Home Insurance for Older Homes in Texas

What home insurance for an older Texas home covers

Home insurance on an older Texas house covers the same six things it covers on a new one: the dwelling, other structures, personal property, loss of use, personal liability, and medical payments to a guest.

The difference on an older house is not the coverage. The difference is whether an insurer will agree to write it at all, and on what settlement terms, because the roof, the wiring, and the plumbing decide eligibility before anyone talks about price.

Two facts surprise owners of period houses in Texas:

• Rebuilding cost can run well above the sale price, because plaster, rafters cut on site, and old-growth trim cost more to reproduce than to admire
• A house that has been insured for decades can be declined at renewal after one underwriting rule changes

Roof age is the first thing an underwriter looks at

Roof age is the first item an underwriter checks on an older-home application in Texas.

Roof age is a common eligibility limit, and the limit differs by insurer and by roof material. A composition shingle roof and a metal roof are not judged on the same clock, and a roof past the limit gets declined or gets reduced settlement terms.

Underwriters look at four things beyond the age:

• Material and how it is attached
• Shape, since a hip roof and a gable roof do not behave the same in a Texas wind event
• Visible wear, patching, and layered shingles
• Whether a prior hail claim was paid and the money went into the roof

A dated invoice from the roofer settles more questions than an estimate of the roof’s age.

Wiring that makes a Texas insurer decline

Older wiring is a common reason an otherwise sound Texas house gets turned down, and three types come up on Texas files.

The three that come up:

• Knob-and-tube wiring, common in houses built before the 1940s, which has no ground and degrades where it has been buried in insulation
• Aluminum branch circuit wiring, common in houses built in the mid-1960s through the 1970s, which loosens and overheats at connections
• Fuse boxes and older panel types that underwriters have flagged for overheating or failure to trip

Remediation is usually accepted when it is documented. A licensed electrician’s letter describing what was replaced, what was repaired with an approved connector, and what remains is worth more to an underwriter than a homeowner’s description of the same work.

Plumbing, HVAC, and the four-point inspection

A four-point inspection is the report Texas underwriters ask for on an older house, and it covers roof, electrical, plumbing, and heating and cooling.

Plumbing is a common place for the report to go sideways:

• Galvanized steel supply lines corrode from the inside, so the pipe can look fine and still be nearly closed
• Polybutylene supply lines fail at the fittings, and their presence is a common eligibility limit that differs by insurer
• Cast iron drain lines crack and separate under a slab, which turns into a foundation claim argument

Heating and cooling matters for age and for the fire risk in an old floor furnace or gas wall heater.

An owner who orders the four-point inspection first controls the timing of the answer.

Actual cash value roof settlement, and what it means at claim time

An actual cash value roof settlement pays the cost to replace the roof minus depreciation for the years it has already been on the house.

The difference shows up only after a storm. A replacement cost roof pays what the new roof costs; an actual cash value roof pays a depreciated amount and leaves the owner to fund the rest.

Where to find which one applies:

• The declarations page, under the roof surfacing or windstorm endorsement
• A roof payment schedule endorsement, which sets the payout by age and material
• The deductible line, since the percentage wind and hail deductible comes off on top of that

Accepting actual cash value on the roof is sometimes the trade that keeps an older Texas house insurable. Accepting it without knowing is not.

What Aulona Insurance Group can place

Aulona Insurance Group places coverage for older Texas homes and takes each file to the insurers it holds appointments with.

Aulona Insurance Group places:

• Older homes that a standard insurer has declined on roof age or system age
• Homes with a prior claim on the address
• Dwelling fire, DP-1 and DP-3, on older rental and inherited property
• Condo unit owner coverage in older buildings
• Older coastal homes, alongside the separate windstorm policy
• Flood through the National Flood Insurance Program and Write Your Own carriers

Luka Cenaj, the agency’s licensed principal, goes through the roof date, the wiring, and the plumbing on a recorded call before anything is quoted.

Where Aulona Insurance Group is not the right fit

Aulona Insurance Group cannot place every older Texas house, and an owner facing a non-renewal date needs to know that early.

Outside what Aulona Insurance Group places on an older house:

• An older house with heavy loss history, which usually has to go to surplus lines, a market the agency cannot reach in-house
• A four-point inspection, a wiring repair or a roof replacement, none of which the agency performs or arranges

An inspection is the owner’s to commission and a licensed electrician, plumber or roofer is the one who signs it. The agency reads the result and takes it to market, which is a different job from producing it.

What moves the price on an older Texas home

The premium on an older Texas home is set by the insurer, not by Aulona Insurance Group. Property is rated by location, and the county and the distance to the coast are the first inputs.

System age drives the rest of the worksheet:

• Roof age and material, and whether settlement is replacement cost or actual cash value
• The year the wiring, plumbing, heating, and roof were last updated, which insurers score separately from the year built
• Rebuilding cost, including period materials and labor
• Claim history on the address, which follows the house rather than the owner
• The deductible, including the separate percentage deductible for wind and hail

Aulona Insurance Group publishes no premium on this site and does not rank insurers by price.