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Archive for the ‘Homeowner Insurance’ Category

Homeowners’ Insurance covers your home and the property inside your home. It will also give you liability coverage if someone is injured on your property. Buying the right type of home insurance will save you money in the long run because you won’t pay for coverage you don’t need. You also don’t want to find out that a loss you suffered is not covered.

1. It is important to analyze your needs and do some comparison shopping. Do not take the first quote you get. Online comparison shopping makes this step much easier than it used to be. You can also make phone calls, ask friends, check consumer guides, or call your state insurance department. There can be a great variance in the price you pay for homeowners’ insurance, depending on the insurance company. Some companies offer one discount; others offer other discounts. Remember that price is not the only thing to consider. Additional services or coverage can be worth the extra cost.

2. Consider raising your deductibles to help reduce your premiums.

3. Look into purchasing home, auto, and other insurance from the same company. Many insurance providers offer discounts when you buy multiple policies from them.

4. Remember to think about the cost of insuring your home before you buy it. Consider things such as buying in flood-prone areas, buying new vs. used homes, or type of construction used. All these things could influence the cost of the insurance on your home and add to the overall cost of owning that home.

5. Don’t insure the land.

6. Look for other types of discounts. Non-smokers and seniors can often get other discounts.

7. Review your policy once a year to make sure you are still covered adequately or that you are not paying for coverage that is not needed.

Each year when our renewal notices come through the post for our home insurance, home contents insurance and/or home buildings insurance, most of us automatically sign the form and send it back to the insurance company – after all, we already know how much the premiums are going to be. Big financial mistake, and here are 4 reasons why:

Did You Buy Anything New In The Last Year?

If you bought anything new in the last year, say a new television or video recorder, then the value of this new purchase will not be included in the renewal notice you just sent off to the insurance company. Likewise, if you sold anything of value over the last year, and have not informed the insurance company, then you are paying home contents insurance for something you no longer own. Either way, your not paying the right amount of home insurance premiums.

Did The Costs Stay Static?

If you have home contents insurance then you are insuring your personal property for the replacement cost of buying the same thing new. On the other hand, part of your home buildings insurance should cover the cost of labor and materials. Now ask yourself, would the cost of replacing the picture hanging in your living room be the same today as it was last year? If the answer is that it would cost you more, tough luck, you’ll only get paid out what you said the cost of replacing it would be! The same can be said of your friendly builder, would he charge you the same for an hour of his time and for his materials today as he would have done last year? If the answer here is no, then you should be expecting to pay him the difference.

Did The Value Of Your Home Stay The Same?

Similar to the above, with your home buildings insurance you need to be asking yourself whether or not the value of your home stayed the same this year as it was last year? You need to be asking yourself this question even if you didn’t do any work to the house – such as building an extension – that would naturally automatically add value to your home.

Is Your House Any Safer Today?

Here the question is, have you done anything to your house over the last year that would mean your home would be considered safer today than last year? For example, did you add any deadlocks to your doors or windows? If so, then there’s a very good chance your home contents insurance premium would be reduced, as the security in your house is a major consideration in assessing your premium (along with the crime rate in your neighborhood, so you may also want to check and see if this has gone up or down also).

Keep in mind that time stands still for no man. As such, you need to read your home contents insurance and/or home buildings insurance renewal notices very carefully to make sure that they reflect, as accurately as possible, your life today and not your life of past year.