House Insurance Costs (Houston, Plano, Richardson: home owners insurance, credit score, new)

[nemadeni]

I am looking for insurance cost estimate for upscale 4000 square feet with purchase price of around $450k. I found that House insurance quotes are coming from $3300 to $4000.

Home has no Pool.

Is House insurance that expensive?

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by nemadeni

I am looking for insurance cost estimate for upscale 4000 square feet with purchase price of around $450k. I found that House insurance quotes are coming from $3300 to $4000.

Home has no Pool.

Is House insurance that expensive?

If that's what you're being quoted...then yes, I suppose so. What do you want us to say..."You're being ripped off! Try Company X, it's 1/5th of what you're being quoted!"

Home insurance here is among the highest in the nation. If you've gone to 3-4 different companies and those are the quotes you got, you shouldn't expect to find anything much cheaper.

[roseball123]

Sent you a direct message.

[BeanyMalone]

Based on what I pay for my 1400 foot average-scale house in Richardson, quotes in that range don't surprise me. Because of storms (so the insurers say), Texas home insurance is among the most expensive in the country. If you are not happy, find an independent agent and ask questions until you are satisfied.

[MckinneyOwnr]

We have AAA, bundled with our car insurance (multiple cars) and various discounts, our home insurance was very reasonable for our 3600+ sq ft house. Give AAA a call. Based on the purchase price you mention compared to ours and our rate, $3k is what it comes out to be by my estimation.

[ChristieP]

That sounds about right to me, too. Our house is half the size and half the price of that, and we pay half as much for insurance.

Be sure and check property taxes, too. You might be in for another shock!

[HockDad]

That is probably too high. For 5,500 square feet, with replacement of 900k (does not include value of the land), you would expect to pay around 5k. The key is to combine the auto with the home. In Texas, insurers make money on car insurance, but lose money on home insurance. Thus, if you don't quote the two policies together, you are going to get screwed.

[jcl_cls02]

Originally Posted by nemadeni

I am looking for insurance cost estimate for upscale 4000 square feet with purchase price of around $450k. I found that House insurance quotes are coming from $3300 to $4000.

Home has no Pool.

Is House insurance that expensive?

It all depends on what you want insured and what the dedcutible is. Did you get a quote for a HO-B type of policy? HO-B is the most expensive because it covers everything, except flood. With HO-A, you can select what you want covered which most agents will try to sell you since its not worth it. (ie: why get Mold coverage with a 1% deductible?) May be cheaper to pay out of pocket for the work vs paying a deductible. Have you filed any claims against your home owners insurance carrier in the past? That can affect your quote too, also your credit score. YMMV. FYI, I'm only paying $1500 for a $650k policy for a 5000sq ft new home with a HO-3 policy and a 1% deductible. I was able to bring that down by combining my auto policy to get the bigger discount. I'd say shop around as $4k is high if its not a HO-B policy with $500 deductible.

[Texas is only OK]

I have been in insurance for many years. Yes, sometimes I feel like the devil's minion. The major (meaning the ones that the average Joe might have seen commercials for) H/O insurance companies are not even writing policies in some counties in Texas anymore. All of the wind, hail, freezing, etc that we get here makes it "too big of a risk". Those companies which are still writing in Texas have increased prices by about 20% across the board for no claims, and double if there has been a claim in the last 3 years. Many will not write you at all if there has been a claim. Your rate sounds spot on with the current trend. READ YOUR POLICY! Many will exclude water, non-hostile fire, and a few others that you would presume would be covered. All policies exclude earth movement, named wind, and water back up. if you want to be fully covered, you have to pay for it (endorsements to your policy), or just have a fat savings account and consider yourself self-insured for the excluded items. Yes, sometimes it seems that insurance companies will only sell you a policy if they will never actually have to make good on their promise to pay. i get that. However, if the public will educate themselves on this product that they are paying so much money for by actually reading what is covered, then people would not see l'il ole me as being the bad guy. I am only interpreting what the consumer has already agreed to (but not read) by signing the contract.
The silver lining? We are not in California or Florida. Your eathquake policy would cost you about $8000, and hurricane ("named wind") would be pretty close to that...in addition to your regular H/O policy. In Texas, we just have to buy additional coverage for wind in many areas, and while it IS extra, it is not nearly that expensive.

[Johnhw2]

My Home owners insurance runs about $3k/month and it is a combined policy with my auto insurance. Home is 5100 sf in W. Plano. You have me worried now if I have it insured for the right amount. I believe it is replacement insurance value. meaning if the home was burned to the ground for example it would cover the cost of replacing the improvements as the land would be intact of course. I moved from Houston to Plano and paid more comparatively due to hurricanes risks I suppose.