What best describes your situation?
What a family does at each step of an insurance-arranged stay after a fire or flood in Texas, from the first call to the move home.
Get everyone safe, call your insurance company, and tell the housing coordinator exactly what your family needs. Then move into the temporary home, keep the daily routine as close to normal as you can, and report any delay early, so the stay extends instead of ending.
A fire or a flood is a hard thing to go through. This guide gives your family the next steps in order. For how the insurance side works and who pays, read temporary housing after home damage in Texas. This page covers what your family does at each step.
The type of damage changes what you can take with you, what slows the repair, and which policy pays. The table gives the common pattern. Your adjuster and your contractor will give you the facts for your home.
| Fire | Flood or water damage | |
|---|---|---|
| What usually makes the home unlivable | Fire damage, smoke and soot, and power cut off for safety | Standing water, wet walls and floors, and power off until an electrician checks it |
| What you can take with you | Items may hold a smoke smell. Ask your insurance company before you clean them yourself. | Items that stayed dry. Wet soft items often need to be thrown away. Photograph them first. |
| What often makes repairs take longer | Smoke cleaning, contents cleaning, and rebuilding damaged rooms | Drying out, checks for mold, and replacing drywall and floors |
| Which policy usually applies | Your homeowners policy | A burst pipe: usually your homeowners policy. Rising water: usually a separate flood policy. Ask which one covers your loss. |
If it is safe to go back in, take medicines, phone chargers, glasses, school bags, work laptops, identity documents, and pet food. Take photos of the damage before anything is moved. Do not stay in the home after the fire department or a utility company tells you it is unsafe.
Ask four questions and write down the answers. Is the home considered unlivable? Does the policy include additional living expense coverage? What is the limit? Who arranges the temporary housing? Many insurance companies work with insurance housing companies, which find the home and arrange the stay.
The housing coordinator works fast, and clear answers keep more homes on the table. Before the call, write down the number of people and their ages, your school district by name, each pet with its size, any work schedule that matters, and any accessibility need.
Check-in at our homes is 4 PM. When a suitable home is ready on the day, a same-day move-in is possible. Our homes are furnished single-family homes with a full kitchen, so you do not need to buy dishes or furniture. Plan to buy groceries, toiletries, and anything personal you could not take from the house.
On the first evening, walk through the home. Check the heating and air conditioning, the hot water, the Wi-Fi and every outside lock, and report anything that does not work.
Children do better when school, bedtime, and meals stay the same. If you stay in your district, ask the school how transport works from your temporary address. Set up mail forwarding with the post office, so bills and insurance letters reach you. Keep pets on the feeding and walking times they know.
Keep one notebook or one note on your phone. Write down each call with your insurance company: the date, the name, and what they said. Ask your insurance company which extra costs it covers and what proof it needs, and keep those receipts in one place.
Repairs often run past the first estimate. When your contractor gives you a new date, tell your housing coordinator the same day. When your insurance company extends the stay, nothing changes for you: same home, same address.
Before you move back, walk through the repaired home with your contractor. Make sure the power, water, heating, and air conditioning work. Then agree on the move-out date with your housing coordinator. Check-out from our homes is 10 AM.
A family in Frisco came home from a Sunday service to a collapsing kitchen ceiling after a second-floor pipe burst. They were placed in one of our homes in the same school district within 18 hours. The children did not miss a school day. The family stayed 67 nights.
We are not your insurance company, and nothing here describes your coverage. Questions about your policy, your limit, or your claim go to your insurance company and your adjuster.
We supply homes to insurance housing companies. Our homes are in Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. If your home is outside those areas, your housing coordinator will find another supplier.
Not if a home is available in your district. Name the district on the first call, because it is the constraint that matters most for children.
Yes, in many cases. Pets are normal in our homes. Tell the housing coordinator about each pet on the first call.
Clothes, medicines, documents, chargers, and anything personal. The home is furnished and has a full kitchen.
Tell your housing coordinator as soon as you hear about the delay. An early notice is what lets you stay in the same home.
Ask your contractor and your insurance company first. A home under repair can have open walls, live wiring, or mold work in progress.
Texas Corporate Homes manages 160+ furnished single-family homes across Dallas–Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. Ask your housing coordinator if a Texas Corporate Homes home is available near your address. To see where our homes are, open the availability map.
