Foo - What does home insurance cost?

Being from Sweden I´m always surprised when I see people in the US not having home insurance.

For instance watching "extreme home makeover" or similar tv shows where a person or family might have had a fire in their home and everything is destroyed.

How much does it usually cost to insure a single family house? We pay $500/year for our 350 sq. feet house + garage (no basement, fire alarm).

// Curious Andreas :)

It depends greatly on where you live, and what the house or apartment is made out of.

Mine is $2000 for Hurricane/standard homeowners + $450 for flood insurance. When I lived in Chicago my total was about $800 so it is highly dependent on your location. My house is 3200 sqft + 2 car garage + screened backyard

Being from Sweden I´m always surprised when I see people in the US not having home insurance.


Our renters' insurance was ~$100/yr for ~$10k in coverage. It was worth it, we made a claim, used it all up.

Mortgage loans require homeowners insurance.

When we were shopping on the WV/MD border, homeowner's insurance for the same coverage was double in WV what it was in MD, apparently based on the rating of the different fire departments.

The company that insured our >100 yr old house in WV doesn't insure houses >80 yrs west of the Mississippi River so when we moved into an old house here in WA we had to switch companies. We made a claim a year and a half ago, and our rate last summer went up 40%. We are still ahead even if it goes up 40%/yr for a while.

I pay $15/month for renter's insurance in Downtown Dallas.

I don't know anyone who doesn't have homeowner's/renter's insurance in the US. Those examples you see on Extreme Makeover must be the exceptions, then.

Insurance of this type seems to be pretty small considering the coverage you get. We rent, so ours is like ~$8/month or something like that. I used to pay ~$23/month when I lived in a rowdy college town.

My renter's insurance is about $300 per year for $30,000 coverage. Having the renter's policy gives me a discount on my car insurance. I lived in one complex that required all tenants to have insurance.

Umbrella policy - fire (60,000 home, 50,000 contents), damage, liability for a home (@1100 sq ft) within 5 miles of a volunteer fire dept, with 135 acre farm = $481/year in central WV. Umbrella policy for a 2200 sq ft house in a town with a fire dept, $235/yr. Same town, 4 apt building, $785 / yr for fire & $300,000 liability, flood insurance, another $978/ yr.

My friend's house burned down this past Friday - they will end up with @ $225,000 for the house & contents.

If you don't owe any money on a home, you don't have to have insurance on it. If you have a loan on it, you have to have enough insurance to cover the loan.

I pay about $300/year for Condo Owners, Liability, Medical Payments, a rider for our wedding set, and coverage for personal belongings, improvements, and so on..

OP... good to see ppl from far away in here!

On topic, I rent, don't own. I can still get renter's insurance. But I have so little valuable stuff in here that ...meh.

I know very few renters who actually have insurance.
For my condo, it's only about $300 a year, the fire insurance is actually covered by the association. Earthquake insurance adds a few hundred more; for very little actual benefit.

OP, I hope your place is 350 square meters and not feet - that would be very small.

Thanks for the replies! I´m a bit wiser now. :)



OP, I hope your place is 350 square meters and not feet - that would be very small.

Yeah, I miscalculated a bit... :D The house is 102 sq.m which equals around 1100 sq. feet + garage that is another 300 sq. feet.

It depends on where you live, but my 1200 square foot house in Pflugerville, TX (near Austin) costs about $60/month in insurance, maybe a little less.

It depends on how old it is and if it has any existing illness. ;0)

I don't know anyone who doesn't have homeowner's/renter's insurance in the US. Those examples you see on Extreme Makeover must be the exceptions, then.

Insurance of this type seems to be pretty small considering the coverage you get. We rent, so ours is like ~$8/month or something like that. I used to pay ~$23/month when I lived in a rowdy college town.

When the brushfires out here in CA destroyed a lot of homes a couple of years ago, there were more than a few homeowners who did not have insurance. They owned their homes outright and did not carry a mortgage, so it was not required. When they were interviewed on TV, some said they did not buy insurance because they never thought anything would happen to the house and they didn't want to spend the extra money.

My parents' home in Des Moines, IA, that I now own (and will be selling), is probably around 1500 sq ft or so with a full basement, 2 stories above ground, and homeowners is 1,100 a year + 280 for flood insurance.

When the brushfires out here in CA destroyed a lot of homes a couple of years ago, there were more than a few homeowners who did not have insurance. They owned their homes outright and did not carry a mortgage, so it was not required. When they were interviewed on TV, some said they did not buy insurance because they never thought anything would happen to the house and they didn't want to spend the extra money.

A coworker saved money on her house purchase by skipping an inspection. When the supply lines to the upstairs bathroom ruptured and soaked the entire house, taking out all the sheetrock, revealing rotten structural framing, well, I don't know how she handled it. Presumably her mortgage required insurance.

Ours is about 1300 per year, with 350 extra for flood (not required) and a 2% deductible for a named storm.

(2100 sq ft house)