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Buying First Home... Homeowner's Insurance Recommendations

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I'm buying my first home (in the DFW area if it's pertinent info) and wondered who you all recommend for homeowners insurance. I'll be insuring my cars/motorcycle through them as well. I don't necessarily want the cheapest coverage, but I want a company that will not jerk me around should the need arise to file a claim. The builder recommended their affiliated insurance company but the reviews are less than pretty, and it looks like they recently went through a name change to try and refresh their image.

So who do you all use and what have your experiences been? Thanks for the help!
 
We have everything insured through State Farm, including homeowners insurance, auto on both cars, life insurance, and my wife's engagement ring.
 
I have AAA for everything. I have not had any claims though.

I hear good things about Amica, you might want to try getting some quotes from them.
 
eSurance

But who ever you go through read ALL the fine print. Some cover sump pumps so do etc... In my old house not a big deal but the new one it is.
 
We use Erie Insurance for our cars and homeowners. Great customer service.

Also considered Amica Mutual. I've heard great things about them as well. But I liked our local Erie agent.
 
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I have Farmers for our house/cars. Haven't had a claim yet but the rep has been great with responding to our requests (copies of papers, adding a car/ring, etc)
 
Filled out a form on netquote.com. Traveller's was able to insure my home for ~600 year based on the quote. 2700 square foot, 2 story, built this year. So far they're the company to beat.
 
truth is, it doesn't matter that much... get the best deal you can that covers everything you want,

after a few years, switch again for a better deal. insurance companies are always competing with each other. it's very easy to change your home+car because they want your business.
 
I have Farmers for my car, had it for my renter's insurance, and now have it for my home owners policy. My guy was able to get me covered for $167K (replacement value for the house), great liability coverage (don't recall the $ figure), replacement value for all the belongings inside (not just depreciated value).....hell, he even insured me with a special policy in case one of the pilots from the air force base nearby mistakes my house for a landing strip, and crashes into it!

Total cost: ~$124/month, which I pay through an escrow account, along with my property taxes.


For those that have been around here for a while, you might remember that the rental house I lived in a few years ago had a natural gas leak, and blew up one Monday morning, about 3:30AM. I had Farmers for my renter's insurance at that time, and called them later that morning to start the claim for replacing any of my personal items they felt were lost in what was left of the house. The claims adjuster was out the next morning, and we spent about 3 hours climbing through the house, while he listed everything I could remember having in the house (furniture is easy......small knick-knacks are tougher to remember!!).
He gave me ZERO hassle on replacing anything I said I'd had in that house, and even replaced my 10 year old washer & dryer, that probably still worked okay. The insurance company had an inspector out the next day (wanted to make sure it was accidental, and not intentional), and they had a check cut about a week later, for the initial (depreciated) value. All I had to do then was go out and buy replacement items, send in the receipt copies (identifying what I'd replaced, by line number on the inventory), and they'd cut a check for the difference between what they sent originally, and what was offered for replacement (or what I spent, whichever was less).

Needless to say, I highly recommend Farmers! :awe:
 
marvdmartian said:
I have Farmers for my car, had it for my renter's insurance, and now have it for my home owners policy. My guy was able to get me covered for $167K (replacement value for the house), great liability coverage (don't recall the $ figure), replacement value for all the belongings inside (not just depreciated value).....hell, he even insured me with a special policy in case one of the pilots from the air force base nearby mistakes my house for a landing strip, and crashes into it!

Total cost: ~$124/month, which I pay through an escrow account, along with my property taxes.


For those that have been around here for a while, you might remember that the rental house I lived in a few years ago had a natural gas leak, and blew up one Monday morning, about 3:30AM. I had Farmers for my renter's insurance at that time, and called them later that morning to start the claim for replacing any of my personal items they felt were lost in what was left of the house. The claims adjuster was out the next morning, and we spent about 3 hours climbing through the house, while he listed everything I could remember having in the house (furniture is easy......small knick-knacks are tougher to remember!!).
He gave me ZERO hassle on replacing anything I said I'd had in that house, and even replaced my 10 year old washer & dryer, that probably still worked okay. The insurance company had an inspector out the next day (wanted to make sure it was accidental, and not intentional), and they had a check cut about a week later, for the initial (depreciated) value. All I had to do then was go out and buy replacement items, send in the receipt copies (identifying what I'd replaced, by line number on the inventory), and they'd cut a check for the difference between what they sent originally, and what was offered for replacement (or what I spent, whichever was less).

