Introduction
Your home is the largest investment you will ever make. Therefore, you will want to have the best homeowner insurance to protect it. Of course, you also want this coverage to be affordable and to come from a financially sound company. This means that you will need to take some time to shop around and do some research too.
Step 1
Understand what the most common homeowner insurance policy covers: the house itself and any other structure on your property (i.e. shed, garage), your personal possessions, liability to others and any living expenses that you may incur if you have to live elsewhere while your damaged home is being repaired. Anyone who has particularly expensive possessions (i.e. a coin collection, special jewelry) should purchase additional protection to cover these items.
Step 2
Make sure to purchase enough homeowner insurance so that you will be able to rebuild your home if it is completely lost. This will not be the same as your home’s market value. Also, it should not include the land that your home is located on. In order to estimate just how much homeowner insurance you will need, you should multiply its square footage by the going rate for building costs per square foot in your area. This is information you can garner from either a realtor or a homebuilder in your area.
Step 3
Your personal property limit is set at 50% of your dwelling limit. This may or may not be enough to actually replace all of your possessions if they are lost. For this reason, you will want to inventory all of your possessions in order to know if you need higher limits in your homeowner insurance policy. The inventory will also help you to verify losses in the event that you should ever need to file a claim.
Shop around so that you get the best rate on homeowner insurance. Whenever you get quotes from several different companies you will see that the prices may vary by hundreds of dollars from company to company. Therefore, the time that you spend here can truly pay off. While you’re at it, you should also know that another way in which you can save money on your homeowner insurance is by actually being straightforward and asking for discounts. In doing so you will find that a lot of companies actually do offer numerous discounts that will directly reduce the amount of your premium. For instance, there are discounts available for people who own a home that is located near a fire or police station, own a security system, are a nonsmoker or if you are retired.
Make sure that whatever homeowner insurance company you choose to go with is financially sound and that they offer good customer service. There are some rating companies (i.e. A.M. Best Company, Standard & Poor's, J.D. Power) that actually evaluate how financially strong an insurance company is. Of course, you can also check with your state’s Department of Insurance web site to verify that this homeowner insurance company is licensed to operate in your state and to also check out if there are any complaints against them.
Step 4
Shop around so that you get the best rate on homeowner insurance. Whenever you get quotes from several different companies you will see that the prices may vary by hundreds of dollars from company to company. Therefore, the time that you spend here can truly pay off. While you’re at it, you should also know that another way in which you can save money on your homeowner insurance is by actually being straightforward and asking for discounts. In doing so you will find that a lot of companies actually do offer numerous discounts that will directly reduce the amount of your premium. For instance, there are discounts available for people who own a home that is located near a fire or police station, own a security system, are a nonsmoker or if you are retired.
Step 5
Make sure that whatever homeowner insurance company you choose to go with is financially sound and that they offer good customer service. There are some rating companies (i.e. A.M. Best Company, Standard & Poor's, J.D. Power) that actually evaluate how financially strong an insurance company is. Of course, you can also check with your state’s Department of Insurance web site to verify that this homeowner insurance company is licensed to operate in your state and to also check out if there are any complaints against them.
Tips
Take your time to look around and find the best home owner insurance policy that fits your needs.
Sources and Citations
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