How to Find the Cheapest Homeowners Insurance

Most people say shopping around at different companies will get you the best price. The same can be applied to buying the cheapest insurance. However this can be a difficult task for those who are unfamiliar with the insurance buying experience. Here are some tips on how to do just that.

Were you aware that the main reason that consumers pay too much on their insurance is complacency? That goes for both auto and home insurance. Every year the renewal notice comes through, and if the rates don’t look much more expensive than the previous year, to make your life easier, you just stay with the same insurer. That’s a problem!

Even if you are satisfied with your current carrier, if you want to pay less for insurance, you have to shop around. If the results reveal you have the best deal anyway, then that will serve as peace of mind for you.

You don’t have to exert yourself when comparing pricing by calling up multiple companies or driving around and visiting a bunch of different agencies. You can do it easily and efficiently all from the comfort of your own computer.

The beauty of going online to look for home insurance quotes is that it is fast, free and you don’t have to talk to anyone, thus saving you time and energy! Additionally you can do it at any and all times of the day, allowing you the freedom to research when it’s convenient for you.

Online quotes saves the insurer on administration costs which is then forwarded to you, sometimes result in a 5-15% discount off the normal premium.

Save Money on Homeowners Insurance

Homeowners insurance is one of those “necessary evil” expenses. If you own a home, you need homeowners insurance (if you have a mortgage, your lender will require it). Like all other insurances, my approach to them is to use it strictly for disaster scenarios and try to save as much money as possible on the annual premiums. That means getting the bare bones coverage and putting the money we save into a savings account where it can accrue interest.

The best example of this was with our car. My first car was an Acura Integra, I just had liability insurance and it saved me about a thousand dollars a year (I was much younger then and in a riskier demographic). I put that extra money into a savings account and was lucky enough to never need it. I did the same with my next car, again I was lucky enough not to ever need it and that account now has a few thousand dollars in it.

We do the same with our homeowners insurance though the difference in savings is not as significant. Here’s what we do to lower our premiums:

Bundle Insurance

No discussion about insurance should start without this most basic of tips. The multi-line discount is the easiest way to save money on your insurance and it involves getting your auto, home, and any other policies (such as umbrella liability insurance) through a single provider.

Increase Your Deductible

We have a $1,000 deductible, the maximum we were allowed, on our home and that lowered our rate significantly. This one has the biggest impact because it has the biggest impact on what your insurance company pays out. If you have a $1,000 deductible, that’s a savings of up to $1,000 on any incident you might make a claim on. Not only that, but you probably won’t make any claims on all those borderline cases and that too saves the insurance company some cash.

That said, what is your deductible and what typically falls into that spectrum? How many claims have you had in the last 5 years that were in the $500 to $1000 range? We’ve had zero. In fact, we lived at our last house for 8 years and never made a single claim.

Add Home Security System

Much like an anti-theft device on your car, a home security system is an anti-theft (and early warning device if you tie it into smoke and fire detectors) device for your house. The cost savings, versus the monitoring costs, might be a wash but at least you get security in the process. Why not have the insurance company pay for (or at least subsidize) your home security system?

Check Memberships & Employer Discounts

Sometimes an insurance company will give you a discount based on your employer or if you’re affiliated with an organization. Many have lists of which employers and organizations are involved and sometimes you can join an organization for a small fee. When we were with GEICO, I joined the National Military Family Association in order to get a discount on our auto insurance. The NMFA go some dues and GEICO gave me a discount, a win win for all involved.

Ask Your Agent

Lastly, ask your agent if there is anything you can do to lower your annual premiums. Sometimes there are some simple things they can suggest that you never even knew were possible. It never hurts to ask!

Six Ways to lower your Home Insurance

1. Make sure you aren’t over-insured.

Six Ways to lower your Home Insurance

Being under-insured can be a big problem when disaster strikes. But being over-insured means you’re wasting your hard-earned moolah. So the ideal situation is to have just the right amount of coverage. So how do you do that?

Review your policy when it’s up for renewal each year. Specifically, make sure to review any floaters, which are extra insurance for items not fully covered in a standard homeowner’s policy. Examples include things like expensive electronics or equipment, valuable jewelry and artwork. If you no longer own the item or if its value has lowered, cancel or reduce the floater.

