I would think so.

No matter what anyone would speculate about it making a difference (Yea or Nay), you'd do the same thing either way - call your agent next week to correct the record and find out if it matters.

Just had to deal with a similar issue . Our home owners insurance was not being renewed. The company is not going to insure residential property any more in North America. The agent called to find out if our home had been upgraded. Original construction 1910. They wanted approximate dates of electric , plumbing roof and siding upgrades. Before they searched for a new company to insure us. Yes you should make sure they have that information. It matters with replacement cost if you have to make a claim.

marcopolo, I don't think it works as you're suggesting. The age and features of the house may very well be considered for the risk rating (like for fire or other damage) but not directly into replacement cost coverage. Should a 1910 built house burn down, it's not rebuilt to 1910 standards with 1910-typical materials. It's rebuilt with modern materials using modern techniques, to modern standards (and of course to the current building codes) generally to the "type" and size of house that was there before. If the house was X square feet with Y bedrooms and Z bathrooms, etc., that's the starting point for the replacement, not whether it was built in 1910, 1930, or 1995. Replacement cost DOES vary with prevailing local construction costs on a per square foot basis for the standard of house to be built. Meaning, whether it's basic, elaborate, custom with special features or using whatever descriptions they have that get factored in but I don't believe age matters.

Maybe someone who works in insurance will pass by this thread and set us all straight on how it works.

Wouldn't your 2001 "rebuild" have increased the value of your property from what it was when you purchased in 1999? Wouldn't you have had some communication with your home insurer around that time to adjust that?

We bought a 1965 built home in 2004 and remodeled in 2005. I remember our insurance company requesting a statement from the electrician saying the electrical panel had been replaced.

This might already be reflected in your insurance rate/amount. But, you should check in to make sure.

Depending on state and county, the auditor's office usually has a Tab labeled, "Improvements". It may be worth a look.Of course improvements won't be listed unless a permit was purchased.

Thanks, all. The house is insured to close to its actual market value today for the entire property, land and improvement (house). Since the land would remain...I thought this would be adequate to rebuild in the event of a total loss. It's twice what we paid to build the house in 2000. We have 'build to code' coverage.

When we insured the house, the State Farm agent appeared to be a competent person. He was still around when we increased the value after the build was completed. The guy who bought the business a few years back...less bright.

We'll be contacting the agent, but I appreciate the input. I'll check for 'Improvements', Michael, but I hope I don't provoke a higher assessment. Zillow always lowballs our value, which I presume is based somewhat on the assessment.

My house was built in 1950 but added onto at least once. The county here has a drawing and pictures of the house as it currently is. If you left anything standing of the original house which is what it sounds like, I could be wrong, the house was built at the original time. If it was a complete teardown that can be different. Contact your insurance company to find if their records show the changes that you have made. If not the insurance company needs to update their records. Just an FYI when there was a question on the size of this house after they sent us a questionnaire the insurance company sent people out to verify the size and look for any outside problems. This was ten years later and satellite pictures are better so probably will not happen.

Here rather than Auditor if someone wanted to look up to see what their house record with yourcountry shows you might need to look under Assessor or County Collector. The local site was updated this year and the records were switched. Another site if those fails is the Recorder of Deeds office.

I have a house built in 1948. I carry "replacement value" insurance on it, not market value. I want it replaced with similar materials and size of woodwork as it is, not a modern version. Yes, it costs more.

I don't think you can get homeowner's insurance for market value, but I may be wrong. I think replacement value (to rebuild) is standard.

New construction can be better in many respects but not in all respects. Having a house rebuilt with materials and techniques originally used for an older house isn't an option for many reasons.

Your insurance would provide you with a new approximation of what was lost, not an identical version. If you're concerned about finish items and features, take lots of photos and keep them offsite. Many can be replicated. Some, not.

Sometimes it's best to be sure your agent and the claims office is on the same page.

According to USAA, I’ll get plaster if I want it and millwork to match what I have. Hardwood floors are not replaceable with wood like it was in 1948 x found that out in 2000 after pipe burst. The grain is very different today as “old wood” is no longer available. In my LCOl area, replacement is far more costly than the amount I could sell this house for - at least $100,000 more than market value- even in a neighborhood that is still highly desirable. Hopefully, this will never be needed!

