Homeowners insurance

Homeowners insurance, and what it quietly leaves out.

The policy most people own is the policy fewest people have read. Koala prices the standard form and the broader one side by side, and tells you which perils each actually answers for.

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Free while in beta · An estimate, never a quote

What Koala prices this from

How this is calculated

Data source: IIIInsurance Information Institute state average annual homeowners (HO-3) premium
As of: 2023The year the underlying figures describe
Estimate band: ±22%Around the midpoint, per policy
Coverage levels priced: HO-3 (standard)HO-5 (broader)

What it covers

The policy, in plain English.

A homeowners policy covers the structure, your belongings inside it, your liability if someone is hurt on the property, and your living costs if the home becomes unlivable. The form letter matters more than most people realize: HO-3 covers your belongings only against named perils, while HO-5 covers them on an open-peril basis.

Dwelling: the structure itself, up to your Coverage A limit
Personal property: belongings, on a named-peril (HO-3) or open-peril (HO-5) basis
Loss of use: living costs while the home is uninhabitable
Personal liability and medical payments to others
Other structures: detached garage, fence, shed

What moves the price

The levers, and the ones Koala can't see.

An estimate is only as honest as the list of things it ignores. Here is both halves.

Koala models these

What it would cost to rebuild
Not what you paid, and not what it would sell for. Coverage A tracks rebuild cost, and it is the number the whole premium scales from.
Where the home is
State averages carry the weight of local weather risk, construction costs, and the litigation climate.
HO-3 versus HO-5
The broader open-peril form runs about 22% more in the published data. Koala shows both so the premium difference is a decision, not a surprise.

Koala does not model these

Roof age, claims history, and your deductible
Real underwriting leans hard on all three. Koala models none of them, which is why the output is a band, not a price.

Estimated range based on published state/national rate data for similar profiles. This is not a quote and not an offer of insurance. Actual pricing depends on the specific insurer's underwriting and may differ from this estimate.

Worked example

The same model, running.

Not a mock-up. This is a live home estimate for a sample household, computed by the engine that will run on yours, with every step it took printed underneath.

HO-3 (standard)

Sample household · Texas · a $320,000 single-family home

$2,418 to $3,782

per year · ≈$258/mo at the midpoint

What this assumed

State: state-level average for TX
Dwelling value (Coverage A): $320,000
Coverage form: HO-3 (standard)

The arithmetic

1Homeowners HO-3 base (state-level average for TX): $3,100/yr
2× coverage-form factor for HO-3 (standard): ×1
3= estimated annual mid-point $3,100, shown as a ±22% range
4Coverage amount = dwelling value $320,000 × 1 = $320,000

The range shown is the midpoint ±22%. That band is not a confidence interval; it is the spread published rate data implies, and a real quote can land outside it.

Coverage-to-price metric

coverage-to-price = $320,000 (dwelling coverage limit (Coverage A), $) ÷ $3,100 (estimated annual price) = 103.2

Higher means more assumed coverage per dollar. Comparable only within this line: a computed metric, never a recommendation.

Source: Insurance Information Institute state average annual homeowners (HO-3) premium · data as of 2023

An estimate, never a quote

That is the whole calculation. There is no second model behind it. Build your profile to run it on your own household, or see the worked sample estimate.

FAQ

Home questions

The things worth knowing before you compare a single price.

Is flood covered?

Almost certainly not. Standard homeowners policies exclude flood, and it's the single most common gap people discover at the worst possible moment. Flood is a separate policy, usually through the NFIP or a private carrier. Earthquake is typically excluded too.

Should I insure for market value or rebuild cost?

Rebuild cost. Market value includes the land, which does not burn down. Insuring to market value in an expensive land market can leave you badly over-insured; insuring below rebuild cost can trigger a coinsurance penalty on a partial loss.

What's the difference between HO-3 and HO-5 in practice?

On an HO-3, your belongings are covered only if the cause of loss is one of the perils the policy names. On an HO-5, they're covered unless the policy explicitly excludes the cause. When something odd happens, that difference decides who has to prove what.

Want to go deeper? Read the guides or see how Koala works.

If it goes wrong

Already filed a homeowner claim?

Understanding the price is one job. Getting paid what you're owed is another. Koala reads the insurer's document and drafts your response for a flat fee, never a percentage.

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The Koala advisor

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