Texas · After you move in
The policy has to describe the house you actually live in
Unpacking does not update the insurance. The company needs the new address, who lives there, and a dwelling limit based on rebuild cost. If the old policy was canceled before this one started, that gap is a lapse. A hailstorm in the gap is not a claim.
Before the move: before you move in. The product: Texas homeowners. How much dwelling limit: how much home insurance.
What to change in the first days
Put the mortgage company on the mortgagee clause so a dwelling check is payable the way the loan requires. If you only carried a binder to close, replace it with a policy that has a hail deductible you have converted into dollars. Two percent of Coverage A is the usual shape of that deductible in Texas. Hail on the house versus the car.
Flood is not in the homeowners policy. If the map or the creek says water can get in, that is a separate policy. Texas flood. A homestead exemption is a property-tax filing. It does not create coverage.
Photograph the rooms and keep a list. Contents claims pay from that record, often at actual cash value unless you bought replacement cost on belongings, and off-premises items are often capped. A home inventory. If the old company non-renewed you, do not let the new one start late. Lapses.
