Hull, MA Home Insurance: Nantasket Beach, Flood and Coastal Homes

Home · Flood · High-Value · Umbrella · Massachusetts
By Jon Merwin, Founder and CEO
Published October 2026

Insuring a house in Hull starts with one question: which part of this peninsula is it on? A raised cottage behind the Nantasket dune, a home on the Alphabet Streets, a Point Allerton address facing the open bay, a bay-side house near Sunset or Cadish Avenue and an older colonial up on Strawberry Hill or Telegraph Hill all look different to an underwriter. Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance has been a family-owned independent agency since 2005, and we are licensed in Massachusetts. Instead of fitting your home into one company’s rules, we shop it across 40+ carriers and tell you which ones actually want to write your street. Start with our overview of homeowners insurance, or keep reading for what matters in Hull.

Where you live in Hull changes the policy

Hull sits on a long, narrow peninsula about 18 miles southeast of Boston, projecting into Boston Harbor between Massachusetts Bay and Hingham Bay. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town’s 2020 population was just over 10,000. The town’s 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan notes a significant seasonal population as well, with Nantasket Beach drawing thousands of daily visitors in summer, and it rates coastal flooding, nor’easters and related shoreline hazards as central concerns. The town’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness workshop likewise put coastal flooding at the top of the list for this low-lying barrier-beach community. That is why neighbors a short walk apart can get very different quotes.

• Nantasket Beach and the Alphabet Streets. Nantasket is Hull’s signature Atlantic beachfront. The town’s MVP work and North Nantasket Beach Resilience program identify the North Nantasket dune system as the highest-priority coastal adaptation resource, with ongoing dune restoration and efforts to close non-permitted crossings that weaken flood protection. The hazard plan lists Beach Avenue to Nantasket Avenue (Phipps to A Streets) and the Alphabet Streets oceanside as areas where coastal flooding overtops or erodes the dunes. Carriers ask about elevation, foundation type, roof age and how close the house sits to the dune or seawall.
• Stony Beach, Gun Rock and the Atlantic Avenue seawalls. Along the ocean and at Stony Beach, the town’s plan documents seawall and revetment overwash in storms. An $11 million grant supports seawall replacement at Fitzpatrick Way and Nantasket Street, with design work by the state and construction timed to start in December 2024. Gun Rock Beach and Stony Beach Road appear on the same local flood-hazard list. Distance to the wall, past claims and elevation matter in every quote.
• Allerton and Point Allerton. Toward the northern tip, Point Allerton faces open water and a state-owned revetment the town notes can overtop in coastal storms. Carriers look at setback from the shoreline, foundation and how the dwelling limit compares with today’s rebuild cost on this exposed end of the peninsula.
• Pemberton and Windmill Point. At the northern tip near Hull Gut, Pemberton is the ferry and marina end of town. Access, wind exposure and bay-side surge still show up in underwriting, even when the lot is not on the open Atlantic. We describe the street accurately so the quote matches the real property.
• Kenberma, Strawberry Hill, Sagamore Hill and Hampton Circle. These drumlin-hill and mid-peninsula neighborhoods sit between the ocean and the bay. Hampton Circle is a named local flood area in the low ground between Hampton and Sagamore Hills, and the town has pursued planning and MVP Action Grant work there. Higher lots on the hills may sit outside the mapped floodplain, but carriers still ask about roof, trees and rebuild cost on older homes.
• Telegraph Hill and Fort Revere. Telegraph Hill above Stony Beach is home to Fort Revere Park and higher ground with harbor views. Rebuild cost and older-home systems are often the bigger insurance questions here than open-ocean VE-zone underwriting, though nearby low streets can still flood.
• Hingham Bay side (Sunset, Cadish and related streets). On the bay side, the hazard plan names Sunset/Cadish Avenue among areas where coastal flooding overtops seawalls and revetments. Exposure is different from Nantasket’s open ocean, but surge, wind and drainage still drive the quote.

Flood coverage along the Hull coast

A homeowners policy will not pay for rising water, whether it is waves over a Nantasket dune, overwash of an Atlantic Avenue seawall or the tide pushing into Hingham Bay. Flood is its own policy. The town’s 2024 Hazard Mitigation Plan counts 261 repetitive-loss properties and 34 severe repetitive-loss properties in Hull, the large majority of them single-family homes. Your first step is checking your address on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center. The town’s floodplain overlay work references Plymouth County FIRMs effective July 3, 2024, so an older flood determination may be out of date. Lenders require flood insurance for federally backed mortgages in a special flood hazard area, but homes just outside the line can still take on water.

• NFIP through Selective. We write National Flood Insurance Program policies through Selective, a Write Your Own carrier. Coverage starts after a waiting period, generally 30 days for a new policy (see FloodSmart), so buy before storm season, not during it.
• Private flood. When a shoreline home is worth more than the NFIP building limit, or you want coverage for things the NFIP leaves out, we compare Flow Flood, Neptune Flood, Beyond Floods, The Flood Insurance Agency, CatCoverage and Aon Edge. Whether each one will write a given address varies, especially in a VE zone or on a low-lying beach block.
• Elevation matters. If your home has been raised or has flood vents, an elevation certificate can make a real difference in how flood carriers rate it. Keep a copy with your insurance records.

More on how flood policies work is in our flood insurance overview.

Hurricane and named storm deductibles: know the dollar figure

Shoreline policies in Massachusetts commonly carry a separate hurricane or named storm deductible. The Massachusetts Division of Insurance puts the usual range at 1% to 5% of insured value. Because it is a percentage, the more your house is insured for, the larger the check you would write after a storm. When we present options, we convert each one to dollars so you can compare a lower premium against a bigger deductible, or the reverse. If no standard carrier will take a house on the dune or behind a seawall, the Massachusetts FAIR Plan is a last resort, and we will put it side by side with any private option.

