I was asked this question by an insured today, and it is a commonly asked one-
“Thanks, Keith! What is the replacement cost for these quotes- it should be the assessed value of the house, not the price I paid, right?”
My reply was-
“With today’s real estate market, you can purchase a home well under what it would cost to simply build from scratch. However, you cannot insure the ‘purchase price’ because that would not cover you adequately. Another thing to consider is in the aftermath of a hurricane items such as plywood and roofing materials skyrocket in price and as long as you have ‘Insured to Value’ the insurance company is obligated to replace your roof, no matter the cost to them (provided you have Wind / Hurricane coverage in place).
The County Assessors valuation is one of taxable interest and not actually relevant to cost to rebuild or insure.
Hopefully this helps to answer your question, and it is a good one that I get asked many times in the course of providing insurance.”
