Worrying about being sued because of a structure fire spreading in a modern suburban development is pretty out there, IMO. If we really want to get into worst case, there are all manner of things that no sane person would ever insure against.

What kind of coverage does the typical home owner have along axis of "my house fire also was the eventual reason that 20 other homes burned down"?

Not typical, but umbrella insurance is the path to covering something like this.

That said, I do agree with you with regards to insurance. Health, car, house, etc insurance all seem to be closer to payment plans rather than actual insurance for catastrophic events. If there were viable options that had 10k or even 50k deductibles that noticeably lowered premiums, I would sign up.

Liability insurance is really valuable. You’ll lose your home to a semi-clever person who finds a reason to sue you. I used to sell insurance. My district manager told a story about how the insurance company had to pay because a homeowner’s dog barked at a guy off the property, the guy tripped & got injured, sued the homeowner for a nontrivial amount, and won. You can self insure if you want to, but don’t be surprised when shit happens and you wonder why your having to liquidate your assets.

Does your home insurance include enough liability coverage for a whole neighborhood?

> Does your home insurance include enough liability coverage for a whole neighborhood?

No, but it has enough that I can outsource the litigation to an insurance company.

I personally know one case, granted in apartments, where the lack of renter’s insurance permanently financially disabled, and one where it caused years of grief.

Heh, the real reason to have insurance.