According to the Insurance Information Institute, about one-fifth (20%) of all home owner's insurance claims in 2007, were due to water damage. And the average bill for that insurance claim was over $5,000.
Your first instinct, as a home owner, may be to file a claim on that insurance policy that you've been paying premiums on for years. But before you submit that water-damage claim, you might want to think long and hard.
Water-related claims, according to insurers, might reflect as poor maintenance and telegraph the idea that you might be coming forward with larger claims in future years for mold-related expenses. Some of the major insurance companies consider that if you file two water-related claims within a five year period, you might find yourself with a higher premium or possibly without insurance. 
And since insurers now share information with a database called Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (C.L.U.E.) which records all claims against any residential property, you could find your property difficult, if not impossible to insure. You could find your home (not you, but the home itself) uninsurable... and if it's uninsurable, you may have a lot of trouble selling your home, since no lender will allow their clients to purchase an uninsured home.
That's right, you read that correctly. With auto insurance, someone with a lot of claims may find themselves "rated" or "uninsurable"... but with homeowners insurance, it's not the individual who may find themselves 'uninsurable'... rather it'll be the property that's blackballed.
(270 -14)
go Bears!
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