We translate the contract before you sign for another year.

Texas home insurance rates rose by an average of 19 percent in 2024 alone according to Texas Department of Insurance data, with statewide premiums up 27 percent from 2021 to 2024. The reasons are structural, not personal. Severe weather frequency: Texas led the nation with 878 major hail events in 2024 and 169 tornadoes. Carrier exits: Foremost ceased writing new policies, Progressive restricted Texas homeowners new business, Liberty Mutual restricted coastal underwriting, and Lemonade stopped selling new policies in several counties. Rebuild costs: construction costs in Texas are 25 to 40 percent higher than 2019 levels. Reduced competition combined with rising claims and rising rebuild costs creates upward pressure on every renewal. The premium increase is the headline. The contract changes underneath the premium are what most clients miss.

More than most homeowners realize. At renewal, Texas carriers are permitted to amend the contract as long as they provide notice in advance. Common renewal-time changes include: shifting roof coverage from Replacement Cost to Actual Cash Value, adding a Roof Payment Schedule that reduces payouts based on roof age, adding cosmetic damage exclusions, increasing wind/hail or hurricane deductibles from flat dollar amounts to percentage deductibles, lowering water damage sublimits from $50,000 to $10,000 or $5,000, adding water damage exclusions for slab leaks or foundation issues, adding sub-limits on personal property categories, removing endorsements that were on the prior policy, and changing the policy form from HO-3 to a more restrictive form. Most homeowners receive a renewal notice, see the new premium, and either pay or shop. They never read the contract changes underneath.

A flat dollar wind deductible is a fixed amount you pay before coverage applies, like $1,000 or $2,500. A percentage hurricane deductible is calculated as a percentage of your dwelling coverage, typically 1 to 5 percent. On a $300,000 dwelling with a 2 percent hurricane deductible, you pay $6,000 out of pocket before coverage applies. On a $750,000 dwelling, that same 2 percent is $15,000. On a $1.2 million dwelling, it is $24,000. Texas carriers in 2026 are aggressively converting flat-dollar wind deductibles into percentage deductibles at renewal. The premium may stay the same or even drop. The out-of-pocket exposure can triple or quadruple. This is one of the most expensive single changes a Texas homeowner can sign without realizing it.

Read your renewal dec page side by side with last year's dec page. Compare twelve specific line items in this order. One: dwelling coverage limit (Coverage A). Two: other structures (Coverage B). Three: personal property (Coverage C). Four: loss of use or additional living expenses (Coverage D). Five: personal liability. Six: medical payments. Seven: All Other Perils deductible. Eight: wind/hail deductible (and whether it is flat dollar or a percentage of dwelling). Nine: hurricane or named storm deductible. Ten: roof coverage method (Replacement Cost, ACV, or Roof Payment Schedule). Eleven: water damage limits (look for sublimits or exclusions). Twelve: endorsements that appeared, disappeared, or changed values. If any line item changed and your agent did not call you to explain why, you have a renewal worth pressure testing.

Not always. McDade is an advisor first, not a re-shopper. About 40 percent of the time we tell clients to stay with their current carrier, and sometimes even with their current agent, because that is the right answer for the family. Loyalty discounts and tenure-based discounts can be valuable, and switching carriers every year can hurt your insurance score with new carriers. The right question is not whether to shop every year. It is whether the renewal contract still matches your home, your needs, and your standards. If the renewal contract changed in ways your agent did not explain, audit it. If construction costs have outpaced your dwelling limit, audit it. If your wind deductible converted from flat dollar to percentage, audit it. If water damage limits dropped, audit it. If a new carrier exit means your current carrier is restricting Texas business, audit it. Otherwise, audit the contract every year and let the math tell you whether to move. The renewal review is free and there are no broker fees for personal lines clients.

A Roof Payment Schedule is a sliding-scale endorsement many Texas carriers added at renewal in 2026 that reduces roof claim payouts based on the age of the roof. The typical schedule is: 0 to 5 years old, 100 percent of replacement cost paid. 6 to 10 years, 80 percent. 11 to 15 years, 60 percent. 16 to 20 years, 40 percent. 21+ years, 20 percent. A 15-year-old roof on a home with a $20,000 roof replacement cost would receive only $5,000 minus deductible under a 25 percent of useful life schedule. The schedule is often added to renewal policies that previously had Replacement Cost coverage on the roof. The change is buried inside the renewal packet and is rarely flagged on the front page. McDade looks for this exact endorsement on every renewal review.

Maybe. A premium decrease at renewal in a hardening Texas market deserves more scrutiny, not less. Carriers in 2026 are not lowering premiums out of generosity. A lower renewal premium typically means one of four things. One: the carrier moved your roof from Replacement Cost to Actual Cash Value. Two: the carrier added a Roof Payment Schedule. Three: the carrier increased your wind/hail or hurricane deductible, often by switching from flat dollar to percentage. Four: the carrier reduced water damage limits or added water exclusions. The premium savings are real. The coverage cuts that paid for them are real too. Anything can be made cheaper by making it worse. Every cheaper renewal is a quieter promise.

Sometimes yes. Some Texas carriers are not exiting the state outright. They are reshaping renewal contracts in ways that signal they no longer want your specific risk. Watch for these patterns at renewal: dwelling limit not adjusted upward despite construction cost inflation, deductibles increased without explanation, water damage coverage reduced or excluded, roof shifted to ACV or to a Roof Payment Schedule, mandatory endorsements added that read like fine print, and premiums increasing 20 percent or more year over year while coverage shrinks. If two or more of these apply to your renewal, your carrier may be communicating through the contract that they want you somewhere else. McDade reads those signals and finds you the right home in PGI's 220+ carrier network before the next renewal makes it worse.

No. Auto-renewal is the single biggest source of unnoticed coverage erosion in Texas home insurance today. Auto-renewal means the contract changes the carrier made take effect with your tacit consent. Industry research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in 2026 confirms that homeowners limiting coverage at renewal often become underinsured without realizing it. The renewal arrives, the premium debits the bank account, the dec page goes in a drawer, and the next claim discovers what was actually signed. McDade reviews every renewal line by line because that is the only time the contract can be challenged before it binds for another year.

McDade is an advisor first, not a re-shopper. We audit renewals using a four-part framework: Clarity, Probability, Severity, Value. We compare last year's dec page to this year's renewal line by line. We flag every changed limit, every adjusted deductible, every added or removed endorsement, every reclassified peril. Through our partnership with Premier Group Insurance, an Insurance Journal Top 100 network ranked #38 nationally with 220+ carrier relationships and $1 billion in written premium, we have access to alternative carriers most local brokers cannot place coverage with. About 40 percent of the time we tell clients to stay with their current carrier, and sometimes even with their current agent, because that is the right answer for the family. The other 60 percent is where we find a contract change that would have cost them thousands. The audit is free. There are no broker fees for personal lines clients. The decision stays with you.