I have some thoughts and strategies on insurance I can share. I come up with a replacement price per square foot in my mind. If you can't do a decent job of estimating costs yourself, your broker can run those numbers. I include garages in my replacement square footage, even though they are considered not habitable space so they aren't counted as the official property square footage, but to me they are part of the asset so I want them fully covered. For me in the Bay Area, I am currently using $325.00/sq ft.
Now, I always have an emergency fund so I go with a high deductible of $5,000.00. This tends to save me about a third of the annual premium compared to a $1,000.00 deductible. I always go with a extended coverage option, which covers 50% more than the limit if I actually am rebuilding a structure and am going to run over the limit (very rare, but this option is cheap). I also get a coverage that I forget the exact name, but it is a code upgrade coverage which basically covers the structure given that you will need to bring it to modern code which may not be in place with the existing structure.
For a $450k limit, and these options and the $5k deductible I would expect insurance to run around $600/year. So your quote from your broker is probably pretty close.
One word on the higher deductible, this means that anything minor is basically on you. I am hands on and handy so I don't mind this extra risk, and would rather have the savings on the premium.
