exactly when the parts of your policy nobody reads tend to make themselves known. So this month is about three of them, all quiet, all expensive, all fixable in about ten minutes each.
Editorial
Your insurer changed how it pays for your roof, and didn't make a big deal of it.
What changed: Over the last two years, a lot of carriers quietly moved roof claims from replacement cost to actual cash value. That means they now subtract depreciation for every year your roof has aged before they pay you anything.
The number: A $15,000 roof on a ten-year-old shingle roof settles at about $7,500 under actual cash value, before your deductible. Stretch that roof to fifteen years and the payout can drop to $3,000 to $5,000. You cover the difference.
The move: Pull your declarations page and look for "actual cash value," "ACV," or "roof surface" near the roof section. If it is there, ask what it costs to buy replacement cost coverage back. On a roof older than ten years, that small premium bump can save you five figures.
Save money
You might be paying $1,500 a year for insurance that protects your bank, not you.
The problem: If you bought with less than twenty percent down, you are paying private mortgage insurance, and most people keep paying it long after they have the equity to cancel. Your servicer will not remind you.
The number: PMI runs 0.46 to 1.5 percent of your loan a year. On a $300,000 mortgage that is $1,380 to $4,500 annually for a policy that does nothing for you. If your home has appreciated, a $400 to $600 appraisal can prove you are already over the line.
The move: Find the PMI line on your mortgage statement, estimate your equity, then call your servicer and ask what they need to cancel it. A written request and a clean payment history is usually the whole list.
Most people don't know this
Your storm deductible probably isn't the number you think it is.
The catch: Your everyday deductible might be $1,000, but for wind, hail, and named storms, many policies now use a percentage of your home's insured value instead of a flat dollar amount.
The number: On a home insured for $400,000, a two percent hurricane deductible is $8,000 out of pocket. Five percent is $20,000. And it often applies per named storm, so a rough season can trigger it twice.
The move: Check your declarations page for a separate wind, hail, or named-storm line. Multiply that percentage by your dwelling limit, not your market value, and that is your real exposure. If it is more than you could cover quickly, look at buying it down now.
And one more thing
An Oklahoma listing that made the rounds on Zillow Gone Wild featured a backyard-accessible underground room the internet dubbed a "doll jail," and it has been viewed well over a million times. Every home hides something the listing photos leave out. Usually it is a water heater on borrowed time rather than a subterranean doll population, but the principle holds: it is better to know what is down there before you own it.
— Anil
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What Rafter members also received this month
Illustrative example, not a real member.
🏠 3BR/2BA in Wellesley, MA | Owner since 2021 | Chubb policyholder
🚩 August home care flag: flush the HVAC condensate line before peak cooling load
📡 Leak sensor: active — 214 readings this month, 0 alerts
💸 Available discount: Chubb smart home discount — $380/year, not yet claimed