BY MARK FADDEN & CODY THORN
The context
Factors in determining home insurance rates
According to the Texas Department of Insurance, insurance companies use several factors to calculate a customer’s potential home insurance rate. Common factors include:
Living in a natural disaster-prone state and the home’s location
Poor credit history
Multiple past claims
The home’s age, roof age and material
Living far from a fire station
Cost to replace the house
SOURCE: TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF INSURANCE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
What to expect
What you need to know
To lower their insurance premiums, Buchwald said homeowners can raise their deductibles from 1% to 2% or even 3%. According to Nationwide’s website, a national insurance company since 1925, raising the insur- ance deductible lowers the premium because the customer agrees to pay a larger amount out-of- pocket before their insurance coverage kicks in. A homeowner’s credit score is also an important factor in premium costs, so Buchwald suggests trying to improve that number to receive a better policy rate. “The scoring models that insurance companies use could have your neighbor at $300 a month higher for a similar property because of factors like credit score, the number of claims the policy holder has and other personal factors,” Buchwald said. He said homeowners should talk to their insur- ance agents to educate themselves as much as possible about their insurance policies and explore all avenues of coverage. “The policy isn’t based on how much you paid for the house; it’s about the replacement cost, and many homeowners don’t understand that,”
Tips for homeowners There are ways to take the sting out of rising home insurance rates. McMillen offered these tips:
While campaigning earlier this year, State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, said he was surprised to learn how rising insurance costs was a key concern for residents in District 98—which covers Keller, Westlake, Colleyville and Euless. Rep. Capriglione said he believes Texas legislative leaders should address labor shortages and help with construction of more affordable housing options, which would lower market prices and impact insurance costs. From October 2023 to October 2024, the average price of homes sold in Keller, Roanoke and Northeast Fort Worth went up by $14,875, according to data from Collin County Area Realtors. Rep. Capriglione said he plans to file a bill in the upcoming legislative session to help remove some regulations for contractors. “We can’t tell [insurance companies] to lower [rates] by 20%,” Rep. Capriglione said. “But what we can do is to lower what it costs to make repairs or to build a house or to replace a roof.”
Have the highest deductible you can afford. Pricing varies, so ask for the differences between the two highest deductibles affordable to you. Be aware of differences between percent deductibles and flat deductibles. The trend is for insurance companies to have:
A percent deductible for wind and hail, which is a percent of the total claim cost. A flat deductible for other perils, which is a fixed dollar amount.
Don’t just look at the price when shopping. Not all companies are the same for claims service—cheap home insurance often means cheap claims service. Look at multiple reviews and do your research before choosing an insurance company.
SOURCE: GEORGIA’S CHOICE RISK MANAGEMENT/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Buchwald said. “It goes back to educating the homeowner to help them make their home more disaster resistant.”
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KELLER - ROANOKE - NORTHEAST FORT WORTH EDITION
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