Homeowners Insurance in Ogunquit and Wells, ME

By Jon Merwin, Founder and CEO

Home · Flood · Condo · Weekly rental · Ogunquit and Wells, Maine

People who know this stretch of coast tend to say Ogunquit and Wells in one breath, and for good reason: Ogunquit was part of Wells for more than three centuries before it became its own town in 1980. Insurance companies do not treat them as one place, though. Ogunquit packs its homes, inns and condominiums into about four square miles of land around a tidal river and a long sand beach. Wells is the third-oldest town in Maine, with barrier beaches and marsh along its shore and dozens of square miles of woods, farms and subdivisions behind Route 1. A Drakes Island cottage and a cape on a wooded lot off Route 109 are both Wells homes, yet they look nothing alike to an underwriter.

Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance is an independent, family-owned agency founded in 2005 and licensed in 10 states, Maine among them. Clients have given us 1,000+ Google reviews and over 2,000 testimonials. Our nearest office is at 601 Islington Street in Portsmouth, NH, a short drive away, and from there we take care of Ogunquit and Wells homeowners by phone, email and online. For the statewide picture, start with our Maine homeowners and second-home insurance guide, or call (603) 431-4020 and we will talk through your property.

What makes an Ogunquit home different to insure?

Most of the housing is seasonal

The 2022 York County Hazard Mitigation Plan, drawing on 2020 census figures, counted 2,044 housing units in Ogunquit, and 1,309 of them were held for seasonal use. That is the highest seasonal share in the county. So many Ogunquit homes and condos sit empty from late fall to spring, and carriers ask pointed questions about heat, water shut-off and who checks the property. A policy written as if you live there year-round can cause trouble at claim time.

Condominiums and converted buildings

Many Ogunquit owners hold a unit rather than a whole house: a condo in a former motel or inn, a unit in a small association near the village, or a townhouse off Shore Road. Here the association’s master policy and your unit-owner policy have to fit together. Read the declaration to see who insures interior walls, cabinets and fixtures, and ask what the master deductible is, since associations often pass it to owners through a loss assessment. Our Maine condo insurance guide walks through how to line the two up.

Weekly rentals have their own rules

Ogunquit’s zoning ordinance defines a weekly private home rental as a dwelling rented to a family for its exclusive use while the owners are away, with a minimum stay of seven days. Owners who rent a house, apartment or condo this way must register the rental through the Town Clerk’s office each year. From an insurance standpoint, the registration is a reminder that this is a business use. Many homeowners forms limit or exclude rental activity, so we either endorse the policy for occasional weekly rental or place the home on a dwelling or landlord form with liability limits that make sense for a stream of guests.

Which Ogunquit streets flood?

Ogunquit’s comprehensive plan chapter on sea level rise names the local roads most exposed to flooding from 1.6 feet of sea level rise combined with storm surge: Beach Plum Lane, River Road, Ocean Street, Riverbank Road, Beach Street, Bridge Street, Lower Lot Road and Perkins Cove Road. The same chapter describes a December 2022 storm that pushed roughly a 2.5-foot surge in at high tide, closing roads and knocking out power across town. During the January 13, 2024 storm, a 2025 town resilience plan reports, water at a nearby gauge on the Cape Neddick River in York ran 3.5 feet above the predicted tide, and waves overtopped the Main Beach parking lot. If your home is on one of those streets, along the Ogunquit River marsh or close to Perkins Cove, treat flood coverage as essential rather than optional.

What should Wells homeowners watch for?

A long record of flood claims

Wells’ flood hazard chapter of its comprehensive plan is blunt about history. It lists serious flooding in September 1936, February 1978, Hurricane Bob in August 1991 and the unnamed storm of October 1991, which flooded Drakes Island, Moody Beach and Ocean Avenue and damaged about 450 homes on both sides of Ocean and Atlantic Avenues. The plan also reports that, as of May 2021, Wells had more NFIP policies in force than any other Maine community, and that since 1978 its property owners had filed more NFIP claims than any other municipality in the state, nearly twice as many as the York County town in second place.

What happened on Drakes Island and Webhannet Drive in January 2024?

Two storms three days apart, on January 10 and 13, 2024, hit the Wells shore hard. During the second, police closed the beach access roads, including Mile Road, Bourne Avenue, and Furbish and Eldredge roads, and reported propane tanks floating loose. Town officials said the code office condemned nine homes, and engineers were sent to inspect public seawalls, the Drakes Island bridge and Webhannet Drive. The storms became part of federal disaster declaration DR-4764, which covered York County. The lesson for owners: anchor fuel tanks, and remember that a homeowners policy alone does not pay for flood water.

