Your home usually represents the single largest financial investment you have ever made and, as such, it should be adequately protected. One of the best ways to protect it is to purchase homeowners insurance. You will want an insurance policy to provide you with sufficient coverage to replace your home if it is severely damaged or destroyed as a result of a covered loss such as a fire. In other words, you want to be insured to value. "Insured to Value" is an insurance term that means you have sufficient coverage on your home to cover the cost of rebuilding following a loss; the full reconstruction cost of the home.
A major challenge most homeowners face is finding an accurate way to calculate the current reconstruction cost of their home. The purchase price of your home, or homes in your neighborhood, is not an accurate way to determine the cost to rebuild your home, since that cost does not include your land. Further, the cost to rebuild your home is not the same as new construction costs, since debris removal will be involved and other issues that are not associated with new construction.
A more accurate and complete approach for consumers to use when attempting to determine the reconstruction cost of their home is to access one or more of the Home Reconstruction Website Calculators listed below. These calculators provide home valuation methods very similar to what insurance companies use when calculating the value of a home they insure. The calculators are very easy to use. After you answer various questions, it will provide you with the current cost to rebuild your home, based upon the information you provided.
Calculators
- XactValue
By Xactware, Inc.
Requires a log in and a fee; estimate is based upon your home's specific construction and details.
- Bluebook International
Requires a fee; estimate is based on zip code or neighborhood and some of the home's details.
The Maryland Insurance Administration does not endorse or recommend any particular estimator service; we provide the information and hyperlinks as a public service for your convenience. Please be aware that once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site. You should read that site's policy on privacy and information collection. Also, you may be charged for accessing the services of that website.