So how much insurance should you have?Basically, unless you want to pay some of the costs yourself, you should insure your home for what it would cost to rebuild it if your residence were destroyed.
How do you find this out?
Your insurance agent can provide you with this information. If you don't have an insurance agent and you should, you can contact your local builders association. In the home construction world, building costs are calculated on a square foot basis.
As such, to determine the cost to rebuild your home, take the square footage of your house and multiply by the average per square foot building rate in your area.
Your possessions are also insured on a replacement cost or actual cash value basis. Again, unless specified otherwise, the coverage in your policy is actual cash value.
Home insurance policies also have limits on coverage for such items as jewelry, fine art and computer equipment. Read your policy and see what these limits are. For example, the standard policy will provide a maximum of $1,000 coverage for your jewelry if it is lost or stolen. If you have lots of jewelry, fine art or computer equipment, you should consider purchasing a special personal property endorsements or floaters that provides the coverage you need.
Speaking of needs, you need to take a written and a visual (still pictures or video) inventories of everything you own in your home and in other buildings on the property.
* Include all furniture -
o Indoor and outdoor, appliances, stereos, computers and other electronic equipment, hobby materials and recreational equipment, china, s
ilverware, kitchen equipment, linens, jewelry and clothing. For the major items (computers, televisions, stereo systems, etc.).
o Write down the serial number, make or model number, purchase price, present value and date of purchase of each item.
o If you have the receipts for the items, attach them to the inventory.
o Make at least two copies of the inventory and store one of those copies offsite a safe deposit box is a good place.
o Store the pictures or video of the inventory offsite as well.
Source : www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/texas-home-insurance-money-saving-tips-3035788.html