My replacement cost last year on my policy is almost double the estimated sale price but that is because the exterior is 1950s brick. Recently that color has been being made again but for many years the only way to replace a brick was to find a salvage place that might have one.

Michael -- How do I contact 'Claims' without having 'a claim'? Will they even want to talk to me? Is this something my agent should do?

I think it's better to start with your agent first.

State Farm agents are more numerous than Subway sandwich stores. Let's be honest, it doesn't take a degree in rocket science to sell insurance but some are dimmer than others. If you don't like your agent, talk to people you know to identify a better one to switch to. Such agents, like people in a retail bank branch, operate under very restrictive guidelines with lots of rules and little wiggle room. But that doesn't mean they can't be informative and helpful.

There are good ones to be found. I changed State Farm agents last year (I got tired dealing with the one I'd had for 20 years) and it was quick and easy. You can even do the switch on the State Farm website, you can do it without having a difficult conversation with the one you're leaving.

Elmer -- Yeah, I know! Inertia sets in. This guy is a dim bulb. Nice to know about the website to do a switcheroo.

I double checked chisue to be sure it hadn't changed.

After you've initialized your online sign-in, there's a section to click with a title something like Profile and Preferences. On that screen, on the left under a photo of your agent, there's a "Change Agent" link. When you click on that, it says you can change your agent online, by email, by fax or by phone. They make it easy, there's no need to contact the person you're leaving. You need to say who you want to transfer your account to and why. The reason doesn't matter, I think I just said "wanted different agent".

Don't tell the tax assessment office unless you want your property taxes to increase. Although given that you made the improvements 18 years ago any increase at the time would probably have decreased by now as often the value is in the land, but that's area dependent. Land usually (not always) is the appreciating factor while the house is the depreciating factor, in comparison. But again....market dependent.

Neither market value nor assessed value of a house has anything to do with insurance value on a house.

If you have never told your agent about the improvements that you've made on the house you should do that.

"Don't tell the tax assessment office unless you want your property taxes to increase. "

Reread the original post to relieve your concern and confusion. chisue said clearly that there was a reassessment for the rebuild and the new resulting size. Reassessments based on construction? Of course. Tax assessors always pay close attention to building permits issued within the territories they administer and, I believe, must be automatically notified as these happen through the year. Same thing with property sales that trigger reassessments. There's nothing to tell them or not tell them, they already know.

Rules vary from place to place but rebuilds are often done leaving some small portion of the otherwise demolished structure in place. Why? Because that makes the project a remodel rather than a new build from scratch, and permit fees for remodels are often much cheaper than for a new build. Chisue can explain if that's what was done. If so, the home does date from 1957 but was extensively remodeled.

"Land usually (not always) is the appreciating factor while the house is the depreciating factor, in comparison."

As a property owner and a tax advisor, in my area that has had mostly rising property values for entirety of my adult lifetime (excluding a couple of downturns), both land and structures appreciate. Land is what it is but structures appreciate because 1) housing prices increase over time and that raises the value of both land and structures together, and 2) replacement costs of labor and materials rise. Chisue said above it would cost double to do the same work today.

Chisue, you shouldn't contact claims with questions like this. Call your agent, if your not happy with the answer you get, call another agent. Don't just go to the website and pick someone. What if you get another agent your not happy with? Your home is your second greatest asset, isn't it worth some of your time to interview an agent that your comfortable with, someone whose lights aren't dimmed. I would suggest you have a sit down with an agent and do a cost estimator. The dwelling coverage has nothing to do with the value though unless you chose to insure it as actual cash value. You should have building code coverage and extended limits. Sounds like you have been in this policy for a while. Regardless of any renovations one should always review coverages and premiums. Many of the old policies were once written to satisfy lenders loan amounts. This caused a lot of policies to get out of whack where there was more coverage than actual replacement. Lenders in this state (IL and the border state of WI where I'm licensed) are no longer able to require insurance companies to insured for loan amounts, they try but agents with full bright lights no better.

