HOI in Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, Early: house insurance, condo, credit)

[Jammie]

Is the Texas coastline having the same problems with their homeowner's insurance that Florida is having? Have the insurance companies gone up drastically in price or have some companies left the state?

[Trainwreck20]

Property insurance in TX has always been high, so the change is not as shocking, but yes, it is high. The TX coast has a lower frequency of hurricane landfalls than FL, so the insurance is somewhat lower, I suspect.

[cdelena]

According to recent publications, as of the last full year tabulated (2005), Texas has the highest average insurance rates in the country... followed by Louisiana and then Florida.

[Jammie]

Wow Cdelena, that is really surprising. I had no idea that your rates were that high for insurance. I could totally understand if it was coastal areas, but Texas is a huge state and so much of it isn't even near the coast. There are a lot of threads on the Fla. forum about the high cost of insurance, but I haven't noticed much discussion about it on the Texas forum. You guys haven't even had rough weather the last few years.

[Need_affordable_home]

Maybe its those tornados? Can anyone tell me how much the insurance would be on a $150k house in Dallas?

[cdelena]

Some of it is past hurricanes and very large losses from hail storms, but many think most of the problem is the Texas regulators that favor industry over consumers every time.

[Steel Man]

I pay more to insure my two cars then I pay to insure my house that is worth more than 5 times what the cars are worth. My annual auto insurance is $1200 vs $750 for house insurance. So, if you ask me, HOI is a better deal than auto insurance in San Antonio.

[Jammie]

Wow and I always thought that So. Dak. is a cheap state to live in. We also pay 1200 a year for full coverage on two vehicles. The population of the town I live in is just under 15,000 so I'm surprised your car insurance isn't more since SA is a huge city.

Could someone give me an example of what insurance is on a house or a condo?

[AustinTraveler]

Hi Jammie,

Here is the information straight from our homeowner's insurance certificate. Note that we pay a very high deductible to reduce our rate because we feel it's better in the long run. We just don't make claims for the little stuff. We also carry high personal liability. We are also long-time customers (of State Farm) so we get discounts for that, having auto insurance with them, etc. I've outlined that below as well. Let me know if you have any questions!! (Original purchase price of property was $475,000 and of course only the dwelling is insured, not the land).

COVERAGES AND LIMITS:

Dwelling: $382,400
Extensions: 38,240
Personal Prop.: 286,800
Loss of Use: Actual Loss Sustained

DEDUCTIBLES:

Other Losses: 2,000
Wind or Hail 1%: 3,824

LIABILITY/MEDICAL:

Personal Liability: 300,000
Damage to Prop of Others: 500
Medical to Others (each person): 5,000

Annual Premium: 1,103
Dwelling Foundation: 144
Water Damage: 287*

TOTAL YEARLY PREMIUM: $1,534

Premium Reductions:

Utility Rating Credit: 88
Home Alert Discount: 175
Renewal Discount: 263
Home/Auto Discount: 92

*This is a special addition to the policy that you must have if you want leaking pipes inside the house to be covered.

P.S. Moved here from Florida two years ago and this premium didn't surprise me at all. I thought it was comparable. Now, I can't compare anymore because I know rates in Florida went way up. In fact, we lost our home to Hurricane Ivan and I know that people in the same area are now paying about $8,000 a year in insurance where it used to be closer to $2,500. Glad we left!!

[Trainwreck20]

When I bought my first home in 1998, it was highly recommended to get the high deductible on one 'class' of loss - the one that I always thought of as 'fire' loss. The agent recommended getting the low deductible for the other class - the 'wind/hail'. The premium came out to ~$75/year, I think, and the agent indicated that it was almost always a good idea, with the amount of hail damage that occurs in central Texas. I myself saved quite a bit of money (thousands) in 2006 replacing the roof after a fairly violent series of hail storms.