If you own a home, you need insurance. Buying and owning a home is one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your life. That doesn’t mean that you need to pay boatloads for home insurance though.
Ways to Save on Home Insurance
Your home insurance rates can be controlled (to an extent). Outside of haggling with your insurer, how can you trim your insurance costs?
Location
When it comes to home insurance rates, you can probably trim the cost significantly by controlling the area in which you buy your home (if you’ve not already bought it). For example, homes that are in areas hit with natural disasters frequently are more expensive to insure. Places like Florida and Louisiana have higher home insurance rates than, say, Oregon or Vermont.
Raise Your Deductible
Most insurance companies require at least a $500 deductible. If you’re able to raise your deductible a bit (have the cash set aside for some kind of emergency), it could save you a bit of cash. If your home insurance deductible is $500 and you increase it to $1,000 you could decrease your rate by about 25 percent.
Look at Your Policy
Look at your current policy and make sure you aren’t ensuring anything you don’t need to. The land your house is sitting on isn’t going to be destroyed by any natural disaster. So, although it was included in the overall cost of your home, it should not be included in the insurance policy that will pay to rebuild the house. This can cause your insurance rate to be much higher than it needs to be.
Bundle Your Insurance
If you’re not already doing so, bundle your different insurance policies together (home, auto, life, etc.). Bundling them together with the same company can provide a bit of a discount and can trim your home insurance costs.
Make Renovations
If you’re able, consider making some renovations to your home to make it more resistant. Give your insurer a call to see if there are any changes you can make to your home to make it safer. Once you’ve made the changes, you may be able to save a bit on your home insurance premiums.
Add a Security System
Adding a security system to your home can make it cheaper to insure as well. Because most home insurance policies include burglary, if you add a security system you’ll be able to trim some of the cost. This is because having a system (in general) makes it less likely that you’ll be robbed at all. Take a look at this info on Verisure if you’re interested in finding out more about home security alarms.
Keep Your Credit Score Up
Maintaining a good credit score can help keep your premiums down too. It is becoming more and more common for insurance companies to consider an individuals credit report when quoting them a price. The better your credit, the better your price.
Stay With the Same Company
Lastly, if you can, stay with the same insurance company. Most reward loyalty. The longer you stay, the more likely you are to receive discounts and be able to talk to agents about reducing your home insurance premium.
Insurance, especially when it comes to ensuring your home, can be expensive. However, if you keep the above in mind, you’ll be able to reduce the cost of your insurance in no time.