2. Reconsider your deductible.

A deductible is the amount of money you have to pay before your insurance policy kicks in and pays the claim. And the lower your deductible, the higher your insurance premium. According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), today most insurance companies recommend a deductible of $500 or more. But if you can afford to raise your deductible to $1,000, you could save as much as 25 percent. And, advises the III, don’t forget that you might have more than one kind of deductible. For instance, if you live in a disaster-prone area, like one prone to windstorms, hail or earthquakes, your insurance policy may have a separate deductible those specific types of damage.

3. Clean up your credit report.

Like it or not, when it comes to insurance, your credit report is up for grabs. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), states that insurance companies have a ”permissible purpose” to look at your credit information without your permission. And since insurers have found that credit history is a reliable predictor of how risky someone is to insure, they use that information to determine whether or not to offer you a policy, as well as how much to charge for your premium.

So besides all the other important reasons to monitor your credit report, doing so can also yield you a lower premium on your home insurance, or at least prevent your premium from going up. And be sure to order copies of your credit reports once per year, since you can be sure insurers are checking it before you renew. For instance, a 2007 reproted by found that in 2006, a total of 457,982 policies in the state were written or renewed that involved the use of credit as one of the factors weighed in determining the premium. Of those, 32.3 percent resulted in the premium being decreased, and 9.2 percent resulted in the premium being increased. In the remaining 58.5 percent, credit was a neutral factor.

According to the III, in most states the insurance company has to advise you that they’re raising your premium because of red flags on your credit report. But it’s best to just check your credit on a regular basis and correct errors quickly to make sure your record is always accurate.

4. Make your home Fire Marshall Bill-proof.

Fire Marshall Bill was a Jim Carrey character on the sketch show In Living Color, and his safety lessons, which he demoed on himself, resulted in fires, explosions, and loss of limb.

You probably know better than to toss lighter fluid on a burning pipe, but you might not know about less ridiculous safety measures that could lower your insurance premium. Talk to your insurance agent or rep to find out if you can save money by doing things like:

• Making your home more windstorm-resistant, such as adding storm shutters.
• Updating your plumbing and electrical systems to reduce the risk of water and fire damage.
• Increasing your home security with smoke detectors, burglar alarms or dead-bolt locks.

These aren’t cheap updates, so make sure they’ll lower your premium enough to make it worthwhile and that your updates will qualify for the discount. For instance, an insurer might have a list of qualifying alarm systems. Realistically, expensive updates like these aren’t usually done solely to save crazy money on insurance premiums. They’re typically things you want to do to make your home safer, or as Fire Marshall Bill would say, less “Dtuhhh-dthuhhh…DEADLY!”

5. Shop around every year.

We talked about this earlier, but really and seriously, you have to shop around if you want to make sure you’re getting a great rate. Ask your network for recommendations, and check out the National Association of Insurance Commissioners for help finding an insurer in your area. Pay special attention to the consumer complaint information, since price isn’t the only thing you want to consider when deciding on an insurer.

Or find an independent insurance agent, who shops around for you. Before finding my agent, my auto and home insurance quotes were in the $1,000-$1,300 range. Then I employed her services and she found a great policy from a reputable company for just $700. That’s some serioussavings

And speaking of auto and home insurance…

6. Consolidate to save more.

Some companies that sell multiple asurance, such as homeowners, auto and liability, will knock a percentage off your premium if you buy two or more policies from them. It can save you anywhere from 5 to 15 percent, according to the III. Just make sure the combined price with a discount is actually lower than buying separate policies from different companies.

How Homeowners Insurance Works

whereas rebuilding new orleans and therefore the gulf coast once the horrible devastation of hurricanes katrina and rita has relied partially on various volunteers, aid agencies and donations from the general public, insurance agencies have conjointly played a crucial role. the numbers concerned during this disaster, the worst natural disaster the insurance trade has ever restrained, are astounding : 1. 7 million insurance claims were filed for $40. 6 billion in damages. approximately 682, 000 insured vehicles were damaged or destroyed. despite the terrible destruction and therefore the long rebuilding method ahead, insurance corporations have largely succeeded with their job. reports indicate that 2 p.c of claims stay in a few type of dispute ref. though many individuals found themselves the victims of the poor fema response or lacked adequate insurance coverage, lots of others are ready to come back for their lives owing to the safety net provided by homeowners insurance. 
after all, homeowners insurance isnt solely for victims of major disasters. from water injury to vandalism to a person accidentally injuring himself at your own home, homeowners insurance has several applications. during this article, youll know why you wish homeowners insurance, how it works and how you can save cash inside the best policy for your company.