Costly home floods occur daily.  As a plumber, I at least see between one to two homes damaged by water every week, and my company is a small outfit.  You may be insured, but I assure you that the inconvenience of having to dry out the water from inside your walls, floor, or where ever is no fun regardless of how painless anyone tries to make it for you.  As far as I could see, 7 out of 10 home floods could have been prevented, or at the very least minimized to a fraction of the cost.  Here are ten good things to know that can help:

1. Know where the building water shut off valve to your house is located.  The Building shut off is not the valve at the meter.  The building shut off is always located between the meter and the house.  It is almost always located right before the water line goes into the house, and a hose bib is normally found there for your garden hose.
2. Install a quarter turn ball valve at your building shut off so it is easy for you to close off your water in case there is an emergency. 
3. If you have a garden sprinkler system, make sure that it is installed in a way that if you shut off your building water, it will not affect your garden sprinklers.  By doing this, you will be able to shut off the water to your house without affecting your lawn or garden.  This is important for when you go on vacations.
4. Install a pressure regulator.  Pressure regulators protect your home from pressure surges that occur occasionally.  Also, it will assist you in the next step.  If you have a regulator make sure it works, and learn how to adjust it.
5. Maintain the water pressure in your home below 70 psi.  The lower the water pressure the better.  Almost every home will function properly at 60 psi.  Lower water pressure will put less strain on your copper pipes, faucets, and most importantly, flex lines.
6. Learn how to check your meter for water leaks.  Turn off all your faucets and check if the little dial is moving.  If the meter is moving, your water system is likely to have a leak somewhere.  Homeowners should attend to leaks immediately and before serious water damage occurs.  Also, the meter will tell you if you have leaks in areas that are invisible to the naked eye; for example, slab leaks are always very costly and difficult to recognize without knowing how to read your meter.
7. This is one I run into often.  Change your flex lines!  These are the feed lines that are located under your sinks, usually in your cabinets.  They feed water to your faucets and are always under pressure.  Also, don’t forget to install stainless steel braided flex lines, or feed lines.
8. The feed lines, or hoses to your clothes washers.  This one could be classified with step six, but because these hoses are almost never stainless steel braided, it is common to find floods caused by these hoses, to the point that I classify it on its own.  Other hoses that should be looked into are dishwasher feed lines, and ice maker feed lines.    
9. Angle stops are the small valves under your sinks and toilets.  These should be changed every five to six years.  Know where these valves are located and make sure you can shut them off without having to force them.   Angle stops are your first option in case a flex line or feed line bursts.  Keep angle stops maintained, and if possible install quarter turn angle stops.  Quarter turn angle stops are quicker to shut off, and if changed every five or so years you will not suffer when you have to shut these off.
10. The final recommendation I could offer involves your water heater.  Keep water heaters at the lowest comfortable temperature possible.  Hot water pipes and flex lines are where most your wear and tear will occur.  In fact, I have only seen two cold water slab leaks in my career as a plumber.  Following this step will save you money on your utilities, plumbing maintenance, keep you from scalding yourself, and most importantly keep the children from scalding themselves.