Texas homeowners · Official sources
Seven sites that change how you read a Texas home policy
These are not decorating blogs. Each one answers a question the declarations page leaves open: what the state says a homeowners form does, whether flood is a separate policy, what the weather warning actually means, and why the county’s tax value is not the amount to rebuild the house.
Start with the product itself: Texas homeowners insurance.
1. Texas Department of Insurance
tdi.texas.gov is the regulator. The consumer hub and the home insurance guide explain the split most policies hide in one sentence: sudden water can be covered, a slow leak often is not, mold is usually only the mold that comes with a covered repair, and flood is not a homeowners peril. Storm notes are under TDI storms. Use that before you argue a denial. TDI does not rank the cheapest carrier for your roof.
2. FloodSmart and the FEMA flood map
A standard homeowners policy stops at flood. FloodSmart is the consumer explanation of the National Flood Insurance Program: a separate policy, often with a waiting period, that pays for water that comes from outside the house. The FEMA Map Service Center shows the mapped flood hazard for an address. A zone outside the high-risk area is not “no flood.” Creek overflow and street flooding still happen there, and the homeowners form still excludes them. Local version: flood insurance in Dallas.
3. Ready.gov and Texas emergency management
Ready.gov and its flood page are the kit and the evacuation plan. TDEM is the Texas disaster office. A kit does not create coverage. What it does for a claim is practical: photos of the house before the storm, a list of what was inside, and a way to reach the carrier when the power is out. Document after the all-clear, not from the middle of the street.
4. National Weather Service
weather.gov is the warning, not the forecast app on a phone. North Texas can use the Fort Worth office at weather.gov/fwd. The product name on the warning changes the next step and, later, the claim. A flash-flood warning is water from outside. A severe thunderstorm or hail warning is the wind and hail deductible on the homeowners policy, often a percent of the dwelling limit. Photograph the roof and the fence after the warning expires.
5. The county appraisal district
Dallas (dallascad.org), Harris (hcad.org), and Travis (traviscad.org) show who owns the property, the year built, and the square footage. The dollar on that card is a tax value. It includes land, which is not insured, and it is not the cost to rebuild the structure under today’s codes. Coverage A should track rebuild cost. If it sits near the tax improvement value, a large fire can pay less than the rebuild because many forms only pay replacement cost when the dwelling is insured to about 80 percent of that cost. Dwelling coverage and what changes the price.
6. Texas housing agency
TDHCA runs state housing programs and homebuyer education. A down-payment program is not an insurance policy. If you are using one, the lender still wants a homeowners policy with the mortgage company named, and the dwelling limit still has to be a rebuild number, not the loan amount.
7. CFPB, owning a home
The CFPB Owning a Home pages explain the loan and the closing, not the HO-3. The insurance piece at closing is narrow: the lender requires a policy, often wants the dwelling at least at the loan balance, and wants its name on the mortgagee clause so a dwelling check is payable correctly. That requirement is not a coverage review. A binder that satisfies the lender can still exclude flood and can still carry a hail deductible you have not converted into dollars.
