Texas Home Insurance: Insured for what it costs to rebuild.

Texas law does not require homeowners insurance. Your mortgage lender does, and they will require it in writing, with the lender named on the policy.

If you let coverage lapse, the lender can buy force-placed insurance and bill you for it. That coverage is usually far more expensive and protects the lender's interest, not yours. Owning your home free and clear is the only situation where going without is legal, and it is still a bet against your single largest asset.

A standard HO-3 policy covers six things: the dwelling (structure), other structures (fence, detached garage, workshop), personal property (belongings), loss of use (somewhere to live during repairs), personal liability (if someone is hurt or you damage someone else's property), and medical payments to guests.

Covered perils include fire, smoke, theft, vandalism, most sudden water damage, falling objects, and, on most Texas policies, wind and hail. The big exclusions are flood, which is always written separately, and anything that counts as maintenance.

Statewide averages run roughly $3,900 to $4,000 a year, which puts Texas among the five most expensive states and about two-thirds above the national average. Homes in hail-prone counties often price higher, sometimes past $6,000, because wind and hail exposure drives this market.

Premiums statewide climbed roughly 56 percent from 2020 to 2025 — the state's own filings show 21 percent in 2023 and 19 percent in 2024 alone — before growth slowed to about 4 percent in 2025. Averages are close to useless for budgeting your specific home, which is why we quote your actual address across every available option rather than quoting a table.

Your dwelling limit should equal the cost to rebuild your home, not what you paid, not what Zillow says, and not what you owe. Rebuild cost is what a contractor charges today for labor, materials, permits, and debris removal.

The dangerous mistake is under-insuring. Construction costs rose sharply after 2020, and a dwelling limit set years ago and nudged along by small annual increases is often well short of today's rebuild cost. We recalculate rebuild cost with you rather than letting the number drift.

Partially, and the details matter. Wind damage is covered on most standard Texas policies — subject to your percentage wind deductible. Check two terms on your declarations page: the percentage wind and hail deductible, and whether the roof is settled at replacement cost or actual cash value.

Flash flooding and rising water are never covered by any homeowners policy. That is flood, and flood insurance is always a separate policy. After a major storm, the wind policy and the flood policy each pay for their own damage, which is exactly why the whole stack needs to be built together.

No. Rising water and flash flooding are excluded from every standard homeowners policy. Flood is written separately through the National Flood Insurance Program or a private flood carrier, and we quote both side by side.

A burst pipe or an overflowing water heater is a different thing entirely, and that sudden, accidental water damage is covered. The distinction is where the water came from: inside your plumbing is covered, outside and rising is not. Harvey flooded thousands of Texas homes outside mapped high-risk zones, so check your zone rather than assume.

It depends on the policy, and it is the single most important thing to know before a hail storm rather than after one. Replacement cost pays what a new roof costs today. Actual cash value subtracts depreciation for every year of the roof age, which on an older composition roof can cut the check by half or more.

Many Texas carriers now move roofs past a certain age onto actual cash value automatically, or apply a roof schedule that steps the coverage down year by year. Read that line before you buy. If you are not sure which one you have, send us your declarations page and we will tell you in plain English.

First, do not panic, and do not confuse it with cancellation. Non-renewal happens at the end of your term, and Texas requires written notice at least 60 days before your policy expires.

Texas law also limits claims-based non-renewal: in general a carrier may only non-renew you for claims if you filed three or more qualifying claims in three years — and weather-related claims cannot be counted against you for that purpose, nor can appliance-related water claims once the underlying issue is repaired. If your letter cites claims, read it closely.

Then use the window. Sixty days is enough time if you start immediately. Call us the day the letter arrives and we will shop the replacement across every carrier we represent at once.

Replacement cost pays to replace what you lost with new equivalent items. Actual cash value pays the depreciated value, so a ten-year-old roof pays out like a ten-year-old roof, not a new one.

For belongings, replacement cost is worth the modest premium difference for nearly everyone. Watch the roof specifically: many Texas policies have moved to actual cash value roof settlement or separate roof payment schedules, because hail is the state's most frequent claim. The gap at claim time can run tens of thousands. It is one of the first things we check on a policy you already have.

Most Texas policies carry a separate wind and hail deductible calculated as a percentage of your dwelling limit, typically 1 to 5 percent, instead of a flat dollar amount. On a $400,000 dwelling limit, a 2 percent wind deductible means $8,000 out of pocket before coverage responds.

Texas named-storm deductibles can run higher still. Know your number before storm season and budget for it — and when we quote, we will show you what moving that percentage does to the premium in both directions.

Yes. Texas allows insurers to use credit-based insurance scores in pricing homeowners coverage, and the effect can be significant.

It is one more reason shopping matters: every carrier weighs credit, claims history, roof age, and location differently, and the cheapest carrier for one profile is rarely the cheapest for another. That comparison is exactly what an Farmers Insurance® agent does at every renewal.

The reliable levers are bundling home with auto, raising your deductible if your savings can absorb it, and the roof: Class 4 impact-resistant shingles earn real discounts with most Texas carriers, and a newer roof changes which carriers will write you at all.

Then let us re-shop the whole policy across our carriers at renewal — appetite and pricing in Texas move constantly. What to avoid is under-insuring the dwelling to chase a lower premium. If the limit will not rebuild the house, the savings were never real.