The CLUE Report: What Every Dallas Home Buyer Needs to Know About a Property's Insurance History
A property's 7-year insurance claim history follows the house in Texas. Here's how to request a CLUE report, what Dallas-area claims mean for your coverage costs, and when to walk away.
What Is a CLUE Report and Why Does It Matter When Buying a Home in Dallas?
A CLUE report (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange) is a 7-year insurance claim history attached to a property address. In Texas, where hail and wind claims are among the highest in the country, a home's claim history can raise your premiums, limit your insurer options, or make a property nearly uninsurable. Buyers should request a CLUE report during the option period and factor any significant claims into their go/no-go decision before the termination option expires.
By Paul Blair | September 21, 2026
Texas leads the nation in wind and hail claims, according to the Texas Department of Insurance, and Dallas sits squarely in the middle of hail country. Since 2019, homeowners insurance premiums in Texas have risen roughly 55 percent. Carriers have pulled out of the market. Getting coverage on certain properties has become genuinely difficult.
That context matters because when you buy a home here, you're not just buying the house. You're buying its insurance history.
That history lives in a CLUE report.
What a CLUE Report Actually Is
CLUE stands for Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. It's a database maintained by LexisNexis that tracks insurance claims filed on a property for the past seven years. Every time an owner files a claim, that event is recorded: wind damage, water intrusion, hail, fire, mold. The full list.
When you go to insure a home after closing, your insurer pulls the CLUE report on that address. If the property has a history of multiple claims, carriers may decline to cover it, quote you at a substantially higher rate, or add exclusions for specific types of damage.
The critical point: these claims follow the property, not the owner. A seller can move to Colorado and the claims history stays on the Dallas house.
How to Get a CLUE Report as a Dallas Buyer
You can't pull a CLUE report on someone else's property directly. The report belongs to the property owner. But there are two practical ways to access this information during your transaction.
Ask the seller to provide it. In negotiations, you can request that the seller pull and share their CLUE report as part of due diligence. In a buyer-leaning market, this is a reasonable ask and most sellers will comply rather than lose a deal over it.
Order it yourself after closing. As the new owner, you're entitled to one free CLUE report per year from LexisNexis at personalreports.lexisnexis.com.
The right time to review any insurance claim history is during your option period, when you can still terminate the TREC contract for any reason. That's your clean exit window. Understanding how the Texas option period works before you get into a transaction puts you in a much stronger position.
What the 2026 Seller's Disclosure Changes Mean for Dallas Buyers
Texas updated its Seller's Disclosure Notice this year, with changes taking effect May 28, 2026. Sellers are now required to disclose their current insurance status, including whether the property has been uninsurable or declined for coverage. This is a direct response to the conditions that have reshaped the Texas insurance market.
For buyers, this is useful new information, but it's not a replacement for a CLUE report. Sellers disclose what they know and what the form requires. The CLUE report gives you the independent, insurer-sourced record. These two sources complement each other.
You can find a full breakdown of what changed in the 2026 Texas Seller's Disclosure Notice and TREC contract updates.
If you're under contract on a Dallas property right now and have questions about how the insurance history affects your decision before your option period expires, this is exactly when to have that conversation.
Schedule a private consultation at greysq.com/contact
How to Read a CLUE Report: What Different Claims Mean
Not all claims carry the same weight. Here's a framework for thinking through what you're looking at:
| Claim Type | What It Often Means | When to Be Concerned |
|---|---|---|
| Wind or hail | Most common in DFW; prior roof damage | Multiple claims suggest recurring vulnerability |
| Water or plumbing | Can signal ongoing structural issues | Two or more claims within five years warrants a closer look |
| Fire | Could be minor or significant | Review claim amount and whether repairs are documented |
| Mold | Usually tied to water intrusion history | High concern if the claim was large or recent |
| Liability | Slip-and-fall, dog bite, etc. | Typically does not affect property insurability |
A single hail claim is common in Dallas and usually won't prevent you from getting coverage. It's part of life in hail country. Multiple claims of the same type, or a large water or mold claim, deserve closer scrutiny. The question isn't just whether you can insure the property but at what cost and with what exclusions.
What If the Property Has a Difficult Insurance History?
If a property's CLUE history makes it hard to insure through standard carriers, Texas has a backstop option. The Texas FAIR Plan Association provides basic property coverage for homes that can't get insurance through the voluntary market. It's more expensive and covers less than a standard policy, but it exists for situations where normal options have run out.
Understanding that the FAIR Plan exists doesn't mean you should overlook a complicated insurance history. It means you know your fallback before you close.
Getting homeowners insurance lined up before your option period expires is always the right move. The full picture of homeowners insurance for Dallas buyers, including what DFW coverage actually costs and the percentage-based hail deductible trap, is worth reading before you go under contract.
What Happens to Your Exit Options After the Option Period
During the option period under a TREC contract, you can terminate for any reason. That includes insurance concerns. You lose your option fee, but your earnest money is protected.
Once the option period expires, exiting on insurance grounds typically requires invoking the Property Approval provision in the TREC contract. This allows you to terminate if you can't obtain satisfactory insurance at standard rates, but the mechanics depend on exactly how your contract is written. The conversation about what "standard rates" means in your specific situation should happen with your agent before the option period closes, not after it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a CLUE report on a home I'm buying in Texas?
Ask the seller to provide their CLUE report as part of your due diligence request during negotiations. After closing, you're entitled to one free copy per year from LexisNexis as the new property owner. The report covers seven years of insurance claims tied to that address.
What types of claims on a CLUE report should concern a Dallas buyer?
Repeated water or mold claims are the biggest concern, since they can signal an ongoing plumbing or structural issue. Multiple hail claims are common in DFW but worth investigating to confirm the roof was repaired properly. A single older claim, especially hail or wind, is usually not a dealbreaker if repairs are documented.
Can I still buy a Dallas home that has insurance claims on its CLUE report?
Yes, in most cases. One or two older claims, particularly hail damage that was repaired, are common in the DFW market and usually won't prevent you from getting coverage. The concern is with multiple claims of the same type, recent large water or mold claims, or properties where coverage was declined. Always get an insurance quote before your option period expires.
Does the 2026 Texas Seller's Disclosure require sellers to share their CLUE report?
No. The updated Seller's Disclosure Notice, effective May 28, 2026, requires sellers to disclose their insurance status and whether coverage was declined, but it does not require them to provide the actual CLUE report. You can request it separately in negotiations or order it yourself after closing. For details on the full scope of what changed, see the updated breakdown of Texas Seller's Disclosure requirements.
How do I find the right Dallas agent to help me navigate a property with insurance history concerns?
Insurance questions during the option period are judgment calls that depend on the property, its claim history, and what coverage is realistically available in DFW right now. The right agent has worked through these situations before and knows when a claim history is a normal part of buying in hail country versus a reason to walk away. Experience with the specific neighborhoods in Dallas County and Collin County matters too, since insurer appetite and claim patterns vary across the metro.
If the insurance claim history on a property you're looking at has you wondering whether to push forward or walk away, that's the exact question to answer before your option period expires. The cost of getting this right is a conversation. The cost of getting it wrong is a property you can barely insure.
Schedule a private consultation at greysq.com/contact
About Paul Blair
Paul Blair is the founder and broker of Grey Square, a virtual real estate brokerage representing buyers and sellers across Dallas and Los Angeles. With 22 years in the business and more than $200 million in closed transactions, Paul works the full range of the market, from luxury homes in the Park Cities and Preston Hollow to estates in the Hollywood Hills and across the Westside. Connect with Paul and the Grey Square team at greysq.com. TX TREC #9011505 · CA DRE #01792671.