How much home owner's insurance should I get?

Answer 1

Your agent should be able to calculate the replacement cost of your home, so that will help. Your contents should also be insured for replacement cost instead of actual cash value. (This means what it would cost to buy it new again instead of what it was worth used.) If you have any collections, lots of jewerly, expensive electronic equipment, musicial instruments, etc, make sure you tell your agent. Many policies have limits on the amount they will cover.

Your liability limit shouldn't be less than 300k. If you have a bunch of assets to protect, you might want to consider a higher limit. This is what protects your assets in a lawsuit. Do you have a business, expensive home, vacation home, etc that could be taken from you?

One final thing, remember to get additional living expenses. If your house is burnt, and you can't live there, this will pay the additional costs for you to survive until the place is repaired. It doesn't cost much, and is truly worth it.

Answer 2

Most agents have some kind of estimator tool that will help you determine the dwelling amount needed for your home. You can also use your appraised value from your tax records, but this won't be as accurate.
For your personal property, it is up to you to figure out. Most policies come with a standard of around 80% of the dwelling value. The best way to do this however, is to make a list of the items you own and price them as new. Most HO policies will give you replacement cost of your personal property. This means they will give enough money to purchase a new version of the item you lost. Here's a link for free software that will help in this process. It's from the Insurance Information Institute, a non-profit that helps customer's with insurance questions.
http://www.knowyourstuff.org

Answer 3

You will need to insure the home for at least the amount of loan you have -if you have one.

otherwise the insurance agencies use a calculation called "replacement cost" using various factors to determine how much your house would cost to replace. They will ask you all kinds of questions about your house, for example.... whether brick, brick veneer or wood. fireplace or no fireplace, pool or no pool etc.

good luck.. but try to cover the house for as much as your can afford and at least the appraisal value.

Answer 4

Depends on the policy type. MOST homeowners policies are on a "cost to rebuild" basis. Your agent will come out to your house and help you calculate the current cost to rebuild.

But you CAN have a policy with a different type of valuation - market value, or functional replacement cost. In those cases, you write it for the market value, or the functional replacement cost of the house. It's NOT a common policy, and those types actually cost MORE than a "cost to rebuild" policy.

In any case, your AGENT should be helping you select the correct amount.

Answer 5

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RE :How much home owner's insurance should I get?
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Answer 6

You should get enough coverage to cover replacement cost on building and contents. There's a web site that calculates this for you for $7.95. Go to my blog page and follow the link.

When you get quotes, make sure you're getting extended replacement cost (up to 125% of replacement cost) and understand what endorsements are available on the policy. Water & sewer backup is often skipped to give a lower quote.
If you're in Ohio, email me and I'll refer you to a good local agent.

Answer 7

I recommend you this site to get quotes - INSURANCEGRADES.INFO-

RE How much home owner's insurance should I get?

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Answer 8

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RE :How much home owner's insurance should I get?
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Answer 9

I usually suggest between $150 and $200 a square foot for replacement cost.

Answer 10

I would go to your insurance rep and have them tell you. I did. For just over 300 a year my house and all it's contents are covered from fire, wind, etc.