Getting The Most From Your Home Owner’s Insurance

Homeowners insurance is an aspect of home ownership that many do not always account for in projecting their budgets. It is also an area of tremendous mystery, as it is more complex and involved than basic auto insurance. Read this article to shed some light into this area of your life.

Try to see if your home owner’s policy offers free record or renewal discounts. If you haven’t had a claim under your policy in the last 3 to 5 consecutive years, you could get a discount up to 15%, but it depends on your insurance company. Most companies can discount your premium if the policy has been going for 3 years in a row.

The types of material your home or outbuildings are made of can seriously impact the amount you pay to insure them. Having something that is wood framed will cost you more because it is more flammable. Building with cement and steel will be less likely to burn, and therefore cost you less to insure.

You’re homeowners insurance protects your largest asset. If you took out your policy more than 10 years ago, revisit the coverage amounts. The cost of building a new home when you signed up for your coverage may have been much less than it would be now. It’s important to make sure that you would be protected at today’s construction prices.

If you’re cheap on your home owner’s insurance coverage it can come back to haunt you if something really bad happens. You have to balance how much you’re willing to spend today on your premiums with how much you’re willing to spend out of pocket if you have a problem with your home.

When considering insurance for your home, be sure to sign up with a deal that has a guaranteed replacement value clause written into it. This will ensure that your house will be covered no matter what the cost of materials and labor currently are. This helps if you are in an area that has seen and will see an increase in construction costs and property value.

Buy all your insurance policies from the same insurance company. By purchasing your home insurance, contents insurance, health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, travel insurance, flood insurance, pet insurance, mortgage insurance, credit insurance and auto insurance from the same insurance provider, you could be eligible for a large multi-policy discount.

Find a company that will give you multiple policy discounts. If you have your homeowners, auto, life and disability insurance all under one roof, so to speak, then you can often get a substantial discount on your rates. Ask your current company if this is an option for you.

Earlier in this article, the complexity of homeowners insurance was alluded to. Now that you have read this piece, you should be more familiar with what homeowners insurance covers and how you should account for it in your life. Keep these tips in mind in the coming days, and you can make this a very successful area for yourself.