Inland Wells is a different risk

Most of Wells’ land area lies west of the beaches, drained by the Webhannet, Merriland and Little rivers. The 1991 storm still caused inland damage around Bragdon Road and the Branch Road and Mildram Road area, and the county hazard plan lists Merriland River crossings at Bragdon Road and at Post Road near Cozy Corner for drainage upgrades. Homes out here are more likely to have private wells and septic systems and to sit on wooded lots, so wind-thrown trees, ice dams and water backup tend to drive claims more than salt water does. Some rural lots are also a long way from a hydrant or fire station, which carriers weigh when they quote.

Living next to the Wells Reserve and refuge land

Large stretches of the Wells shoreline are conserved. The Wells Reserve at Laudholm covers about 2,250 acres of fields, woods, wetlands and barrier beach, and the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge protects salt marsh along the coast. Homes beside these marshes fall under shoreland zoning and often inside mapped flood zones, which can limit what you may rebuild after a loss, so ordinance-or-law coverage and accurate elevations matter.

Short-term rentals in Wells

Wells has debated short-term rental rules for several years. In August 2026 the Select Board held a hearing on a proposed land use ordinance that would require a use permit and a certificate of occupancy for rentals of six consecutive months or less, limit them to an overlay district covering the area east of Route 1 to the ocean plus 500 feet west of Route 1 (excluding the Resource Protection and Harbor districts), and require one off-street parking space per bedroom. The draft was on the town’s list of proposed changes for November 2026, so check the current status with the town before you book guests. Whatever the town decides, tell us how often you rent so the policy fits.

Do I need flood insurance in Ogunquit or Wells?

A standard homeowners policy excludes flood, and that includes storm surge, wave overwash and water that rises from the marsh or river. In coastal V zones the maps also account for wave action, and the 2025 Ogunquit resilience plan notes velocity-zone elevations of 15 to 31 feet along the outer coast near Main Beach. If your mortgage is federally backed and the house sits in a FEMA high-risk zone, your lender will require flood coverage. Wells adopted the current York County flood study and maps, effective July 17, 2024, in its floodplain ordinance, so zones you saw before that date may have changed.

We write NFIP policies through Selective, a write-your-own carrier. For higher building limits, contents, or coverage the federal program does not offer, we also quote private flood through Aon Edge, Beyond Floods, CatCoverage, Flow Flood, Neptune Flood and The Flood Insurance Agency, where they will write the property. New NFIP policies usually carry a 30-day wait unless the purchase is tied to a loan closing, so do not leave it until a storm is in the forecast. Look up your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and read our flood insurance page for how the options compare. An elevation certificate is the single most useful document you can send us.

If a beach-area home is badly damaged, local floodplain rules can require it to be elevated or brought up to current standards before it is rebuilt. NFIP building policies include a limited Increased Cost of Compliance benefit for that situation.

How does a Maine hurricane deductible apply on this coast?

Maine statute (24-A M.R.S. §3061) has the Superintendent of Insurance set uniform standards for hurricane deductibles, and Bureau of Insurance Rule Chapter 960 spells them out. In plain terms, a hurricane deductible can only kick in once the National Weather Service has posted a hurricane warning for a forecast zone that covers part of Ogunquit or Wells, and it stops applying 24 hours after the last warning for that zone ends. Within that window it can apply to wind, rain and wind-blown debris damage even if hurricane-force gusts never reach your street. The deductible may be a fixed amount or a share of your dwelling limit.

The January 2024 storms and the December 2022 surge were winter systems, not hurricanes, so your ordinary all-peril or wind deductible is the one you are more likely to use. We show each deductible as a real figure for your house when we compare quotes.

Which carriers do you compare for Ogunquit and Wells homes?

We shop more than 40 carriers in total. For Maine homeowners our options include Hanover, Cincinnati, Vermont Mutual, Concord Group, Andover, Openly, Safety, National General, Progressive and Hagerty, with Chubb for high-value homes. Openly and National General suit many larger homes, and for the most valuable oceanfront properties we usually lead with Cincinnati and bring in Chubb alongside it when that makes sense.

A beach cottage that opens in May and a year-round house in Moody can need very different carriers, and we explain the trade-offs in plain language.

Should I insure my boat and add an umbrella?

Perkins Cove and Wells Harbor both shelter working and pleasure boats. A small boat may get limited coverage under a homeowners policy, but most owners are better served by a separate boat policy. We write boat coverage through Progressive, Foremost Specialty, American Modern, Hanover and Chubb; see our boat insurance page. Weekly guests, beach paths and decks also raise the stakes on liability, which is why many owners here add a personal umbrella policy over their home and auto limits. If the property is rented most of the season, our landlord insurance page explains the dwelling-policy route, and our second and seasonal home page covers homes that close for the winter.