Needless to say, I highly recommend Farmers! :awe:
Click to expand...

TBH, I hate the fact that you have to replace the items before getting reimbursed and that is a strike against Farmer's in my book.

I expect a check for replacements minus my deductible.
 
Kelvrick said:
TBH, I hate the fact that you have to replace the items before getting reimbursed and that is a strike against Farmer's in my book.

I expect a check for replacements minus my deductible.
Click to expand...

While it's a little more work, it's amazing how liberal they were with the value of some items. The way the guy explained it to me is, they basically get online, and try to find similar items on retail sites, then quote that as the full value.

Believe me, I didn't mind at all when they gave me up to $800 to replace a bed that had cost me $300!! 😉

Oh, and you do get an initial check (mine was for over $11K), so you can start buying what you need. It was just for the difference between the depreciated value and the actual replacement cost that I had to send in for additional reimbursement. I had up to one year after the claim was filed to do so, so it's not like I was in a hurry and had to go into debt to replace what I'd lost. 🙂
 
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Cal166 said:
I use Progressive - Homesite.
Click to expand...

Be very wary of Progressive especially if you need to file a claim. I've been getting quotes for the home I'm under contract to purchase and every agent has said they don't like to quote Progressive due to their beat around the bush type of service.

I ended up going, for the meantime, with Allied - Nationwide.
 
Originally Posted by marvdmartian
I have Farmers for my car, had it for my renter's insurance, and now have it for my home owners policy. My guy was able to get me covered for $167K (replacement value for the house), great liability coverage (don't recall the $ figure), replacement value for all the belongings inside (not just depreciated value).....hell, he even insured me with a special policy in case one of the pilots from the air force base nearby mistakes my house for a landing strip, and crashes into it!

Total cost: ~$124/month, which I pay through an escrow account, along with my property taxes.


For those that have been around here for a while, you might remember that the rental house I lived in a few years ago had a natural gas leak, and blew up one Monday morning, about 3:30AM. I had Farmers for my renter's insurance at that time, and called them later that morning to start the claim for replacing any of my personal items they felt were lost in what was left of the house. The claims adjuster was out the next morning, and we spent about 3 hours climbing through the house, while he listed everything I could remember having in the house (furniture is easy......small knick-knacks are tougher to remember!!).
He gave me ZERO hassle on replacing anything I said I'd had in that house, and even replaced my 10 year old washer & dryer, that probably still worked okay. The insurance company had an inspector out the next day (wanted to make sure it was accidental, and not intentional), and they had a check cut about a week later, for the initial (depreciated) value. All I had to do then was go out and buy replacement items, send in the receipt copies (identifying what I'd replaced, by line number on the inventory), and they'd cut a check for the difference between what they sent originally, and what was offered for replacement (or what I spent, whichever was less).

Needless to say, I highly recommend Farmers!
Click to expand...

Kelvrick said:
TBH, I hate the fact that you have to replace the items before getting reimbursed and that is a strike against Farmer's in my book.

I expect a check for replacements minus my deductible.
Click to expand...


We had Farmers for years. Our garage was burgled back in 98, and the claims people were very good. They cut preliminary checks for me to start buying replacement tools and fishing gear. (they stole all my hand tools, power tools, and worst of all, they stole all my fishing gear...custom saltwater rods and reels, tackle box bigger that had a couple of grand worth of gear, etc.)

Than, as I replaced things, anything that cost more than their preliminary estimates, I submitted receipts and was reimbursed within a couple of weeks.

The ONLY problems I had was on the saltwater gear. The claims adjuster had no experience with saltwater fishing...and tried to estimate replacement costs based on a Bass Pro catalog...🙄
I had a saltwater fishing catalog mailed to him...and he finally understood why a reel might cost $500, and the rod about the same. Once he got that, there was NO problem.


We got tired of Farmers jacking the rates every year, even with no claims (other than the burglary) and in 2003, we started shopping. Finally ended up with Capital Insurance Group. They're relatively small, but are rated as one of the top insurers in Kahleeforneeya.
 
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