Home insurance in Maryland is a talk about your policy, your deductible, and any claim you are about to file. The state is not one risk. Ice on a western roof, limbs on a Piedmont house, and salt wind on the Shore do not leave the same damage or the same questions on a declarations page. Start with the county and what happened to the building.
Have the declarations page where you can read it. Look at the dwelling limit, the deductible, and whether wind or hail uses a different deductible from the rest of the policy. What it would take to rebuild the house is not the same idea as what the house would sell for on a quiet street. If those two ideas have drifted apart, say so on the call. The page is the promise.
Water is where Maryland policies confuse people. A standard policy often treats flood differently from a burst pipe or from rain driven through a torn roof. The Shore, the bay edges, and low ground near tidal creeks raise that question even when the living room has stayed dry for years. A wet basement after a long rain is not automatically the same kind of loss as a sudden pipe break. Ask what the policy excludes before you decide the water is covered.
If you are opening a claim, write down when you noticed the damage, what you already moved or covered, and which rooms are involved. Photos can follow the call. Do not guess which cause of loss the policy will accept. Describe lifted shingles, a stained ceiling, a limb through a gutter, or a frozen pipe that let go. Say whether anyone has already patched a hole. The description starts the claim. It is not a verdict on what gets paid.
Call while the facts are still in front of you. Say whether you are comparing a policy, checking a deductible before work starts, or reporting damage you can already walk through. Mention an older roof, a prior claim, or a house near open water if those are true. Have the declarations page in reach. Call the number on this page.