I appreciate everyone's time helping me with this!

Our agent returned our call today. They have a description and photos from 2012. They also show our house as having 4000 sq ft.

The house is 2901 sq ft, per the assessor. We do have a full height attic that is not finished, but *could be* -- maybe this was a compromise to cover that space? We'd expect that to be covered were there damage. Non-'conditioned' spaces are not 'living space' here -- not basements, not attics.

We are awaiting further information from the agent and a copy of what we are paying them to insure!

two25acres -- No 'loan inflation' involved. We invested the proceeds from a prior home -- and added a cup of sugar -- to build this one. lol We move in in 2001, so I'm not sure why the State Farm info is dated 2012; maybe some company-wide re-evaluation. We have 'rebuild to code' coverage. (I hear you about changing agents, but you know, most people are nice at the get-go.)

chisue the difference between what the insurance company shows and what the county shows may be what similar to what happened to us. The insurance company sent a letter requesting the "size of the living area". We included the finished basement in that amount. When our agent was retiring he was sent a list of clients whose country records were not the same as what was in the company records. He came out and measured to verify the records. I think he was also curious as to what had happened to the house as he had spent many hours in it when it was one of the few houses that had tv. What our insurance company wanted was only the square feet of the actual house not of the living area. Each company does use different criteria so the sooner you have this resolved the less questions later.

Here when possible square footage for the country records are now done from satellite pictures if it is not a new build.

"What if you get another agent your not happy with? "

Then she can change again. For me, recommendations from people I know are a starting point but I've often found I've wound up with recommendations that I don't agree with.

Cost estimates? Maybe a policy review instead? If she's happy with State Farm, the premiums with a new agent aren't likely to be different but as you suggest maybe changes to the policy may be warranted.

I have to ask - if someone's home is their second greatest financial asset, what's the first?

Talk to your insurance agent. The Agent may have to consult his home office to get an answer. Logically, I'd say it was new construction. It will depend on how the insurance company defines things.

I have gotten permits for all remodeling that required such, but the description of my house with the County does not reflect these changes. The assessed value does reflect the price of other houses sold in my neighborhood and they just keep going up. So I am paying the proper amount of taxes - property description just doesn't match.

anglo, your description of how your assessed value compares to comparable sales in your neighborhood is quite different in my state.

California's Proposition 13, passed in the late 1970s, is intended to limit property tax increases for long term owners, and to do so it results in a measure of unfairness of taxation between new versus long term owners. When property is purchased, its value is adjusted to the transaction price. The annual property tax charge at that point and thereafter is limited to 1% of value (though in practice it can be a slight bit higher). Annual increases in assessed valuation (and therefore in the tax bill) from one year to the next is limited to 2% per year.

Needless to say, the sustained real estate valuation increases over past years and decades in much of the populated areas has been greater than 2% per year. In the case of two identical properties side by side, a new owner could easily be paying 3 or 4 times as much, or more in annual taxes compared to a long term owner of an identical property next door.

When the few downturns occurred, the tax valuations for newer buyers (the only ones with properties at or near fair value for tax purposes) were mostly adjusted downwards. Sometimes grudgingly -valuations are done county by county and some were a bit more enlightened on their own than others.

Here it is the same as anglo stated. Our assessments are based on the most recent comparable selling prices in our area. This will be the first year where the state will start doing reassessments annually. It was an process where they assessed everyone in alternating counties every 5 years and have gradually decreased the interval. If you disagree with the assessment you can ask for an adjustment yourself but there are people that you can hire to do it for you. My husband sat on the board that heard the appeals for about ten years.

Seriously you have to ask what is the first greatest asset? Asset - a useful or valuable thing, person or quality. Maybe your just thinking in terms of $$. Generally family. One agent to another within the same company won't have different premiums unless there is a change in coverage or deductible. What works for one person, may not work for another. Why wouldn't you want to meet with the person that your willing to put your confidence in and come to your own conclusion.

Cost estimators are done with a policy review, your reviewing the replacement cost.