How Do I Check My Home Policy Amount?
Check your declarations page. It lists your dwelling coverage, deductibles and what you pay for the policy.
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The Declarations Page
Your policy's declarations page is the summary up front, usually one or two pages. It lists your dwelling coverage amount, your deductibles, and your total premium. Your lender will ask for this page, or a binder showing the same numbers, before closing.
Dwelling Coverage vs. Price
Dwelling coverage is what it would cost to rebuild your house, not what you paid for it or what it would sell for. Lenders usually want this number to at least match your loan amount. A higher number means a higher premium, so check both together.
Your Deductible Choice
The deductible is what you pay out of pocket before coverage kicks in on a claim. Some states use a percentage of your dwelling coverage for wind or hurricane damage instead of a flat dollar amount. A higher deductible lowers your premium, so weigh what you could cover yourself.
Escrow and Timing
If your lender escrows for insurance, your premium gets folded into your monthly mortgage payment along with taxes. Before closing, you typically pay the first year's premium directly so the binder can be issued. Check with your lender which arrangement applies to you.
One insurer's number for rebuilding your house, and the premium that comes with it, isn't the only answer. Another may price the same dwelling coverage differently, or offer a deductible that fits what you could actually cover out of pocket. Before you're locked into a binder for closing, it's worth seeing what else is out there for the same coverage.
What Else Shows Up on the Declarations Page
Dwelling coverage and premium are the two numbers everyone checks first, but the declarations page lists more, and your lender may care about some of it too. Other structures coverage pays to rebuild a detached garage, shed, or fence, usually a percentage of your dwelling amount. Personal property coverage pays to replace what's inside the house. Loss of use covers the cost of living somewhere else if the house becomes unlivable after a covered loss. None of these are the headline number, but they're part of what you're buying.
Liability coverage is the one worth reading closely before closing. It pays if someone is hurt on your property and sues you, or if you're responsible for damage to someone else's property. It's listed as a separate dollar amount from your dwelling coverage, often 100,000 or 300,000 dollars as a starting point. Lenders don't usually set a minimum for this the way they do for dwelling coverage, but it's worth knowing the number rather than assuming a default is enough for your situation.
The declarations page also names who's insured, which matters if you're buying the house with someone else or closing in one name while both names go on the title. Check that it matches how you're taking ownership. It will also list the effective date, which needs to line up with your closing date so there's no gap between when the seller's coverage ends and yours begins. A policy that starts the day after closing doesn't help if something happens overnight.
Last, check the mortgagee clause, a line naming your lender as an interested party on the policy. Lenders require this because it protects their stake in the house, and they'll often reject a binder that doesn't list them correctly, by name and loan number. If anything on the page looks off, a misspelled name, the wrong address, a coverage amount that doesn't match what was quoted, it's easier to fix before closing than after.
What If the Numbers Look Wrong
Sometimes the declarations page arrives with a dwelling coverage number that seems low, or a premium that's higher than what you were quoted earlier in the process. Before you accept it as final, call the insurer or your agent and ask where the number came from. Dwelling coverage is usually calculated from the home's square footage, construction type, and local rebuilding costs, not from the sale price. If the insurer used the wrong square footage or missed a recent renovation, the number can be off, and it's fixable once you point it out.
A premium that's higher than expected sometimes comes down to something simple, like a wrong year built, a missed claims history request, or a discount that didn't get applied. Ask specifically what went into the price. You're not stuck with the first number you see, and insurers correct these errors often enough that it's worth the call rather than assuming the figure is set in stone.
Your lender has its own threshold too. Most want dwelling coverage to at least equal the loan amount, sometimes more if the lender's guidelines call for it. If your declarations page shows less than that, the binder may get rejected at closing, so it helps to check the lender's minimum before the policy is finalized rather than after. Ask your loan officer what figure they need to see if you're not sure.
If the house is still being appraised or the sale price is still moving, the dwelling coverage number might need to be revisited once those details settle. A policy written weeks before closing based on early estimates isn't always the final word. Checking the declarations page again closer to closing, after the appraisal and any last negotiations are done, catches mismatches before they become a problem at the closing table.
Before Closing
Pull up your declarations page and check the effective date against your closing date, and confirm your lender's name and loan number are listed correctly. A mismatch here is easier to fix now than at the closing table.