What should I send for an Ogunquit or Wells quote?

• The address, and whether it is a house, condo unit or cottage in an association
• How the home is used: year-round, seasonal, rented by the week, or a mix
• Year built, square footage, roof age and material, foundation type and heating fuel
• Any elevation certificate, flood zone letter or prior flood claims
• For condos, the master policy summary and the declaration section on insurance
• Your current declarations page, and your lender and closing date if you are buying

Own elsewhere on the southern Maine coast? See our York, Maine and Kennebunk and Kennebunkport pages. Call (603) 431-4020 as soon as you have an accepted offer so the binder is ready well before closing.

Related coverage: see our guides to Maine boat insurance and Maine flood insurance.

Get a quote

Tell us about the property and we will compare carriers. Prefer to talk? Call (603) 431-4020.

Frequently asked questions

Does Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance have an office in Ogunquit or Wells?

No. Our nearest office is in Portsmouth, NH, a short drive from Ogunquit and Wells. We are licensed in Maine and insure Ogunquit and Wells homes by phone, email and online. You do not need to visit in person.

Is my Ogunquit condo covered by the association’s master policy?

Only partly. The master policy covers what the condominium documents assign to the association. You still need your own unit-owner policy for your belongings, liability, loss assessments and, depending on the bylaws, interior walls, fixtures and upgrades. Send us the master policy summary and we will match your coverage to it.

Do I need to tell my insurer if I rent my Ogunquit home by the week?

Yes. Ogunquit treats weekly private home rentals as a registered use with a seven-day minimum stay, and most homeowners policies limit rental activity. Tell us how many weeks you rent so we can add the right endorsement or move the home to a landlord or dwelling policy before guests arrive.

Will Wells’ proposed short-term rental rules change my insurance?

The proposed ordinance deals with permits, occupancy certificates, an overlay district and parking, not insurance. Your policy still needs to match how the home is used. If the rules change how often you can rent, let us know so the occupancy on your policy stays accurate.

Is flood insurance required on Drakes Island or Wells Beach?

Lenders require flood insurance on homes in FEMA high-risk zones when the mortgage is federally backed. Many low-lying beach addresses fall in those zones, so check yours on FEMA’s map. Even where it is not required, it is worth having. Homeowners insurance does not cover flood, storm surge or overwash.

How does Maine’s hurricane deductible work in Ogunquit and Wells?

If your policy includes one, Maine Bureau of Insurance rules let the insurer use it only after the National Weather Service issues a hurricane warning for a forecast zone covering part of your town, and only until 24 hours after the last warning for that zone ends. At other times your regular deductible applies.

Do you charge fees for homeowners policies?

No. We do not charge broker fees. You pay the insurance company’s premium only.

Sources

• Town of Ogunquit Comprehensive Plan, Chapter X: Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
• SMPDC, Ogunquit Coastal Resilience Project Nature Based Solutions Implementation Plan (Jan. 2025)
• Town of Ogunquit, Private Seasonal Home Rentals notice (TA-1 weekly rentals)
• Town of Ogunquit, Business Registrations
• Town of Wells Comprehensive Plan, Chapter 15: Flood Hazard Mitigation and Adaptation (2022)
• Town of Wells, Chapter 116 Floodplain Management amendment (adopting the July 17, 2024 flood study and maps)
• Town of Wells, Ordinance Changes Proposed (November 2026 short-term rental draft)
• WGME, Wells proposes zoning overlay, permits and parking rules for short-term rentals (Aug. 20, 2026)
• Maine Public, Buckled roads, condemned homes, fishery losses (Jan. 16, 2024)
• Portsmouth Herald via Yahoo News, coastal flooding coverage (Jan. 13, 2024)
• FEMA, DR-4764-ME Maine Severe Storms and Flooding, designated areas
• York County Hazard Mitigation Plan 2022
• Wells Reserve at Laudholm
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge
• Ogunquit, Maine and Wells, Maine (Wikipedia, town history)
• Maine Revised Statutes, Title 24-A, §3061: Hurricane deductible standards
• Maine Bureau of Insurance Rule 02-031 C.M.R. ch. 960, §4 (text via Cornell LII)
• FEMA Flood Map Service Center

This page offers general information about homeowners insurance in Ogunquit and Wells, Maine. Coverage is governed by your policy wording, and carrier availability depends on underwriting. Flood requires a separate policy. Town rules on rentals and floodplains change, so confirm current requirements with the town. Call (603) 431-4020 with questions about a specific home.