How To Insure An Iconic Home:
Spotlight On A Christmas Story House

Did you know the iconic house from A Christmas Story is up for sale? It’s true! But before you submit an offer, you should know that this house likely has unique insurance needs.

We triple-dog-dare ya to buy this house without reading about how to insure it first! And keep an eye out for an important decoded message!

The lucky buyer of this home will not only own the fabled house on Cleveland Street, but all the furnishings and contents inside the home and museum.

That includes the world famous leg lamp – and other props from the film. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that your standard contents insurance won’t cover those items. Have you seen the prices on movie collectibles recently? The original leg lamp or Red Ryder BB gun from the film is probably worth six figures alone. 

To protect these possessions, you will need a separate valuable articles policy if someone accidentally breaks your favorite lamp.

The Informed Recommendation:

• Add valuable articles coverage for any of the valuable movie props.

• Make sure you have full replacement coverage for any of the antique furniture.

Did you know the biggest risk you would take on by owning this home is the liability? So take a big gulp of your Ovaltine and read on.

Let’s say you want to try out your BB gun in the backyard. The risk is not that you’ll shoot YOUR eye out. It’s that you’ll shoot someone else by accident!

While it may be an accident, the victim may not see it that way and could sue you. You’ll want to make sure you have plenty of liability coverage if you ever want to use that Red Ryder BB gun.

The Informed Recommendation:

• Buy $1M of liability coverage, or you may have to pay a major award.

As you may recall, the movie takes place on Cleveland Street…in Indiana. But before you start an online insurance quote, double check that address.

The town of Hohman, Indiana in the movie is pure fiction. The movie was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio, not on Cleveland Street. The real address is 3159 W 11th St in Cleveland. It has been designated a national landmark.

What does that mean for your insurance? A lot! While neighboring homes would probably be insured for $150,000 or so, this home would need to be insured for much more to allow for it to be restored to landmark status if there was a serious incident.

The Informed Recommendation:

• Make sure the home’s insured value is high enough to ensure it can be fully replaced with like materials if a disaster were to happen.

• You should also ask about extended or guaranteed replacement cost coverage to protect you from any cost overruns due to difficulty finding replacement materials.

We checked for you and fortunately the home has no metal flagpoles on the property that someone could get their tongue stuck to on a freezing cold day. 

However, Cleveland is known for its tough winters and lake effect snow, which presents other risks. Like snow accumulation on your roof.  This can lead to roof leaks or even a collapse.

Worse, older homes often don’t have full insurance coverage for roof damage. This means you might have to pay out of pocket to repair a lot of this damage.

The other risk is ice. If a bully chases you, then slips and falls on an icy sidewalk in front of your home, you could be found liable for not properly maintaining your property.

The Informed Recommendation:

• Ask if you have full replacement coverage for any roof damage due to age of the roof.

• If not, you may want to budget for your portion of a future claim payment or to replace the roof in the near future to reduce your risk of damage.

Older homes often have poor wiring. This can put you at increased risk of an electrical fire, especially around the holidays if you plug too many strands of lights into one outlet. Before you move in, you may want to have an electrician upgrade the equipment to reduce your risk.

There is also a hazard if you plan to use the existing fireplace. An escaped ember could easily lead to a fire especially with the furniture relatively close to the fireplace.

The Informed Recommendation:

• Conduct a proper inspection before moving in and keep up with annual maintenance to reduce fire risk.

• This is another reason to make sure the insured value is high enough that your insurance will provide enough coverage for you to properly restore a landmark home.

Let us show you how to better protect your home.