Older, historic and converted cottages

Hull grew as a seaside resort, and the housing stock still shows it. The town’s hazard plan notes that about 40% of housing units were built before 1940, and many shoreline homes began as summer cottages that were later winterized, expanded or raised after storms. For insurance, the question is practical: is the dwelling limit high enough to rebuild to today’s code, and do the roof, wiring, plumbing and heat meet what carriers will accept? For older homes we build the replacement estimate around restoration-quality work and add ordinance or law coverage. For converted, raised or rebuilt homes we make sure the carrier knows about the new foundation, roof and systems, since those updates can help. More detail is in our guide to historic home insurance.

Larger Hull homes

Under about $2 million, most of our 40+ carriers are in play, including Cincinnati, which also writes standard homes (typically with at least $150,000 of dwelling coverage). Around $2 to $3 million, Hanover is among the carriers we compare. Andover writes up to about $2.25 million in Massachusetts, sometimes higher with underwriting approval, and Openly and National General write up to about $5 million. Over about $3 million, Cincinnati is our go-to, and Chubb, which focuses on high-value homes, joins it above $5 million. These policies are designed for custom construction and tend to offer broader replacement cost terms, fewer sublimits and options for scheduling jewelry, art or wine. Which carrier fits depends on the home and on how close it is to the water, the dune or a seawall. Our coastal Massachusetts high-value home insurance page explains more, and if Hull is your summer place, see Massachusetts second home insurance.

Liability for boaters, beach hosts and summer crowds

A typical Hull household might keep a boat near Pemberton or one of the marinas, fill a Nantasket house with family all summer and host guests for beach weeks. Each one adds liability exposure. An umbrella policy adds an extra layer of liability protection over home, auto and boat. The underlying limits need to meet the umbrella carrier’s minimums, and that is easiest to manage when one agency handles all of them.

Serving Hull from New Hampshire

We work with Massachusetts clients by phone, email and video from our Portsmouth, NH office. We also insure homes elsewhere on the South Shore, including neighboring Hingham, Cohasset, Scituate, Marshfield, Duxbury and Plymouth. For statewide information, see Massachusetts homeowners insurance.

Get a Hull home insurance quote

Fill out the form below and tell us about the house, or call (603) 431-4020.

Hull home insurance FAQs

Is my Hull home in a flood zone?

It depends on the exact address. Hull’s FEMA maps cover much of this narrow peninsula, including areas along Nantasket Beach, the Alphabet Streets, Point Allerton, Stony Beach and the Hingham Bay side, while some higher ground on the drumlin hills sits outside the mapped special flood hazard area. The town’s floodplain overlay references Plymouth County FIRMs with an effective date of July 3, 2024, so older determinations can be out of date. We look up your address on FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center, then quote NFIP coverage through Selective or a private flood policy if it fits better.

Can I get homeowners insurance on a house near Nantasket Beach or behind the dune?

Often, yes, but fewer carriers write right on the water, and they look hard at elevation, foundation, roof age, distance to the dune or seawall and past storm claims. North Nantasket’s dune system is the town’s top coastal-resilience priority, and carriers want an honest picture of how the lot sits relative to that first line of defense. We shop the house across our carriers, and if no standard carrier will take it, we compare the Massachusetts FAIR Plan against any private option.

Does homeowners insurance cover a nor’easter or hurricane in Hull?

Wind damage from a nor’easter or hurricane is generally covered by a homeowners policy, subject to your deductible. Water from storm surge, waves over a seawall or dune, or the tide backing into Hingham Bay is flood, and that needs a separate flood policy. Many shoreline policies also carry a separate named storm deductible, so we show you both deductibles in dollars.

My Hull house started as a summer cottage. Will carriers still write it?

Many will, especially once the home has been winterized, updated and set on a solid foundation. About 40% of Hull’s housing units were built before 1940, and many shoreline houses began as seasonal cottages. Carriers ask about the roof, heating, electrical and plumbing, and whether the house is lived in year-round. We tell each carrier what has been updated and make sure the dwelling limit reflects what it would cost to rebuild today.

Do you insure homes on Allerton, Pemberton, Strawberry Hill or the bay side too?

Yes. Hull’s drumlin hills and bay-side streets underwrite differently from the open-ocean beach blocks, but carriers still ask about elevation, seawalls or revetments, roof age and rebuild cost. We describe the specific neighborhood accurately so the quote matches the real property, not a generic coastal rate.

Sources

• Massachusetts Division of Insurance, hurricane preparation notice (Aug. 8, 2024)
• Massachusetts Division of Insurance, “Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association”
• FEMA, “Flood Map Service Center”
• FEMA FloodSmart, “Buy a Flood Insurance Policy”
• U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Hull town, Plymouth County, Massachusetts
• Town of Hull, Hazard Mitigation Plan 2024 Update
• Town of Hull, Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness / Community Resilience Building Summary of Findings (Feb. 2019)
• Town of Hull, North Nantasket Beach Resilience
• Town of Hull, North Nantasket Beach Nourishment Planning
• Town of Hull, Floodplain Overlay District bylaw draft (Mar. 6, 2024; FIRM effective July 3, 2024)
• Town of Hull

This page is general information, not a policy or legal advice. Coverage, forms and availability vary by state, carrier and property, and every policy is subject to underwriting. Your policy documents control.

Jon Merwin, Founder and CEO, Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance
Jon founded Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance in 2005. The family-owned independent agency is licensed in 10 states, compares 40+ carriers, has 1,000+ Google reviews and over 2,000 testimonials across our two offices and charges no broker fees. Meet our team.