When buying a house, the mortgage is not the only concern that you should have. Insurance is an equally important and time-consuming decision.
Home Insurance providers determine your insurance premium depending on the risk of damage to which your house is prone. Since this will be your monthly expense for the next few years and may increase as your property grows old, it is important that you do your complete homework before getting a quote from your insurance company.
There are some beneficial ways that you can use to lower your insurance premium which include:
- Reinforce Your Home to Minimize the Risk of Damage
Make your home safe by strengthening the roof, installing sturdy windows, incorporating lightning protection systems, and maintaining proper landscape around the house. It makes your property secure and strong enough to withstand natural disasters like hurricanes, lightning or other bad weather conditions. Lowering the risk of damage to your property will result in lower insurance premium allowing you to save up to 20% on your insurance premium every month.
Essentially, the less likely your home will get significantly damaged by weather conditions, likely the lower your insurance bill will be.
- Shop Around
Like most things in life, it pays to shop around. Before selecting a home insurance firm, you should do your research on price and services provided by different insurance providers in your state. Get an online quote or look for consumer guides on selecting an insurance provider.
You can also call the local insurance association for choosing the firm that best suits your need. Getting a quote from different providers online and offline can give you a rough estimate of what to expect when it comes to rates and coverage.
- Bundle Your Insurance
Try purchasing your home, auto, life or any other type insurance from the same company. They can give you a complete bundled package likely reducing your overall monthly premium.
It will also make the claim process convenient as you will have one provider servicing all your insurance needs. Having a single insurance provider makes it easy to handle claims and the whole process relatively quick and easy.
- Consider Getting a Higher Deductible
Increasing your deductible means your insurance company will have less liability on their hands in case of a claim, as you would be paying a higher amount to repair the damage. It will further reduce your home insurance premium.
However, you should be careful while deciding on the deductible as you do not want to be in a situation where you cannot afford to repair damage due to the very high deductible amount.
- Install a Home Security System
Home insurance providers decide the premium based on the risk factor associated with your property. If you have already installed a security system that warns you or the authorities about theft, fire or any other safety issue, the overall risk is lower. It helps reduce your insurance premium by a considerable amount, not to mention increasing the security at your home.
To increase your chances of getting higher rebates, you can also confirm with your insurance provider about which security system they recommend.
- Think Twice Before Filing a Claim
While you can set yourself up with a perfect insurance plan, you might want to think twice before filing a claim that is not severe. Otherwise, you may end up increasing your insurance premium at the next renewal.
Therefore, it is important when filing a claim; you weigh the risks and rewards of fixing it your self or letting the insurance company take care of it and eventually raise your premium due to increase in your risk level as a client.
If it is small plumbing or paint job you might want to get it done your self and keep your history clean to maintain that ideal premium rate that you acquired in the beginning.
- Check Your Credit Report Before Applying
All insurance companies have access to your credit score database, and as per Fair Credit Reporting Act, insurance companies can look at your credit score without your permission to determine their risk premium. Hence, before applying for your home insurance make sure that you have a good credit score and have paid your outstanding dues on time.
Doing this will have a positive effect in lowering your insurance premium.
While buying a house, homeowners should keep in mind that insurance will be an important part of their monthly expense. If you take a few useful measures before shopping for home insurance, you can lower your insurance premium to a considerable extent making it easy for you to manage your monthly budget.
Have you found any other ways to lower your home insurance bill?