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The Texas Insurance Decision Guide

Protect Your Budget. Protect What You've Built.

Learn how to shop, choose, and keep your insurance working for you. See where there is room in your budget, what would change, and when keeping your current policy makes more sense.

Your home coverage matters. So does your budget. We help you understand both before you decide.

Know Where I Stand Find My Situation

The audit is free. The decision is yours. No broker fees for personal lines clients.

How do you shop for insurance in Texas without giving up protection that matters?

Compare the contract before the price. Check which causes of damage the policy covers, how it would pay for your roof, what water damage could leave you paying, what your deductible means in dollars, and what limits apply to valuables. Then decide whether to stay, adjust, or switch.

Find your situation

Start with the moment that brought you here.

An offer made me question what I pay

A lower price deserves a real look. Before you question your whole insurance decision, find out what the offer actually includes.

I want someone accountable to help

Ask who will advise you, who answers after you buy, and what they can actually offer.

Already our client and holding a lower price?

Send it through our home quote review. We're glad you did, and asking is always welcome. We will see whether it is a better deal for your situation. If it is, that is worth knowing. If keeping what you have makes more sense, we will explain why.

Stay, adjust, or switch

A quote request is a question. We treat it as one.

Stay

Sometimes the policy you have is worth keeping. About 40 percent of the time we tell homeowners to stay with their current carrier, and sometimes even with their current agent, because that is the right answer for the family.

Adjust

Sometimes correcting information or changing one part of the protection is enough. A replaced roof, updated systems, or a new rebuilding estimate can change what fits. Some of those changes affect price. Others affect whether your coverage matches the cost to rebuild. Sometimes the right advice makes room in your budget. Sometimes it shows you where you need more protection. You deserve someone willing to tell you both.

Switch

Sometimes a different policy is the better fit. Before you move, understand what the move could require.

Choosing to carry more of a loss is a decision. Discovering you carry more than you understood is a surprise. We help you make that choice on purpose.

Shop, purchase, maintain

  1. Shop

    A lower price should get your attention. Your money matters. Compare the same things on every quote, including the dwelling limit, the deductible in dollars, how the roof is paid, the water limits, and the discounts the price assumes. Our home quote review walks through each one with you.

  2. Purchase

    A clean switch takes a plan. Keep your current policy in force until the new one starts. You cancel the old policy yourself and give your lender the new policy details. Expect the new company to look at your roof, and ask what happens if it finds a problem.

  3. Maintain

    We translate the contract before you sign for another year. At renewal, compare this year's declarations page with last year's. Check whether your roof coverage changed. As roofs age, some companies switch roof coverage to actual cash value, and the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) says your company should tell you when it changes your coverage. Tell us about changes on your side too. A new roof, a renovation, a new driver, or a valuable purchase can change what fits.

Five coverage checks before you switch

These five come first. Run them on any quote you are considering, including the policy you have now.

  1. Causes of damage

    Which causes of damage does the policy cover, and which does it leave out? Check your home and your belongings separately.

  2. Roof settlement

    How would the policy pay for your roof today, and will it pay the same way as the roof gets older? Replacement cost pays based on current costs, and actual cash value pays less as age and condition lower the value. Go deeper with roof payment schedules and the actual cash value roof gap after Houston hail.

  3. Water damage

    Most policies cover a sudden and accidental release of water, and most leave out a continuous leak. Ask whether your water limit applies per claim or per policy year, which coverages share it, and whether backup from a drain is covered. Flood is its own question. See who pays for water damage in Houston and Houston flood insurance.

  4. Deductibles and any other share you keep

    Turn every percentage into dollars. On a home insured for 400,000 dollars, a 2 percent deductible is 8,000 dollars. Ask whether your wind and hail deductible differs from the deductible for other damage, and whether anything besides the deductible changes what you pay on a claim. Work the math with wind and hail deductible percentages.

  5. Valuable property

    Do jewelry, firearms, art, or collections have their own lower limits? Ask what each limit is and whether listing items separately would change it. Start with guns and jewelry coverage.

A full review also looks at your dwelling limit, liability, loss of use, and anything else your household needs. Your dwelling limit deserves its own look. You notice grocery prices change because you see the receipt. Nobody mails you a yearly receipt for rebuilding your house. That is one reason we ask whether the information behind your insurance still fits. For the contract changes Texas insurers are making, see What Texas Home Insurers Are Changing.

The Three-Year Decision Check

Price covers one year. Your decision can last much longer. Before you stay or switch, compare these five things.

  1. Today's price, including the discounts it assumes.
  2. What you could pay yourself after a covered loss, from the deductible to any other share you keep.
  3. Whether the home and roof still qualify. Companies inspect the roof when you apply, and they may charge more or decline based on what they see.
  4. Known changes ahead. Roof coverage can change as the roof ages. Ask which discounts expire or shrink over time.
  5. What would send you back for another review, such as a renewal, a new roof, or a change in your household.

This check compares choices. Future premiums stay unknown, so it works with what you can know today.

A new price. The same roof.

I remember a customer who wanted to keep her insurance costs down. That was a fair goal.

She and I had talked about her roof. It was more than 15 years old, with tree limbs over it and condition questions that mattered before any move.

She found another option and left expecting to save hundreds. Within a month, she was facing thousands in property work.

The roof's condition was already there. The lower quote did not resolve it.

Shopping is smart. Before you switch, understand what the switch could require.

Charles McDade, LUTCF, Founder, McDade Insurance

Insurance pays for covered damage under the contract's limits and conditions. As TDI explains, it won't pay for a new roof just because the old one is worn out.

Texas changes, dated

Texas rules and market conditions change, so read each explainer with its date in mind.

How this guide works

We wrote this guide to help you decide, whether or not you ever work with us. We explain what matters for your home, your family, and the risk you are comfortable taking. You make the call.

We translate the insurance contract before claim time.

Greater Houston is our home market. Local knowledge earns its place when it improves your advice. Your neighbor's policy may be right for your neighbor. Let's find out what is right for you.

We are paid by the carrier when we place coverage. We do not charge personal lines clients an additional fee for advice, audits, or renewal reviews. That includes personal flood and surplus-lines home policies. Insurance companies may still charge their own fees, and we explain each charge before you decide. Business accounts follow a separate arrangement.

Reviewed 2026-09-24 against the Texas Department of Insurance guides linked on this page.

Official consumer resources

See where you stand

Your next insurance decision can be a clear one.

Your home. Your priorities. Advice that fits both. You deserve to understand what your insurance protects, what you would pay yourself, and whether a change makes sense. We help you see the decision clearly.

Make My Next Decision Clear

The audit is free. The decision is yours. No broker fees for personal lines clients.