How much Dwelling and deductible for Homeowner Insurance

[thxbest]

Originally Posted by Pitt Chick

Replacement value is what you really need.

Did those companies send out an agent to the property?

They did not send out an agent. They got the property address with bunch of information about its features and calculated for me.

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by thxbest

How much Dwelling should I choose for homeowner insurance if the home is purchased for $60k? The market value would be probably around $90k or less.

I agree with the others, it's how much it would cost to rebuild in a total loss that you should be insuring it for--I doubt 90K would cover it.

Ask to see the print out on those estimates and compare them. There is a lot that they can put in or not put in to get those numbers. They have a program that they run that asks for square footage, what type of finishes you have in the house--carpet, wood floors, granite or laminate, etc. Rarely does an agent go out to see a property to estimate the value, they will go take photos at some point though.

Call some contractors in the area and ask what it would typically cost to replace your house but honestly, the price difference between those 3 quotes, if you got the numbers from the same company, is going to be fairly minimal. I would ask about discounts up front too. Farmer's tends to give a big "new customer" discount that disappears in a couple years so be aware of that. Their claims handling is one of the poorest in the industry as well. We had a major wind storm here last year and our neighbors are STILL fighting with Farmer's to get their roof replaced. Their shingles are lifted, curled, missing, etc. but they claim it's just fine. I would personally avoid using them....but that's me.

[accufitgolf]

When you own the land and home what you want is replacement value for the house should it be destroyed. The land is still there less the structure. A good rough estimate would be a rebuild cost of $100 to $150 per sq ft. Remember you own the land and the utilities are already there.

Then you also want contents insurance which pays for everything in the house to be replaced, assuming all a total loss like in a fire.

One home I owned the house was valued at $100K and the land at $200K so the sale price would have been about $300K. I could have leveled the house and rebuilt a new house for a lot less then the $300K.