Most of us live a significant portion of our lives in and around our homes, whether those homes are single-family residences, condominiums, town houses, or apartments. We fill these places with the necessary and unnecessary stuff of our lives. Losing the home and/or the stuff would be catastrophic.

Consider these guidelines when buying homeowner's insurance:

• Insure your building for 100 percent of its replacement cost new.
• Buy a Home Replacement Guarantee that will rebuild your home even if the cost exceeds your insurance amount. Buy the guarantee without a percentage cap.
• Buy liability limits equal to your automobile liability limits.
• Choose the highest deductible for which you receive adequate premium credit.
• Buy Special Perils coverage for building and contents, which covers any accidental loss not caused by a handful of excluded causes.
• Don't just accept the standard coverages for detached structures and contents that come with the policy. Make sure that the dollar amount for those two coverages will fully replace what you own.
• Read your policy. Discover what kinds of personal property are excluded or subject to dollar limits. Buy the optional coverages you need to eliminate those restrictions.
• Read your policy liability exclusions. Buy the optional coverages you need to cover anything you're doing that is excluded.
• If you bring work home, buy the optional business liability endorsement to cover injuries to the occasional delivery person.
• If you have a home-based business, don't buy the restrictive home-business endorsement. Buy the business owner's policy instead.
• Buy the optional sewer backup coverage. And buy federal flood insurance if you're exposed to flood or heavy rains.
• Buy earthquake coverage if the risk exists in your area.